Your Show of Shows (tv) . The Boston Phoenix . 12-01-97

Your Show of Shows (tv)

DIRECTED BY: Sid Caesar

REVIEWED: 12-01-97

Your Show of Shows was a classy variety show with all the excitement of live TV. Some of the stuff here, like opera scenes and pantomimes, could also be found on Ed Sullivan's program. More innovative were the parodies of current movies, which demonstrated one advantage of television over film: quick production times. Another reason for these sketches' appeal was that political satire was verboten on TV, but Sid Caesar and company were allowed to make other show-business people look silly (a rule that largely holds true today). Twenty-five years later, NBC introduced another end-of-the-week live 90-minute variety show aired from New York -- titled Saturday Night Live. But instead of lavish musical numbers and epic parodies of great films, SNL featured rock singers in T-shirts and quick spoofs of cheesy commercials.

Taken from The Boston Phoenix's "50 Years and Counting," a retrospective of the most influential programs from television's first half-century. Click here for the full article.

--Robert David Sullivan

Film Vault Suggested Links
It's Your Move (tv)
The Daily Show (tv)
The Honeymooners (tv)

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