Review by Steve Desroches
If you’ve ever seen comedy writer Bruce Vilanch do his live stage shows here in Provincetown over the years then you already know he has an endless amount of crazy and hilarious stories about working in the mad, mad world that is Hollywood. Winner of two Emmy Awards Vilanch is one of, if not the most celebrated comedy writers in the history of television. Vilanch was the head writer for the Academy Awards telecast and wrote for the Tony, Emmy, and Grammy awards for years as well as pretty much every other award show of which you can think. He got his big break writing for Bette Midler just as her career was taking off, in part thanks to his words. He also was a head writer and guest on Hollywood Squares for years. His influence and impact on American popular culture cannot be understated. Perhaps it’s that level of accomplishment that made him feel comfortable to write the fabulously self-deprecating It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time, in which he chronicles his involvement in creating some of the biggest turkeys ever to grace the small screen.
The book, which is perfect escapist summer reading, devotes a chapter to each of these head-scratching stinkers. Shows that are really so bad, that you wouldn’t necessarily call them good, but compelling as you can’t understand how they got made in the first place. But when he offers up the explanation that much of television, and especially the ever-popular variety shows of the 1970s, were largely created by gay people on cocaine, it all starts to make sense.
While The Carol Burnett Show (which Vilanch did not write for) and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (which Vilanch did write for) were the gold standard for the variety show format, it seems everyone jumped on the band wagon and soon there were series like the Donny & Marie, The Muppet Show, and The Brady Bunch Hour (complete with Fake Jan). But then there were the one offs, which, in those pre-Internet days were fraught with peril as they were meant to be broadcast once and left to dissolve in some massive vault in Television City. But YouTube and fan podcasts have resurrected the trainwrecks that were the Stars Wars Holiday Special (1978) and the Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976). So, here’s Vilanch, some 50 years later, explaining himself. And it’s hilarious and entertaining.
Take this one to the pool or the beach and slip back to a simpler time when TV wasn’t mediocre, but down right terrible.
It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote by Bruce Vilanch is available where ever books are sold, but please support Provincetown’s independent book shops.
