TV Fall Previews of the 1960s
by Billy Ingram

The Jerry
Lewis Show

Sept 1963 - Dec 1963

ABC lost millions when they signed box office champ Jerry Lewis in 1963 to a multi-year contract to star in his own two-hour LIVE talk/variety program on Friday nights.

Watching this promo, one can only guess how bad the show must have been. Ten points if you know who Newton Minnow is.

The show ran only until December, when ABC bought out the loud-mouthed comic's contract.

"Here is a little update to address your comments about The Jerry Lewis Show (1963).

"Mr. Lewis was given the two hour live ABC program on the heels of his tremendous success as fill host on The Tonight Show between Jack Paar and Johnny Carson in 1962. The first installment of Jerry Lewis LIVE will filed with technical problems.

"The entire balcony at the Jerry Lewis Theater (formerly the El Capitain Theater) was unable to see the show as the giant projection screen went out and the studio lights and equipment blocked the view. Downstairs the audio problems and the difficulty in being able to see and hear the show made it worse.

"Jerry Lewis was not totally prepared, but working łoff the cuff˛ was his successful style... when everything else is going well. Without giving the program another chance, it was cancelled after the FIRST episode. The first words Jerry spoke on the second week was, 'Well, I guess you heard the news about the show!'

"Meantime, the show ran 14 weeks, and grew better and better in time. A two man show with Sammy Davis, a fabulous program with Ethel Merman, and a much more at ease Lewis pumped the ratings higher, and the program was quite popular in the end. But the fate was sealed. ABC bought The Jerry Lewis Theater from Mr. Lewis and renamed it The Hollywood Palace. And now you know the rest of the story!"

- Rick Saphire

 

sonny & cher dvds

 

TV Guide's Jerry Lewis Show Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More.

 

Wild Retro T-Shirts on Sale!

Greensboro Carpet Cleaning

 



Lost Kid Shows / Movie Stars on TV / Saturday Morning Shows / Video Vault / Classic Christmas Specials / Fabulous Fifties / Unseen Scenes / Game Shows / Requested Forgotten TV Shows / The Super Sixties / More Modern TV Shows / The New * * Shows / 1980's Wrestling / TV Blog

TVparty is Classic TV on the internet!
Classic TV on the Internet!

TV's Embarrassing Moments / Action Shows of the Sixties / TVparty Mysteries and Scandals / Variety Shows of the 1970s / The Eighties / The Laugh Track / 1970's Hit Shows / Response to TVparty / Search the Site / Add Your Comments
Classic TV Commercials / 1950's TV / 1960's TV / Punk Book / / 1970's TV / Groucho vs William F Buckley / / TV Games / Honey Boo Boo / Lucy Shows / Classic Cars / John Wayne / Gene Roddenberry / Rockford Files / Sea Hunt / Superman on DVD / Toy Gun Ads / Flip Wilson Show / Big Blue Marble / Monty Hall / Carrascolendas / Mr. Dressup / Major Mudd / Chief Halftown / Baby Daphne / Sheriff John / Winchell & Mahoney / Fireball X-L5 / Mr. Wizard / Captain Noah / Thanksgiving Day Specials / Disney's First Christmas Special / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Amahl & the Night Visitors / Holiday Toy Commercials / Lucy & Desi's Last Christmas Show / Joey Heatherton / Fat Albert / The Virginian / Bewitched / Death of John Wayne / 1974 Saturday Mornings / Chuck McCann / Rudolph Collectables / Shrimpenstein / Local Popeye Shows / New Treasure Hunt / 1966 ABC TV Shows / 1967 TV Shows / 1968 TV Shows / Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes & Baby Doll / Fridays / TV Moms / Red Skelton / Star Wars / KISS / Lancelot Link / Saturday Morning Cartoons / The Magic Garden / Wonder Woman / Classic Comic Books / Andy Griffith / Cher / TV Shows on DVD / Outtakes & Bloopers / 1967 TV Shows / Romper Room / ABC Movie of the Week / The Goldbergs / Daws Butler Commercials / Saturday Morning Commercials / Captain Kangaroo / Chicago Local Kiddie Shows / Boston Local TV / Philly Local TV / NYC Local Kid Shows / Amos 'n' Andy / Electric Company / Bette Davis / Judy Garland / Christmas Specials / Redd Foxx / Good Times / Sitcom Houses / The Oldest Italianate Architecture in the United States / What's Happening! / Winky Dink & You / Sonny & Cher / Smothers Brothers / Commercial Icons of the 1960s / Soupy Sales / The Carpenters / Route 66 / Bozo / The Carpenters Christmas Specials / Local Kid Shows / Death of TV's Superman / Wonderama / Sesame Street / Bob Hope Specials / Little Rascals / 1980's Retro Gay T-Shirts / 1980's TV Wrestling / Fess Parker / Howdy Doody / TV Blog / Lost In Space / Pinky Lee / 1980's LA Punk Rock / Alex Toth Book / TV Terrorists / Irwin Allen / The Untouchables / Carol Burnett Show / Batman TV Show / Green Hornet / Today Show History / Our Gang / Doris Day Show / 1970's Commercials For Women / Bill Cosby in the 1970s / The Golddiggers / Lola Falana / 1970s TV Shows / David Bowie on TV / Hudson Brothers / Jackie Gleason / Hollywood Squares / Match Game / Bob Keeshan / Gumby / The Flip Wilson Show / Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour / The Bobby Darin Show / The Richard Pryor Show / George Burns / Lucy's Lost Christmas Special / Classic Christmas Toy Commercials / Cricket On The Hearth / 1950's Holiday Shows / Amahl and the Night Visitors / A Christmas Carol on TV / The Yule Log / Celebrity Commercials / Rudolph / Movie Posters & More! 

Match Game on DVD “The Soupy Sales DVD Fractured Fairy Tales on DVD Diver Dan TV show on DVD Nathan Stringer Las Vegas Summer Music Show on DVD Lancelot Link Secret Chimp on DVD
Looking for classic TV on DVD?/See below:
CHIPS on DVD
PLAYBOY AFTER DARK