The Lola Falana Show (1976 TV Specials/VSC/MVD DVD Set)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C+ Specials: B-
Discovered by Sammy Davis Jr., Lola Falana became a huge
sensation in Las Vegas
and made a serious, ambitious attempt to become the next big singing star,
though she had many other talents.
Before ABC surprised the whole industry and became the #1 network
(before NBC did it), the network backed four variety show TV specials. They have not been seen in decades, but are
now collected on a new DVD set rightly entitled The Lola Falana Show.
From the producers who made variety show TV series hits
with stars like Sonny & Cher, The Hudson Brothers and more, Falana gave it
her all and was able to get some very impressive talent to join her. The four specials and their main guest starts
are:
1) Muhammad
Ali & Hal Linden
2) Billy
Dee Williams & Gabe Kaplan
3) Redd
Foxx and Dick Van Dyke
4) Art
Carney & Dennis Weaver
Changing dresses as often as Diana Ross (who she is trying
to follow in the footsteps of commercially here down to more than a few covers
of Motown Records hits), each show is a decent mix of musical numbers
(sometimes she is alone, sometimes with an audience and also dancing and just
about always singing) and various comedy skits, this never developed into a hit
series (The Hudson Brothers also did specials before they got their show, which
you can see from the same DVD companies elsewhere on this site) but it was
still very rare for any woman (let alone a black woman) to have a TV show of
any kind at the time.
However, it is a terrific time capsule and though Falana
never had a hit record, she was amazing and this captures her at the peak of
her powers. The writers could not make
all the skits work here and the jokes written for her put her out of her
element, which is atypical of the team behind the show. Maybe if they mixed things up from show to
show, this could have been seen as four pilots, but it is long overdue for
these shows to surface. They are from
that last golden period of TV Variety Shows and as compared to others, hold up
well enough.
Regulars included Pat Morita, Murray Langston & Ted
Zeigler (regulars on many of these shows which they wrote on with an unseen
Alan Thicke), plus surprise guests including Bill Cosby, Sonny & Cher, Dinah
Shore, plus an unknown Richard Kiel (Jaws in the James Bond films). It reminds us how much more of a performance
and entertainment community with real talent existed back then versus the
wasteland that has replaced it. Yes, it
could be corny, but that was better than void of talent, sense of humor and
void of respect for the audience. That
is why they are all worth revisiting.
The 1.33 X 1 image was shot on analog professional NTSC
videotape (the 2” reel-to-reel kind) and looks a little weaker than expected,
though color is consistent. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono is a little on the flat side and both may be a generation down
or were just transferred in a slightly off way.
Extras includes a brief text biography on Falana on DVD 1 and DVD 2 adds
stills and an audio commentary on the third special with music and pop culture
scholar Nelson George worth hearing after you see all four shows. Let’s hope VSC and MVD get the rest of these
types of shows on DVD ASAP.
- Nicholas Sheffo
