Fire By Nite

Fire by Nite was a Christian variety show produced by Willie George Ministries and Church on the Move in Tulsa, Oklahoma. FBN was hosted by Blaine Bartel for most of its production and marketed primarily to Christian youth. Episodes typically centered on a relevant theme intermixed with comedic skits, interviews with popular Christian musicians, musical performances, and light evangelism.

Production for Fire By Nite was partially funded by a subscription program - for a monthly or yearly fee, viewers could have episodes delivered to them in the mail on VHS and Betamax.

Originally, Fire By Nite was not filmed in front of a live studio audience. From the first episode, featuring Carman, in 1986, to episode #47, the end of FBN's fourth year, Fire by Nite segments were prerecorded in the Willie George Ministries television studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The show followed a Saturday Night Live-style variety format, and each episode opened in a similar fashion, with a cast member saying "Almost live on videotape, it's Fire By Nite." At first all musical guests performed their songs live, but FBN later began producing music videos for their guests.

A typical episode followed this pattern:

In the fall of 1990, producer and host Blaine Bartel implemented a major change in the show's format, giving the show an overall talk show look by filming from a new set that included a live band and studio audience. Churches that participated in the Fire by Nite video purchase club were invited to bring their youth groups to attend tapings of the show. In January 1991, the long running sitcom "Family First" ended its run. Several months later, in June '91, the new recurring story "Friends" premiered.

Occasionally FBN released two part series such as, "Sex: What Do You Pay to Play?", "Satanism Unmasked", and "The Evolution of the American Teenager". Each of the two part series featured a special set, no live band, and fewer skits. "Satanism Unmasked" purported to investigate the supernatural influence Satanism, witchcraft, and Dungeons & Dragons. "The Evolution of the American Teenager" was a docu-drama produced in the summer of 1992 that chronicled the changes in teenage culture from the 1950s to the then present, 1992. It also discussed the "counter-culture" of the Jesus Movement and how it changed the landscape of the contemporary Christian church.

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