Pink Lady (TV series)
| Pink Lady | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Also known as | ''Pink Lady Starring Mie and Kei with Jeff Altman Pink Lady and Jeff (in retrospective) |
| Genre | Variety |
| Written by |
Jim Brochu Mark Evanier |
| Directed by |
Rudy De Luca Art Fisher |
| Starring |
Pink Lady Jeff Altman Jim Varney Anna Mathias Cheri Steinkellner Ed Nakamoto |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 (1 unaired) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Sid and Marty Krofft |
| Running time | 45–48 min |
| Production company(s) | Krofft Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | March 1 – April 4, 1980 |
Pink Lady is an American variety show that aired for five weeks on NBC in 1980, starring the musical duo of the same name. The show is also referred to by the title Pink Lady and Jeff, which refers to co-star Jeff Altman. The series ranked #35 on TV Guide's 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.
The series starred Japanese female singing duo Pink Lady, composed of Mitsuyo Nemoto ("Mie") and Keiko Masuda ("Kei"), and American comedian Jeff Altman. The format of the show consisted of musical numbers alternating with sketch comedy. The running gag of the series was the girls' lack of understanding of American culture and the English language; in reality, Pink Lady did not speak any English at all. Jeff would then attempt to translate and explain the meaning of things, which led to more confusion.
The series also featured Pink Lady performing various songs (usually English-language disco and pop songs such as "Boogie Wonderland" or "Yesterday", which the duo sang in English) along with interaction with celebrity and musical guests. The group would end the show by jumping into a hot tub together. After the poorly rated series premiere, NBC moved Pink Lady to Friday nights and added Jim Varney as a character actor. The move and retooling failed to help ratings and the series was canceled after five episodes.
The show was the brainchild of Fred Silverman, then President and CEO of NBC, who wanted to replicate the success he had had at ABC and CBS. After seeing a Walter Cronkite story about Pink Lady on the CBS Evening News, Silverman thought their Japanese success could be translated to the American market, so he brought in Sid and Marty Krofft to produce a variety show for them. At the time, Pink Lady had recently achieved their first and only top-40 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, when their song "Kiss in the Dark" peaked at No. 37 in August 1979. The Krofft brothers were told that the ladies were fluent in English, which they were not. Unsure of how to stage the show, Sid Krofft developed the concept of making "the strangest thing that's ever been on television... The whole show was gonna come out of a little Japanese box." Silverman's response was, "No, that's just too different. Let's just do Donny & Marie." (That show also moved to NBC the same year, though without Donny, and under the title Marie.) Sid bowed to Silverman's wishes.
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