Search Results for: 1986 emmy

Last week on this blog, we looked at the opening to the 1986 Emmy Awards where they marched out a parade of TV stars in a salute to their catch phrases. Due to an error during the live number, the wrong door was opened and we caught a fast glimpse of a man who didn't get to deliver his catch phrase, at least at that moment. I asked readers of this blog to help me figure who it was but before I get to that, I think I need to post one of these…

I received dozens and dozens of guesses and theories and after evaluating them all, I came to the conclusion that, yes, one celebrity who was supposed to be in the number didn't get to deliver his or her catch phrase…but it's not the one we catch a brief glimpse of on camera. The one we see behind the door is Bob Barker, who delivered his line later in the number. Donald Rooney was one of the folks who wrote in and convinced me…

Here's how I read it; see if it makes sense. The setup for the other doors is that the dancers arrive at the door in a medium shot, open it, and the actor/actress steps out in a tighter shot to deliver the line. Here's what I think happened with the botched door: the dancers arrive in the medium shot, the guy reaches for one door, backs away for some reason, then opens the door next to it. When they cut to the tighter shot, the camera is trained on that first un-opened door, and has to swing around to the door the dancer half-opened, which is the wrong door. The guy behind the wrong door — who looks like Bob Barker — doesn't step up to say his line because the dancer wasn't supposed to open that door. Later, when Bob Barker does step out and deliver his line, it does seem to be from the door the dancer half-opened by mistake.

I think it does. That, of course, leaves us wondering who was behind the door that didn't get opened. On this question, we're low on clues but Jeff Peterson found this article in the L.A. Times written by someone who didn't know how to spell Jack Paar's name…

A special "catch phrase" opening number featuring numerous television stars and their respective one-liners that have become part of the language added a touch of nostalgia to the 38th annual Emmy Awards telecast Sunday night on NBC.

Among the celebrities appearing live to utter their famous lines were Beatrice Arthur of "The Golden Girls" ("God will get you for that," from "Maude"); Walter Cronkite ("And that's the way it is"); Allen Funt ("Smile, you're on 'Candid Camera' "); Don Johnson of "Miami Vice" ("OK, pal"); Ed McMahon of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" ("Heeeeeere's Johnny!"); Jack Parr ("I kid you not"); Joan Rivers ("Can we talk?"); William Shatner ("Beam me up"); and Herve Villachaize, ("De plane, boss, de plane").

Other performers scheduled to appear in the segment included Bob Barker, Milton Berle, Gary Coleman, Bill Dana, Sammy Davis Jr., Barbara Eden, Ralph Edwards, Peter Falk, Peter Graves, Don Knotts, Bronson Pinchot, Telly Savalas, Dick Van Dyke and Adam West.

Stars and characters appearing on archival taped inserts included Alfred Hitchcock, Don Adams, Billy Crystal, Ed Sullivan, Steve Martin, Jack Benny, Flip Wilson, Jack Webb, Ted Knight, Jim Nabors, Jack Lord, Polly Holliday, Michael Conrad, Carroll O'Connor, Phil Silvers, Rod Serling, Ted Cassidy, Bugs Bunny, Robin Williams, Tony Randall, Mary Tyler Moore, Lou Costello, Fred Flintstone, Mr. Ed, Lucille Ball and Art Carney.

Obviously, the number underwent some changes after this article was written, perhaps because some folks canceled. The opening as aired did not include live appearances of Joan Rivers, William Shatner, Barbara Eden, Telly Savalas or Dick Van Dyke. Shatner and Van Dyke were in clips so it was probably wasn't them behind the unopened door, although Dick was in the finale of the show so he was at least present. (I'm not sure what Dick Van Dyke's catch phrase might have been.)

Maybe the missing person was Joan Rivers, Barbara Eden or Telly Savalas…or maybe it was someone else not mentioned in the article. They didn't use clips of Flip Wilson, Jack Benny, Jack Webb or Art Carney as per the article. Maybe the reason Flip's wasn't shown was because he was there live behind the door that wasn't opened. Benny and Webb were gone by '86 and Art Carney obviously wasn't on the premises that night. If he'd been present, he would have been in the closing "Old Friends" number right next to Audrey Meadows. Several other folks who were in the closing like Steve Allen, Robert Stack and Red Buttons had catch phrases so maybe it was one of them…and I think I'm long past the stage of admitting we'll never know.

So enough about the 1986 Emmy Awards show opening. Let's look at the opening number from another year, this time saluting theme songs. Again, you'll see a lot of familiar faces if you're anywhere near my age. And again, you'll notice a lot of folks miss their cues and don't know which way or when to exit on live television. But it's still a fun number.

But don't believe everything you read. This video clip says it's from 1986 and it's not. I showed you the 1986 opening. What year is this then? Well, let's get the detective work about this out of the way now. Here's how I figured it out…

The big ovation for Bert Parks would suggest it was the 1980 ceremony. In early 1980, there was a big controversy when Mr. Parks was fired from his longtime job as host of the Miss America pageant. But this can't be '80 because there was an actor's strike in 1980 and most performers, including almost all the nominees, refused to show up for the Emmys that year. That would then make you think it was 1981, 1982 or 1983 but I have videos of those years' ceremonies and this ain't the opening of any of 'em.

So I figured it had to be between 1984 and 1991 because Parks died before the 1992 Emmy telecast…and we know it wasn't '86. I don't have videos of any of those possible years and the openings aren't on YouTube — but at least one award presentation for each year is up there. So I looked to see in which year the set matched…and sure enough, in this clip from 1985, it matches. In fact, Linda Lavin is in that clip wearing the same gown she's wearing in this number and then I verified that the award she presented was actually presented that year. Hey, you thought Columbo was thorough.

So here's the opening from '85. I think everyone who was supposed to be on stage actually got on stage, though a few of them seemed to forget they were supposed to lip-sync. And watch how Loretta Swit sings the M*A*S*H theme song but they end it before they get to the uncomfortable title…

Earlier this A.M., I posted links to two videos from the 1986 Emmy Awards. The first was a musical number in which various TV stars pop out of doors to say their signature lines (i.e., catch phrases) and as I noted, one star didn't get on. A dancer opened the wrong door or the timing was off or something…but one star was glimpsed only for a fraction of a second and wasn't able to say his line.

People are sending me guesses that I'm sure are wrong but what would be right? The moment occurs about 1:42 into the video. You see a smidgen of a slender, dark-haired man who may also be dark-skinned…but maybe not. Anyone got a theory as to who it is? I'm thinking Ricardo Montalban and the line he would have said was "Smiles, smiles, everyone." But I'm not confident of this, especially since they'd already had Hervé Villechaize from Fantasy Island and the rule of this production number seems to be one catch phrase per show. (And if they did have two, I think they'd have put them back-to-back. They did go from Jack Paar to the guy who always introduced Johnny Carson.)

Anyone have a better guess than Montalban?

Hey, you like to see famous TV stars? If you're under thirty, don't bother with this post but if you're my age, give or take ten years, you probably loved the opening and closing of the 1986 Emmy Awards. Someone obviously turned to someone and said, "Hey, let's get as many TV stars as possible to do walk-ons." This was back in the day when you could get stars to participate in award shows when they hadn't been nominated. Now, if you ain't presenting or you ain't up for one, you ain't there.

Here's the opening of the show, which was a salute to great TV catch phrases. One poor star (I dunno who) didn't get on because a dancer opened the wrong door but there are plenty of other famous faces…

And here's the finale in which some under-rehearsed folks perform a song by Mr. S. Sondheim. You will notice that for some reason, Lamb Chop is wearing a microphone but Eve Arden isn't. The older gentleman next to Jackie Cooper who I couldn't recognize at first is, I believe, Bob Cummings. You should know everyone else…

Bob Elisberg (whose blog I hope you're visiting on a regular basis) sent me this link to a production number from the 1986 Emmy Awards. It's a mess of TV stars singing snatches of — or merely walking on to — their shows' theme songs. I think it's all prerecorded and lip-sync'd so I dunno what went wrong with Carol Burnett's audio at the end. But remember when TV shows had memorable theme songs and they could do something like this?

Adam West…sigh. Real nice man. I was tapped to interview him at a couple of comic book conventions and at one of them, we wound up having a dinner during which neither one of us mentioned Batman at all. From the way we didn't talk about it, I got the feeling he considered it a mixed blessing. It made him very famous. I don't think it made him very wealthy, at least at the time. Decades later, it was the autograph circuit that did that.

When he signed on for the role, he was a working actor who probably wasn't working enough. He had some good roles but he hadn't really distinguished himself; hadn't cut himself away from a herd of other handsome leading men types in his age bracket. Batman finally set him off from the others but for that, he paid a high, immediate price. It only lasted three seasons, getting very hot and then very cold in a very short span of time. Once it was off, it was Adam West's career that got very cold. He was a fine, versatile talent but he was too associated with that character and with a style of deliberately bad acting which no one wanted in their show or movie.

The first time I met Adam was at the Comic-Con in San Diego in 1986, I think. The Batman movie which would star Michael Keaton had been announced but Keaton had not been cast. No one had, nor had the film been green-lit for production. Adam was not a guest of the con. He had driven down to San Diego and maybe even paid admission, just to walk around the hall and try to drum up support for him to be cast in the role.

He had assumed — wrongly — that anyone who loved Batman considered him the definitive actor to play the part and that we'd all rally behind him. The presence of Adam West at the con drew very little interest and zero groundswell.

Back then, I don't think too many fans remembered that show fondly. It was, after all, a show that ridiculed the property — it was nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy Series, remember — produced in large part by people who thought the comic books were stupid and those of us who bought them were stupider. We didn't know much about the then-pending Batman feature but we did know that it was supposed to be the antithesis of the TV show. The Casting Call, if there was one, probably said they were seeking anyone who wasn't Adam West.

He didn't get the part…or very many others around then but time changes how we view some things. Maybe it was just inertia. Maybe it was because as mainstream media began taking comic book characters more seriously, we who loved comics felt less threatened by one spoof. Maybe some people even felt that the move towards a darker, grittier Batman took the character too far to that side and the show Adam had done represented when Batman was more fun and less psychotic.

Pick one or come up with your own reason that the show became beloved and that folks lined up to pay for his signature, as well as that of his co-stars. At the first con where I interviewed him, West and Frank Gorshin were there on a guarantee of a very impressive number of dollars…and they way exceeded their guarantees. At about the same time, producers and directors who'd been tots when Batman was on began trying to hire Adam West for non-Batman roles, just because they loved him and wanted to work with him. (I should mention here that his career was also helped a lot by an agent named Fred Wostbrock, whose obit — sadly — was posted here last November.)

Adam West lived and survived long enough to become a genuine, in-demand superstar…and he deserved it. Like I said, he was a real nice man and a much more able actor than any line of that TV show required. Aside from the parts about him and his agent dying, this is a pretty happy ending.

One evening in 1986, I got a call from Gary Belkin, a friend of mine who was one of the top comedy writers of all time with numerous Emmy Awards and other trophies to prove it. "Any chance you're going to be at the Improv tonight?" he asked. I hadn't planned to go by but he somehow talked me into it.

There was a new comedienne who was showcasing there, testing out the act she would be doing the following night on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. It was potentially her big show biz break — not her first time on TV but the first time that really, really mattered. Gary had been hired to coach and critique her, and he wondered if I could be there to add my opinion to the pile. Since the script I was writing that night was getting nowhere fast, I decided to go in, see this lady I'd never heard of before and hang around for a bit.

The largely-unknown performer took stage shortly after I arrived…and you'd never have known from her demeanor and presence that she was largely-unknown. She was confident without being cocky. She had strong material and she delivered it with confidence and good spirit. When Gary asked me if I had any "notes" to offer, I said, "Yes. Tell her to do it exactly like that." As it turned out, that's what he'd already told her.

Soon after, he brought her over to meet me and I told her something like, "I hope you enjoy tonight because after tomorrow evening, you're going to be spending every waking minute turning down offers." We chatted for a few minutes and I thought she was cute in both visuals and personality…so I did what I usually did back then when I met a woman I liked. I suggested, in as non-pushy a manner as I could manage, that we might have dinner some night. I don't recall the words of her polite turndown but I recall thinking, "Gee, that was about the nicest way any woman ever told me to get lost."

So we never went out…or even spoke again. Still, it wasn't a total waste: I got a joke out of it. The line — and I've used it more than once — is to say of some futile activity, "That's the biggest waste of time since that evening I spent at the Improv hitting on Ellen DeGeneres." Yep, that's who it was and I still think she's terrific. She was terrific the next night with Mr. Carson, she was terrific in all those gigs she got as a result of being terrific with Mr. Carson, and whenever I tune in her afternoon chat show, I think she's real good at it.

I didn't, however, think she was that wonderful in '07 hosting the Academy Awards…and it was not her fault. The job to me requires someone who is a movie star (Billy Crystal, Hugh Jackman), a person of great importance (Johnny Carson, Bob Hope) or, preferably, both (Steve Martin, Frank Sinatra). Ellen has done a few films but she isn't a movie star and she doesn't quite meet my other requirement either. But do they listen to me? Nope: She's been announced as next year's Oscar host. She'll be better than Seth MacFarlane but so probably would anyone chosen at random from the phone book. Hey, maybe she can do a tasteful song called "We Saw Your Dick."

It of course doesn't matter that much who hosts the Oscars. Doesn't matter to the world and I don't think it even matters that much to the Oscars. The show's about the awards, not about the person who does the big, fancy opening then disappears for most of the proceedings. If it can't be someone like Steve Martin, it oughta be Neil Patrick Harris who is, sort of, a movie star these days.  Heck, I'd even waive all my rules for him and say he should host every awards show of any kind.  I imagine he was bypassed for the Oscars because someone felt he's too identified with the Tonys. It also may be that he'd want to bring in his own producing team rather than the folks who already have that job. But one of these days…