Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters
Country music superstar Barbara Mandrell hosted this Sid and Marty Krofft-produced music-variety series with her younger sisters, Louise and Irelene. The show aired in 1980 and 1981.
Also helping out was Truck Shackley & the Texas Critters, a group of Krofft puppets that included five musicians and a dog. While most of the show's material centered on comedy sketches (including a regular play depicting the sisters' youths), the meat of the show remained rooted in country music.
Each week, a well-established country star (such as, Dolly Parton, Larry Gatlin, Charley Pride, the Statler Brothers and Marty Robbins) and an up-and-coming act of the era (including later superstar acts Alabama, Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner) made appearances, playing their biggest and current hits. The show played off the success of Barbara Mandrell's fast-exploding country career, which included sell-out concerts.
------------------------------------------------------------Hee Haw
Hee Haw, featuring Buck Owens and Roy Clark as co-hosts, although Owens departed the series at the end of the 1986 season. Hee Hall was popular for it's purposely cornball jokes, shapely women and country music guest stars.
The series ran on network television, 1969-1971, but was picked up in syndication beginning with the '71-'72 season and remained on the air through May 1992.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Nashville Now
Nashville Now is a television talk show that focused on country music performers. It aired live weeknights on The Nashville Network from 1983-1993. The host was Nashville TV/radio personality Ralph Emery. The show won several Emmy awards during its run. A frequent guest and substitute host was Shotgun Red, a puppet performed by bandleader Steve Hall. It originated from TNN's studio (Gaslight Theater) at Opryland USA in Nashville, which, as of 2009, is the only remaining standing structure from the Opryland Themepark.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was a CBS network television music and comedy variety show hosted by singer Glen Campbell from January 1969 through June 1972.
Campbell was offered the show after he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The show was one of the few rural-oriented shows to survive CBS's rural purge of 1971.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Jimmy Dean Show
The Jimmy Dean Show is the name of several similar music and variety series on American local and network television between 1957–75. Each starred country music singer Jimmy Dean as host
The Jimmy Dean Show, initially called Country Style, aired live on WTOP-TV in Washington, DC in early 1957. It was picked up by the CBS-TV network from April 8 ~ December 13, 1957 under the name The Morning Show from 7–7:45 a.m. ET Monday–Friday.
Guests included Chet Atkins, Billy Walker, Little Jimmy Dickens, George Hamilton IV, and the Country Lads; Mary Klick was a regular. The producer was Connie B. Gay.
CBS then carried The Jimmy Dean Show on its daytime schedule from September 14, 1958 ~ June 1959 from New York, airing from 2–2:30 p.m. ET Monday–Saturday. Guests on the variety program included Hans Conried and Jaye P. Morgan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Johnny Cash Show
The Johnny Cash Show was a television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971 on ABC. It was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee USA.
Cash opened each show and its regulars included members of his touring troupe, June Carter Cash (his wife) and the Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins and The Tennessee Three, with musical director-arranger-conductor Bill Walker. The Statler Brothers performed brief comic interludes.
It featured many country musicians, such as Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, Merle Haggard and Tammy Wynette.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Kitty Wells/Johnnie Wright Family Show
Kitty Wells, is a country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, made her the first female country singer to top the country charts and turned her into the first female country star. Her top-10 hits continued until the mid-1960s, inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.
Kitty Wells was popular enough to start her own syndicated television program with her husband in 1969. The Kitty Wells/Johnnie Wright Family Show also featured appearances by their children, including singer Bobby Wright.
However, the program could not compete against shows starring more contemporary male artists like Porter Wagoner and the Wilburn Brothers and only ran for one year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Porter Wagoner Show
Porter Wagoner was a popular country music singer known for his flashy Nudie suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Wagoner's syndicated television program, The Porter Wagoner Show, aired from 1960 to 1981. At its peak, his show was featured in over 100 markets, with an average viewership of over three million.
The shows usually featured opening performances by Wagoner with performances by Norma Jean, and later Parton and comedic interludes by Speck Rhodes. During Parton's tenure, she and Wagoner usually sang a duet. Each episode also featured a guest who would usually perform one or two songs. A spiritual or gospel performance was almost always featured toward the end of the show.
The shows had a friendly, informal feel, with Wagoner trading jokes with band members and exchanging banter with Parton.
Wagoner's stage alter ego was Skid Row Joe. The cast included:
- Singer Norma Jean (1960–1967)
- Singer Dolly Parton (1967–1974)
- Singer Mel Tillis
- Comedian/stand-up bass Curly Harris (1960–mid-60s)
- Comedian/stand-up bass Speck Rhodes (mid-1960s onward)
- Announcer Don Howser
- The house band, The Wagonmasters:
Benny Williams (guitar), Buck Trent(banjo and guitar), George McCormick (rhythm guitar), Don Warden (steel guitar), Jack Little (drums), Mack Magaha (fiddle), Ray Downs (rhythm guitar and vocal) and Michael Treadwell (bass guitar).
After 1974:
Fred Newell (banjo/guitar/mandolin), Dave Kirby (guitar), Stu Basor (steel guitar/dobro), Bobby Dyson (bass), Jerry Carey (drums), Mack Magaha ( fiddle) and Linda Carol Moore (vocals).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Starler Brothers Show
The Statler Brothers Show was a variety show hosted by the country music group The Statler Brothers broadcast on The Nashville Network. The theme song of the show was an instrumental version of the Statler Brother hit, The Class of '57
The show ran for seven seasons beginning in 1991 and was the most popular show on The Nashville Network. The show was co-hosted by country stars Crystal Gayle and Ronna Reeves.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------The Wilburn Brothers Show
The Wilburn Brothers (Doyle & Teddy) had a syndicated television program, The Wilburn Brothers Show, that ran from 1963 to 1974, with 354 half-hour episodes produced.
------------------------------------------------------------Source: Wikipedia, 2011.
