Everybody's pocket surprise here we are back for the fourth show in a row.
Uh huh. Well it's more than that but as you'll see the Smothers brothers are still all fired up about being fired 18 years ago.
And Dolly, Emmylou and Linda are all fired up now over their new album.
Alright what else you got in the air?
Well Rob, you know second bananas don't slip in the uh, field department.
But there may be a fortune in a Vanna computer chip off the old block.
And these guys are still crazy like foxes.
And pop stars go country.
As entertainment this week goes around the world.
And we possibly fit all these things into one show.
Everybody has their own intricate place on that show. It's like a puzzle and we all fit.
Music
And welcome to entertainment this week. I'm Rob Weller.
Lisa Gibbons is off this week. She's a presenter at the Australian Television Awards.
So I've got the pleasure of welcoming the co-host of our daily show, Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight.
And welcome back Mary.
Thanks Robbo. It's great to be sitting here with you. I have to check out what you do on the weekends every once in a while.
Yeah. Well we've got a good show right?
Absolutely. Terrific story which you know about right now.
Alright well I get right into it. Because as you know trends in entertainment are always changing.
And it seems that this is the year of the...
1957. It's just five weeks away at least on entertainment this week.
We'll celebrate that classic year in entertainment and more on that as we get closer to 1957.
It's been quite a bit less than 30 years but fans of these three ladies want to know what took them so long.
Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt spent over a decade pulling together their new hit album Trio.
It's all about lost love and heartbreak with an old timey country flavor.
And for these strong willed successful artists it's also been a chance to let their hair down.
And for Lisa Gibbons to get to know, know, know them a little better.
Here you come again. Just when I'm about to get myself together.
In 1977 Dolly Parton crossed over from country to pop with Here You Come Again.
It was her first top five pop single and the beginning of her career as an international star.
I'm rolling back some day, come what may to Blue Bayou.
At the same time Linda Ronstadt was at the peak of her success with one of her biggest singles ever, Blue Bayou.
Blue Bayou.
While the pop charts had Parton and Ronstadt, one of country's top females was Emmylou Harris.
Mama never wanted any more than what she had.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
With the three of them in the midst of such busy solo careers, it's no wonder it took ten years for Trio to finally get made.
All of you individually are used to an awful lot of media attention, but this is an absolute phenomenon.
People are lined up for blocks to interview the three of you.
Do you enjoy the spotlight?
Well I've always enjoyed doing interviews, I've always enjoyed trying to be a star.
I think I always wanted the attention so I'm not going to bitch about it now.
Not with these two great people here with me.
How do you feel about it Emmylou?
Well I don't know if I feel I need it, but you know I'm enjoying this particular event because it's great to be with Dolly and Linda.
Somehow you're in the spotlight but you're not completely in the spotlight and somehow it's easier.
Who is, or is there anyone who is most in charge or anyone who is, I don't know, the loudest or the funniest?
Oh we know who is the loudest.
Guess who?
Who's also the funniest?
I think Linda and Emmylou certainly know more about music than I do.
I know more maybe about singing or singing from just a genuine place, especially on this particular kind of day.
They technically know a lot more about music.
We all have different strengths and weaknesses.
Certain songs one could sing, Dolly was always going, oh no, not the high part.
There's some songs that she could sing way higher than I could.
And then there would be other things where I could sing higher.
To know, know, know.
To know him is to love him was the first single to be released from the album, which has gone from country to top ten pop in only three weeks.
Do you all give advice to each other on anything but specifically on, well I think your hair Linda would look good if you did this or Dolly you should try this.
Oh sure, I'll put time.
We made Dolly put on a pink wig one time and it looks really good, pink Tina Turner wig looked fabulous.
Now we actually were very girly. We sit around and talk about clothes we should wear.
Oh Dolly you'd look great if you had some of these shoes, these flat shoes.
I wouldn't look good in flat shoes, you couldn't get me in flat shoes.
Or did you ever think to do this?
And makeup tips, oh we're real good with makeup tips and stuff.
So we're typical girls, we're good friends.
Well it's amazing they got anything done talking about shoes and makeup like that the whole time.
But you talk about how they look, don't you agree they all look much better than ten years later?
Oh 100% better than I can.
Alright coming up next, the Smothers Brothers comedy duo mark the painful television anniversary they'd rather forget.
Add a little bit later on in the show we're going to introduce you to some people who make a prissy penny making music stick in your head.
Music
Music
Music
Weekdays at 4 on Channel 8.
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music
Music
This past week marks another historical entertainment date.
Friday was the 18th anniversary of the day the Smothers Brothers comedy hour was cancelled by CBS.
Tom and Dick Smothers brought their popular comedy singing act to television at the height of the Vietnam era.
The TV oriented series with Tommy as the silly confused foil to the dry witted Dicky poked fun at everything from mom to god to apple pie.
And for television it was a time when the only thing it was safe to poke fun at was apple pie.
Music
Thank you very much, thank you very much. Why don't you thank Donald.
Thank you very much, you're probably, everybody's probably surprised here we are back for the fourth show in a row.
Surprised ourselves.
It wasn't really a joking matter to the Smothers Brothers. They were on thin ice with CBS because of the material they performed.
Well I've been reading up on a theory on the correlation between clothes and politics.
Politics, now that was exactly what got them into trouble.
When we got into the really volatile areas of the 60's, the civil rights, the black and the white, the doves and the hawks, really strong emotions and things that are dealing with national policy.
And of course national policy was to get out of Vietnam but if anybody said on television we should get out, you were arguing with national policy.
Their criticism of national policy came in the form of comedy, like Tom's correlation between clothes and politics.
What do you mean?
Well it's just that you can tell who's running the country by how much clothes people wear.
Who's running the country?
Yeah but you can tell by how much clothes the people wear by who's running the country.
What do you mean, like some people can afford more clothes on and other people less clothes on?
That's right, exactly. See some people, ordinary people are the lessons.
Uh huh.
They're the lessons. Well who's running the country?
The morons.
And there was criticism through song, especially when it was focused on Vietnam.
Pete Seeger singing Big Muddy, Deep in the Big Muddy, which was an important statement.
Well the first time I did it on the Smothers Brothers in October of 1967, it was scissored out of the show by the CBS network officials in New York.
Waste deep in the big muddy, the big fool says to Pochon. Waste deep in the big muddy, the big fool says to Pochon. Waste deep, neck deep, soon even a tall man will be over his head where. Waste deep in the big muddy, the big fool says to Pochon.
And everybody knew something had been cut. Well the Smothers Brothers took their argument to the printed page.
They said CBS is cutting out our best songs, they're censoring our best jokes, uh, censoring Seeger's best song, and uh, they actually got a lot of publicity.
But publicity alone could not keep them on the air. The Smothers Brothers were canceled for political reasons that they're still philosophical about.
We just had a big platform, a painting, a picture, a presentation.
I always say we're at the scene of the accident. We're at the scene of the accident and we recorded it.
We have a television show at the scene of the accident and our awareness happened right at that point when we had a show and our voice was a little larger.
But we're not politically active, we've never been.
No, it was the show really preaching or trying to make people think in a certain way. It was throwing out an idea to roll around in your mind. That's all it was and it was so gentle.
Well, whatever the case, the question does remain, are you a lesson or a moron?
The Brothers have added winemaking to their wisecracking. Their Napa Valley winery makes a table wine called Mom's Favorite Red.
Alright, some notable television shows which are on the air this week.
Monday, the 22nd Academy of Country Music Awards hosted by Patrick Duffy and the Judds will air on NBC.
And West 57th, the newsmagazine show returns to CBS.
Tuesday, Yvette Mimou stars as a soap opera fan who is overly infatuated with Simon McCorkindale and CBS's obsessive love.
And Lawrence Luckenbill stars in a one-man tour de force on Wednesday night when Lyndon Johnson comes to public television.
And airing this Monday on ABC, Sworn to Silence, a television movie about the confidential nature of the lawyer-client relationship.
Peter Coyote plays the lawyer.
Here in our exclusive preview, Coyote and his colleague and friend, Dabney Coleman, find they're at odds on the meaning of privileged information.
What's the matter with you? Law's not a father, not a mother, doesn't cry.
So much for justice, huh?
Justice? Sam, we're not in the justice business, we're in the law business.
We didn't have to be here. We didn't have to know.
Yes we did, Sam. We had to get all the facts. Anything less is fatal to a defense.
Sam, the court assigned us to protect the rights of Vincent Colley.
What about those two girls? Who protects their rights?
A couple of weeks ago we showed you some of our most beloved sidekicks.
Second Bananas have been around forever and they're an important part of our entertainment history.
Sherlock Holmes had his Dr. Watson. The Lone Ranger relied on his Indian friend Tonto.
Well what about today? Part two of our Sidekick series explores the men and women who are helping out today's favorite television stars.
I've always said if we were machinists in a big foundry somewhere, we'd be pals, you know, we'd know each other.
It's who do you trust? Thank you, thank you very much.
Well another day another dollar. Ed McMahon.
Ed McMahon and Johnny Carson first teamed up on a game show in the late 50s and the rest, well, it's history.
He has oftentimes told me on the anniversary show in front of America, leaned over and touched my shoulder or something,
and said I just want you to know I wouldn't be sitting here if he wasn't sitting there. So that's nice.
And on entertainment this week, the miraculous talents of Smokey Robinson.
His 40th album is climbing the charts and you're gonna find out why.
He's Martin Sheen's son and Emilio Estevez's brother, but heartthrob Charlie Sheen has made a name for himself with his new film, Platoon.
And Monday on Entertainment Tonight, Matthew Broderick unveils his new summer film, Project X.
Stay with us. We have a lot more coming up on Entertainment This Week.
[♪upbeat music playing
[♪upbeat music playing
[♪upbeat music playing
Here's a question for you. What's your favorite commercial jingle of all time?
It's a good time for the great taste of McDonald's.
J-E-L-L-O. Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat.
I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.
I heard it through the grapevine.
Seagrams, golden wine cooler.
You're the Pepsi generation.
Because Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A. That's it.
[♪upbeat music playing
I like the guy that looks like the accountant singing, uh, uh, the world.
I didn't recognize a lot of those qualities, I must say.
Everybody's really kind of into it. That's good.
I'm Rob Weller.
And I'm Mary Hart.
You're welcome back to Entertainment This Week. Do you have a favorite commercial?
Well, I suppose my favorite has to be one of the most limp of all times because it's so detestable.
Look for the Union Label.
I appreciate the message, but really, how about you?
The one I cannot get out of my head currently, it's the Maxwell House coffee one.
And I don't even know how it goes.
Maxwell House coffee, la da ba ba, bum bum bum.
It's really stuck in your head.
I go around all day, it's sickening.
Yeah.
Well, one of the problems with some of the songs that we hear, they're the ones that do stick in your heads,
and they're the commercial jingles. They just don't go away.
We met with two of the jingle writers in New York, whose job it is to keep all those songs going around in our heads.
That is, if we can really remember them.
David Buskin and Robin Bateau are two of the talented musicians.
They have a number of albums to their credit, but the songs we all remember best are those short little numbers.
You probably didn't even know they did.
She fold back the covers, and she kissed his tender skin, the boy with the violin.
On violin, Robin Bateau with partner David Buskin at the piano.
They're veteran musicians known to a handful of folk aficionados for their smooth tenor harmonies and their superb musical talent.
But for David Buskin and Robin Bateau, their greatest popularity is an invisible one.
Every day, millions of Americans hear and sing along with their hits, even though they have never heard of the two.
But that doesn't bother David and Robin, because in the last couple of years, their music has truly become...
That's right, Buskin and Bateau's stay-in-town magic sound has made them two of the hottest jingle writers in the advertising business.
But how did two folkies end up on Madison Avenue?
Buskin started as a singer that took Bateau a little longer.
Oh, I was an artist, man. I wasn't going to do jingles, forget it.
David wrote, the first thing that he... I guess it was the second thing that you wrote here, and the first thing that you won, was the NBC Just Watch Us Now?
That's right.
Yeah.
And...
We're NBC, just watch us now.
Followed by...
NBC, let's all be there.
Robin reluctantly let David talk him into jingle writing, but he went to work for a competing company.
And the second thing that I wrote was the Cheerios theme. It goes a little bit like this.
The unsinkable taste of Cheerios.
Not a lot of sugar to weigh down those Cheerios. Look how they float, no keeping them down.
Before you get the wrong idea, they're not instant superstars. They both have been playing for years, but it wasn't until they met in a band called Pierce Arrow in the mid-70s that they started to find their own musical niche.
It was a terrible mistake.
Not anything has turned into a musical collaboration which continues to evolve and garner critical raves.
Though the two don't collaborate on jingles, it is the money from jingles, from Burger King to Chunky, that allows them to control their careers.
We can do anything we want. We can write any kind of song we want to write and we're making a record.
We make records for our own little company now.
Whenever we feel like it. And nobody's telling us how to do it.
You know, there's not a record company executive telling us, well, you gotta do this and you gotta write it this way.
And I know how to write a song because I went to law school.
What's new?
For 91-year-old George Burns, it's a new film, 18 Again, based on his hit song, From Which Year I Don't Know, I Wish I Was 18 Again.
I don't. For Robert Culp, a reunion with former I Spy co-star Bill Cosby on Cosby's hit series. That airs April 9th.
For Goldie Hawn, it's a new comedy, Overboard, that starts filming April 6th.
And for actor Paul Lamatt, it's a new CBS dramatic movie, No Secrets.
No Secrets about this. Musical satire is one of the oldest forms of humor, a tradition made popular by current performers such as the guys you saw earlier, the Smothers Brothers, Victor Borga and Tom Lehrer.
Well, the Academy Awards were all over the news this week and what better target for a musical satirist than that huge media event?
So we asked Los Angeles-based satirist Dale Gagne, a man who's been called the Monty Python of the piano, for his unique perspective on the night the stars came out in Hollywood.
Oscar night in movie land, a Hollywood who's who. Everyone who's anyone was there, but Mr. Newman, where were you?
Oh Paul, you should have been there. You would have loved it all. Most everybody else showed up, from Bugs Bunny to Lauren Bacall.
Shirley MacLaine got dropped off by an extraterrestrial friend, and three hours later we all wondered if the show would ever end.
And all the nominees, from the superstars to the sleaze, stopped breathing when they heard the words, may I have the envelope please?
Oh Paul, you should have been there. Where was Woody and Michael Caine? You were probably all together watching the NCAA game.
Spielberg got the Amy Irving Thalberg Award. There were almost half as many stars as there are at Betty Ford.
Brennial prayed a thank you, from sincere to absurd. If you'd shown up at least your acceptance speech might have been heard.
Oh Paul, you should have been there. You missed a heck of a night. Paul Hogan was a hoot, and Chevy Chase was out of sight.
Platoon took home four Oscars, and they could have taken more. They also could have named that film, The Way We Wore.
Goldie, Shirley, Liz and Beth were all tremendous hits. And Marley, Angelica and Oprah showing off their titillating smiles.
Paul, you should have been there. But if you haven't seen it yet, call me tomorrow and you can borrow my videocassette.
Very good, I have a feeling he'll be back with more. Some movies to watch for at your movie theaters next weekend.
Family Ties star Michael J. Fox and Helen Slater star in a chaplainess comedy set in a New York office, The Secret of My Success.
And Platoon's Charlie Sheen and Masha's Sally Kellerman return from the wars for the new comedy, Free for the Road.
Need we say it yet again, the Academy Awards have been in the news this week, so what better time to talk about the musical director of this year's Oscar telecast.
Leonard Malton fills us in on the notable career of Lionel Newman.
I just love it. Anybody who's ever been to the movies has seen that logo and heard that fanfare.
It was written by the late Alfred Newman, who won nine Academy Awards for his movie scores.
His younger brother Lionel had a little to do with 20th Century Fox too. He spent 46 years there.
When Lionel retired at the end of 1985, he was the head of their music department.
A great career that produced a lot of great memories.
Lionel Newman has done just about everything a musician can do in movies.
He got his start as a rehearsal pianist on Fox musicals with stars like Betty Grable.
We used to call her Becky. She was so good. She really had no BS about her at all.
We'd have lunch, I would say, almost every day. And those musicals are kind of fun to do.
We didn't have the musicals like MGM did because we didn't have that kind of talent.
They were very sweet and very good, you know, typical musicals of that period.
He even composed a hit song, though it was introduced by a non-singer, Ida Lupino.
Again. This couldn't happen again.
Over the years, Lionel Newman has worked with them all, from Elvis Presley to Barbara Streisand to Marilyn Monroe.
A kiss on the hand, maybe quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend.
Contrary to what people think, Marilyn was a marvelous, marvelous girl, as far as I'm concerned.
Didn't have one bit of trouble with her. I know you hear stories about the problems.
I would say some of them, and quite a bit of them, were true, but never with music. She just loved it.
Did she like to sing?
Yes, she enjoyed it immensely.
But as much as he enjoyed the actors and actresses he worked with, Newman's greatest respect is reserved for composers, like his good friend John Williams.
I think he is one of the most talented of them all, but when you work with John and Jerry Goldsmith,
it compares to those days before of Hugo Friedhofer and Alex North, and when you work with the giants of the industry, I think some of it rubs off on you.
Obviously, the feeling is mutual.
His retirement is really the end of an epic, or the end of an era in Hollywood.
I think that if I've got my facts straight, that is true.
So it's really, in a way, a kind of beacon mark at the end of a kind of golden era, certainly of Hollywood music.
I feel like the only thing that's missing is the hearse.
No need for that. Lionel Newman is alive and well, and he hasn't left music behind just one chapter in his career, a career that was part of a very special era.
Leonard Maltin, Entertainment This Week.
I'm sure you've heard by now that jazz drummer Buddy Rich died this past Thursday at the age of 69.
He'd been operated on last month for the removal of a brain tumor, and Entertainment Tonight aired a tribute to Rich while he was still in the hospital.
We want to reprise this special homage in memory of an extraordinary man.
Tommy Dorsey said, this guy plays better with one arm than most guys play with two.
Last October in Disney World, I caught up with the man they called the world's greatest drummer.
For Rich, it was one of almost 250 performances he gave each year as the centerpiece of his own band.
As always, he found it difficult to explain how he played. He just did it.
I don't know anything really technically about drums, paradiddles, and rattlebees. That's nonsense.
My hands hit the drum, and if it comes out good, I'm lucky.
Rich was worshipped by drummers everywhere for over 40 years.
In 1946, he formed his own jazz band, In Between Gigs with Tommy Dorsey and ex-roommate Frank Sinatra.
Though known for being cocky and difficult, Rich was always respected as a perfectionist.
He enjoyed making fun of his bad boy image.
Mr. Rich, you don't know me.
Good. Let's keep it that way.
At a recent performance at the Hollywood Palladium for a PBS television special,
Rich's trademark drive and intensity were on full display.
He was then, as he had been for decades, the world's greatest drummer, exuding the very thing legends are made of.
It was great.
You know, I was nervous before I interviewed him because I heard about the reputation.
He was terrific. I will remember that conversation for a long, long time. He was marvelous.
He was really a remarkable performer. He traveled the world playing the drums since he was six years old.
That was over 60 years.
Geez. Actually, Buddy Rich was the one who coined the phrase,
jazz is the only true American art form, which a lot of people have subsequently repeated.
Well, jazz musicians, not only them, but music lovers everywhere,
will of course miss the man who contributed so much to that art form, Buddy Rich.
MUSIC
Wheel of Fortune co-hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White seem to be everywhere.
The understatement of the day.
They're just leaving right now from here. They've already appeared on 227.
There's also been talk that they may show up in a murder mystery, Mary.
Mmm. As a matter of fact, that's not the only place.
Bob Sarlot has the story on a home version of the phenomenally successful game show.
Can you spell computer?
Yes, this is the promised land.
The set of Wheel of Fortune, the most popular show on syndicated television.
Hey, who hasn't dreamed of being right here with Pat and Vanna?
Boy, I know I have.
But now, you can play Wheel of Fortune in the comfort and privacy of your own computer.
MUSIC
It turns out the Wheel of Fortune now is this kind of wheel.
A floppy disk you put in your computer, and off you go.
A company called Shared Data makes it, and boy, it's just like the real thing.
You've got contestants and a wheel that spins, a puzzle to solve,
and best of all, a little tiny Vanna White.
Mmm-mmm. Look at the way she moves.
Big money. Large denario. $500, Bob. What's your letter?
Well, Pat, I'll go with D.
Still too early. Two more numbers. No, but let's spin again. F1.
Oh, let me think here.
Free spin. Ooh, okay. Let's try G.
No Gs. Boy, this is just like the regular game on TV.
All right, let me try and spin here.
As a matter of fact, the computer game is actually endorsed by the real Wheel of Fortune as a parting gift.
Let's see, which one do I want, the computer game or the red jag?
Besides the Wheel of Fortune game, Shared Data also makes a computer version of Family Feud and Jeopardy.
But I like the wheel because when I win, it's almost like being on TV.
Thank you very much. I will need $400.
Congratulations, Bob. Nice going. You really played our game well. It was good having you.
Thank you very much, Pat. All righty.
Yes, I...wait a minute. Where am I? In office? And who am I? Bob?
Oh, yeah. I'm Bob Sarlat. Entertainment this week.
Sure is. That's our own homemaker from Pacoima, Bob Sarlat.
Well, that is it. Mary, thank you for joining us.
Hey, Rob, it's always great working with you. You know that?
Lots of fun. Lisa Gibbons is going to be back next week along with Smokey Robinson.
He's got a 40th album out and it's climbing the charts.
And there'll be more on those people behind the commercials, part two of Jingle Riders plus Platoon's Charlie Sheen.
You're not going to miss it.
No, absolutely not. Mary will be back along with John Tesh Monday on Entertainment Tonight.
We'll see you there.
We'll see you there.
Have a good week.
Thank you.