A few months after Glenn Campbell got his own show his fellow country musician Johnny Cash got his own show also. The first episode aired on June 7, 1969. He had more hits at this time then Glenn did. He had Folsom Prison Blues as his opening theme and I Walk The Line as his closing theme. Carl Perkins, The Carter Family (easy to get since this legendary family were his in-laws) and the Statler Brothers were among the shows regulars. Johnny bridged many musical gaps and was able to get guest ranging from Louis Armstrong to Minnie Pearl to the Monkees on his show.
One of the highlights of the series was when for two episodes it became a documentary. It did a two part series on the history of country music and included everyone from Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams Sr., Jim Reeves and live performances from many others including Roy Acuff and Tammy Wynette.
At this time the Monkees were guest on both Cash and Campbell’s shows. I think they were hoping to get their own variety show. For those who aren’t aware the Monkees sit-com was renewed for a third season. The Monkees told the network that they didn’t want a new sit-com season they wanted to do a variety series. Perhaps fearing a take over like they did with Don Kirshner the network said it was a sit-com or no show. You know the results. I think it would have been pretty good. They could have gotten guest from all their various backgrounds from country to folk to rock and soul to Broadway. We already know they could do comedy. With NBC saying no they guest stared on shows on the other networks probably hoping ABC or CBS would make an offer. Neither one did.
Johnny’s first series was canceled in May of 1971 by ABC. However, he was back in the summer of 1976 on CBS with a similar type of series for 5 weeks. The regular comedic actors on the show were Steve Martin and the late Jim Varney. Musical guest were more country then pop rock. Unlike the previous series that included all forms of music of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment