Entertainment Tonight: The Board Game

When we talked about Entertainment Tonight, I wasn't aware of this commercial for an apparent Trivial Pursuit ripoff based on the show:

Oh, I'd love to play this one today! Imagine sitting down with Tesh, Hart, Gibbons, Weller, Maltin, and, yes, HENDREN to play this while enjoying chips and margaritas.

For Your Batty Consideration: Entertainment Tonight (Season 11, Episode 2)

The winner of our infotainment listeners' choice poll was venerable syndicated hit Entertainment Tonight, and we discussed a pair of episodes, including the series premiere! It was interesting to see the peak Tesh/Hart era compared to the early days of the show, and we got a good look at a lot of different aspects of 1980s pop culture.

Fun fact: Movie critic Leonard Maltin was nominated for Outstanding Facial Hair last season for our Siskel and Ebert (and more) movie critics episode.

Links:

Our podcast episode
Show notes and YT playlist

Anonymous Batty insider says: "One of the big factors come Batty time, one the shows themselves can't control, is episode selection. BOTNS went with the very first episode, yes, but the other they discussed separated John Tesh and Mary Hart, with Mary on assignment in Boston (We still don't know why she was there, do we?). That may hurt ET's chances. However, this should be a big player in the "as oneself" category, and I'll be interested to see how that theme song does."

YouTube Spotlight: John Tesh's "Roundball Rock"

I have to cheat a little bit on this week's Spotlight post. This clip is from just outside our timeframe. Yet with the NBA Finals underway, this takes me right back to the NBA on NBC and how much fun it was to watch Jordan and Da Bulls. I don't watch much anymore, but back in the day, it was a different story!

Any game was improved by the presentation that began with John Tesh's "Roundball Rock," but take a big match-up like this...I get chills, I tell ya!

Power Rankings: Entertainment Tonight recurring segments that should have been

It's time once again for our official, oft-imitating power rankings! This week we look at regular segments Entertainment Tonight should have had during the 1980s but did not. 

1) Sing Along with John Tesh: The set-up is simple: Clear out space in front of the desk, insert huge piano, let Tesh sit down and tickle the ivories while a guest sings a medley of the week's top 5 hits on the Billboard chart.

2) Face to Face with Ron Hendren: Another segment pairing an anchor with a performer, but in this case Rascally Ron would sit and critique a star's project while that star sat next to him. I don't think Hendren would have any problem being honest in that setting, and it would be a heckuva watch.

I mean, they would actually be side by side because their faces would be looking at a screen, but you get the idea.

3) Nerd Zone: ET could have been way ahead of the "Geek culture" craze by getting out in front of all of it in the early Eighties. It could have hired celebrity "nerd correspondents" like Arvid Engen in character to report on computer games, comic books, and the like.

4) ET Retro: When I say retro, I mean really retro. The series isn't afraid to go for nostalgia or focus on stars of the past every now and then, but I would have liked to have seen the show go wayyyyy back in time every now and then and simulate what the format would resemble in not the 1980s, but the 1880s. Tesh with a stovepipe hat introducing a story about Buffalo Bill's Wild West is my idea of fantastic television.

5) Book reviews: Hey, books are part of "entertainment," right? I don't recall much coverage of anything that wasn't made into a miniseries or written by Jackie Collins. The producers could have given a few minutes a week to some "egghead" to yak about the written word. Dick Cavett could have done this with more than a hint of irony. It may not have been ratings gold, but it would have added to the variety, especially if they enforced a "One Woody a year" policy.

Show Notes and Video Playlist: Episode 11-2: Entertainment Tonight

*Thanks again to all who voted in our Eighties Infotainment Episode poll! As we announced in this episode, the vote was so close that we have decided to go ahead and do Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous next season.

*Check our our playlist for this episode, including the two ETs we discuss, by clicking below! You will also see sports, movie spots, promos, and more!

You can also visit our official YouTube channel at any time for all our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!

*Entertainment Tonight premiered September 14, 1981, in first-run syndication and continues to this day. It was the first syndicated program sent by satellite.

*Here you can read more about mastermind Al Masini and Operation Prime Time.

*Here is the TV Guide ad from the 1981 Fall Preview:

*That Monday Night Football game from the Monday night debut in 1981 saw the Raiders crush the Vikings, 36-14.

*In addition to his long run on The Young and Restless, OG ET host Tom Hallick appears in Irwin Allen's 1976 pilot Time Travelers.

*You can see Marjorie Wallace become Miss World in 1973 in this week's video playlist or by clicking here.

Hill Street Blues won 6 Emmys, including best drama series; while Taxi won 5, including best comedy series.

*Burt Reynolds' Paternity grossed just under $19 million for Paramount in its 1981 wide release. Roger Ebert's review is right here.

*Bo Derek's Tarzan the Ape Man was a big hit despite being trashed by critics.

*Faye Dunaway plays Evita Peron in the 1981 TV movie of the same name--Evita Peron, not Faye Dunaway. The movie co-stars James Farentino as Juan Peron (!) along with Rita Moreno, Signe Hasso, and Michael Constantine.

*The Four Seasons was released in May 1981 and was a short-lived TV show in 1984.

*The second episode we spotlight is from Thursday, September 18, 1986.

*The Bengals beat the Browns 30-13 in the ABC broadcast of Thursday Night Football.

*Mary Hart became co-host in 1982, stepping down in 2011. John Tesh joined her in 1986 and left the series in 1996. Leeza Gibbons was on the show 1984-2000. John and Leeza from Hollywood debuted in syndication in 1993, then became Leeza when Tesh left and ran to Fall 2000.

*Robb Weller was only on the show 1984-1986, but he continued to host Entertainment This Week until 1989.

*John Fogerty's Eye of the Zombie album was a disappointment, and he didn't do another solo album for 11 years.

*It's a Live-In World is a project from the Anti-Heroin Project benefiting the Phoenix House Charities in the UK. The video is in the playlist! 

*Perry King's movie with Loni Anderson is 1986 TV movie Stranded.

*Also in the playlist, head to the end for some vintage Lionel Richie concert footage that includes some dancing on the ceiling!

Episode 11-2: Entertainment Tonight

In our first listener poll episode of the season, we cover two episodes of the original entertainment news magazine Entertainment Tonight. First up, the series premiere. While the show looks familiar, the hosts might not. Luckily, Burt Reynolds is there to hold the hands the audience and fifty pregnant women. Next, an episode from the classic Mary Hart-John Tesh era. This one has 1986 written all over it--Lionel Richie, the Mets, and Judd Nelson! 

#podcast #tv #retrotv #seventies #eighties #entertainmenttonight #maryhart #johntesh #leezagibbons

 

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...