What is
Pink Lady? In Japan they are remembered for a string of pop hits in the 70s, but Americans might remember them either from their disco single "
Kiss In The Dark" or from an attempt to sell them to the US market in 1980 via a short-lived NBC variety show
Pink Lady & Jeff (
TVParty summary) with comedian
Jeff Altman. (
Opening). The show featured their Japanese hits,
UFO,
MONSTER (a bi
t more rock and roll), and
SOS along with US hits like
Boogie Wonderland,
McArthur Park and the
occasional guest star. (with
encore)
Also, Roy Orbison.
Sadly, the show failed to break out and the two returned to Japan for a series of farewell concerts and retrospectives. Much, much more available at this
charmingly retro, utterly exhaustive fan site devoted to them. Or just
read the recaps. [more inside]
posted by The Whelk
on Dec 11, 2011 -
33 comments
The greatest TV show you will probably never see: Aunty Jack, a ten-foot tall, boxing-glove wearing, motor-cycling, moustached cross-dresser, was the star of
The Aunty Jack Show, which ran for thirteen episodes in 1972-73 on the
Australian Broadcasting Commission TV network (and was the first show broadcast on Australian TV in colour).
Many of the original episodes have been lost (but
records of them exist). Re-release on video or DVD of the remaining episodes is tangled up in copyright issues. The 1974 album
Aunty Jack Sings Wollongong was re-released on CD, and still seems to be available. It includes such classics as 'Fish Milkshakes' and 'Teenage Butcher' and the song 'Farewell Aunty Jack', which was a number 1 hit in Australia. Some samples can be found
here.
There were spinoffs from
Aunty Jack, most notably the
Norman Gunston Show, with Norman playing the prototypical terrrible interviewer and inspiring the much later
Ali G,
Dennis Pennis and many others.
I was two years old when the series aired: Aunty Jack's threat at the end of each episode, that: 'If you don't watch next week,
I'll rip your bloody arm off!' meant that I never, ever, missed it.
posted by chrisgregory
on Jan 30, 2003 -
33 comments