The Sonny & Cher Show

You're right, AWFUL. If you were nine years old you may have liked it though.

I remember Cher in her Bob Mackie gowns every week, flipping her waist-length hair. And the comedy routines they used to to with Sonny playing the dumb straight man to Cher’s insults.

I remember my exasperated mother lamenting, when I wouldn't let her curl my hair, "Don't you want to be a pretty little girl like Chastity?" She also speculated on future Chastity's beauty as an adult.

I remember it was a silly show, but the humor was considered funny in its day. Sonny and Cher's musical career had tanked and Sonny knew they had to do something different to keep going, so he came up with the idea of reinventing their act into a comedy routine where Sonny was the butt of Cher's jokes. It proved popular and they had a successful tv series and were back on top again. Cher was always elaborately costumed and wore very heavy makeup. And at the end of the show they would bring out their little darling Chastity. Who would have thought that the cute little girl would grow into a fat lesbian, then transition into an obese man?

I WAS 9 and loved it. I could only watch it at friends because we didn't have cable: the first time I saw it I thought I had died and gone to a very glamorous heaven. I would never re-watch it because I'm sure it's terrible and my wonderful childhood memories would be shattered.

Cher usually performed a solo each week. Those were good.

It made them into such big stars. When they split they were on the covers of all the gossip rags all the time.

R6 And, many of them were like proto-music videos.

Are we talking about the S&C Comedy Hour, or the S&C Show? Two very very different programs.

Clearly, it was a deliberate indoctrination for grade-school gaylings, because I was also 8 or 9 and thrilled to Cher's Bob Mackie costume changes, the elaborate production numbers, and the special guests.

I don't remember finding any of it especially funny, but in the age of 3 networks, it was "what's on."

i associate it with Donny and Marie and many more of the era that used laugh tracks / and the "live" aspect was minimal or non existent.... that was what killed the variety show format... compare with the comedy / variety successes of 10 / 20 years earlier.... no contest....no talent hacks performing to laugh tracks.

I vowed to make it stop.

God, DONNY AND MARIE was truly heinous. And it lasted about 5 years.

They made Sonny & Cher look like Nichols and May by comparison.

I loved the S&C Show. Every Wednesday night, and then bringing little Chastity out at the end. I especially loved Cher's "V-A-M-P....Vamp!" recurring feature wrapping around a bunch of blackout-type comedy vignettes.

Sonny, Cher and Chastity -1974.

She was a scamp, a camp and a bit of a tramp. She was a V.A.M.P. Vamp

Who was the character Cher played on here and her own show who wore the cat eye glasses? I think Nancy Walker played her mother.

Look at Cher's face in the show. It was she obliterated it with plastic surgery. Her teeth, eyes, lips, nose, cheekbones...they all looked, well, pretty natural. I thought she was beautiful that way.

I was a teenager. Back in those days, we didn’t really question the quality of what was on TV. There were three channels, and that was that. People weren’t hypercritical, we just accepted what was on our offer. Sonny and Cher was fun.

Laverne, R17

Make that it was BEFORE she obliterated it with plastic surgery. At any rate, she looked super glamorous and those Bob Mackie costumes were always amazing.

For a short period of time it was on Friday nights opposite The Brady Bunch. We didn't have a "clicker" so I sat in front of the tv and flipped the channels back and forth between ABC and CBS during the half hour they overlapped.

The monologue always had jokes about Sonny's height and Cher's nose.

Also loved the VAMP sketches.

I was also 9 and loved the show. My best friend and I would watch it and discuss it for hours, sometimes even re-enacting bits of the show! We were devastated when they announced their breakup. My mom, on the other hand, couldn't stand it. She though Cher was trash.

[quote]I was a teenager. Back in those days, we didn’t really question the quality of what was on TV. There were three channels, and that was that.

Didn't you have local channels as well? NYC had about 13 channels in the '70s.

My sisters and I were kids and its silliness and glamour appealed to us.

Didn't they have a little girl?

"Back in those days, we didn’t really question the quality of what was on TV. "

Um, no, we did. Really. For those of you who were nine, yes, but for adults, no, no, no. My boss at the time couldn't understand why the studio audiences went wild for Sonny & Cher. I , age 22, had to explain to him that these shows were "sweetened" with canned applause and laughter after they were taped.

I liked the opening of the Cher Show and remember it well. Cher would start out wrapped up in some kind of cape and singing slowly then shed the wrap, race down the runway and pick up the tempo. Here's a cute exchange with Chastity.

R24 Not surprised New York City had lots of choices. I grew up in the boondocks, the only other option was UHF.

In fact, in the 60s and even early 70s, I remember NBC was the only network that “came in” really well in our house. CBS, ABC and PBS were fuzzy. As a result, Walter Cronkite, Sesame St, many iconic shows mean nothing to me.

Yes, Cher sang solo, every show. She'd start out slow, fully clothed in some type of cloak. The music would suddenly go up-tempo and Cher would whip off her cloak to reveal some sequined, skin-baring outfit. That was the best part of every show. I also enjoyed the Laverne skits.

It was event TV before that was a thing. I remember running in from nighttime hide-and-seek when it came on at nine. And being mesmerized by seeing things like this, that my brother and I would later reenact with beach towels and hairbrush microphones in front of the mirror.

I’m Chastity’s. age. I loved the ending when they brought Chaz onto the stage. I was sooo envious . I thought she was sooo loved and adorable. 😄 well that story had a different ending.

Also family was dark haired and ethnic lookIng .. so it was great seeing someone on TV who looked like my family

r30 So you have a gay brother?

R32 Yep.

We went to a taping of it. I went with my parents. I was 13, I think. It was taped at CBS Television City, at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax, in Los Angeles. There were 4 studios there, 31, 33, 41 and 43. I don't know which one we went into for the Sonny and Cher show. The Price is Right, Match Game and the Carol Burnett Show were also taped in that building (Television City). I think only videotaped shows were produced there. Filmed shows, such as the Mary Tyler Moore Show, were filmed at CBS's studios in Studio City. As with all TV studios, the whole studio was air conditioned ferociously, to make up for the heat from the studio lights. So the actors on stage were comfortable, while the crews and the audiences were cold. The tickets were always free, but they gave out more tickets than they had seats for, to ensure a full audience. If you waited in line and didn't get in, they would give you priority tickets for some other taping day or for some other show. Tapings of comedy series could go on for hours, with a scene being redone over and over if something didn't go right. I remember Cher blowing her lines a lot, and cursing each time she did (usually the F-word). Sonny seemed more professional. I remember that Terri Garr was a member of the supporting cast and I remember her being there. Apparently Steve Martin was also in the cast but I don't remember him being there. During a break, Ted Ziegler, another cast member, was standing around and then walked right up to me while I sat there in my seat, and introduced himself to me and shook my hand. I don't know why. But it did give me a big thrill. Chastity was not there; probably still too young. The guest star for that episode was Jack Palance. But at that time I did not know who he was. Just some actor. We did not see the entire hour being taped. They did the opening number, with the lighted orange balls behind them, then they immediately taped the closing number, in front of the orange balls. Then I think we saw only 2 comedy scenes being filmed, take after take, then we left at the next break. TV stages and sets are smaller in person than they look on TV. The orange ball thing looked small there on the stage from our viewpoint in the audience. For me it was exciting to see that episode on TV when it finally aired, because I had seen it live. I sort of felt like a "Hollywood insider" or something, which of course I wasn't.

Am I the only one who remembers that weird thing Cher always did with her tongue?

r35 No.

What did she do with her tongue? I remember licked her lips a lot. Was that it?

After their big success in the Sixties with The Beat Goes On and I Got You Babe, their career hit a big decline. It all turned around with Cher's 1971 hit Gypsies , Tramps and Thieves.

I always tear up when I remember Cher's speech at Sonny's funeral.

New York did not have 13 channels. It had 7

2: CBS

4: NBC

5: NEW

7: ABC

9: WOR

11: PIX

13: NET

They were silly and fun. What's not to like.

For a time there in the 70s there was a glut of corny variety shows full of singing and dancing, sketch comedy and special guest stars. Sonny & Cher, Donny & Marie, Captain & Tennille, Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Jacksons, Sha Na Na, The Brady Bunch Hour, Pink Lady & Jeff, etc. I think my family watched every single one since we had a limited number of channels and my mom steered us kids away from the crime dramas and questionable comedies like "All in the Family" and "Maude."

I lived in a small town in the Midwest but we had 11 stations since we lived equal distance from 5 cities with tv stations.

AND, we had early cable which just meant we didn't have a roof antenna but subscribed to our town's cable service so we had clear reception. Our neighbors across the alley were too cheap to spend the $5 on cable and only had a dumb antenna which meant they always had half their channels with constant "snow".

Oh, and as for Sonny & Cher, I certainly watched it as a young gayling. It wasn't nearly as good as Carol Burnett but it was still modestly fun mostly for the clothes and the already mentioned Laverne sketches and V.A.M.P.

Cher's solo show was better because she did all those awesome medleys with her guest stars.

It was great. They camped it up and didn’t take themselves seriously. We need some silliness in our lives.

They had great chemistry and Cher proved she had comedic chops. She also had great chemistry with the other singers she would sing with.

I watched a clip from one of Glen Campbell's Christmas shows and was surprised how well their voices sounded together.

I was so addicted to the show. I thought Cher was the most gorgeous exotic woman I'd ever seen. Her body & those gowns were beyond compare.

I also loved their opening & closing numbers with their banter.

If R34 doesn't win Datalounge Post Of The Week there's no justice in this (Datalounge) World.

She was a much better singer than him, clearly. Half the time he's flat. Some of her smiling is very corny and fake, rather nauseating. But it was the 70s.

My favorite part was the animations to the songs. I was mesmerized

Behold the Cher tearaway

NEW, R39? It was WNEW. Channel eleven was WPIX. Yes, the W matters because that's what they and we called them.

Sony & Cher had the weirdest history. After they split up. the show was cancelled. Cher then got her solo show, and Sonny got a solo show on ABC if I remember correctly. After both bombed, CBS reinvented the Sonny & Cher show as if nothing had happened.

Yeah, I always wondered why Cher agreed to that.

Thank you, R46. It was fun to revisit that memory.

This was my favorite part of your post, R52:

[quote] They did the opening number, with the lighted orange balls behind them, then they immediately taped the closing number, in front of the orange balls.

and this:

[quote] The orange ball thing looked small there on the stage from our viewpoint in the audience.

Terri Garr was a regular who participated int he comedy skits on Sonny & Cher.

[quote]NEW, [R39]? It was WNEW.

Metromedia New York 5

It's your choice!

[quote] Yeah, I always wondered why Cher agreed to that.

It's called "Time To Pay The Mortgage"

[quote]Terri Garr was a regular who participated int he comedy skits on Sonny & Cher.

That gurl really got around.

She even danced on a Chris Montez song.

Thank you R53. I wonder where those orange balls are today. I hope Cher saved one.

The list of shows produced on the stages in that one building is impressive!

"People call me psychoneurotic,

But you can call me Blanche DuBois!

Come on aboard my li'l ol' streetcar...

We're headin' for the Mardi Gras!"

How could she have been any campier?

[quote]Thank you [R53]. I wonder where those orange balls are today.

Yes, I was wondering that too.

Did you go to any other recordings of shows?

[quote]She'd start out slow, fully clothed in some type of cloak. The music would suddenly go up-tempo and Cher would whip off her cloak to reveal some sequined, skin-baring outfit.

Carol Burnett did a hilarious parody of this.

Carol is doing the little Cher tongue thing in that skit, too!

The opening was actually inspired by the Gypsy strip. The Angela Lansbury revival had just opened in LA at the Shubert and the creators of Cher saw it and thought that the Let Me Entertain You premise would be a good opening, so they had her do a verse covered up and then stripped for the chorus. It worked very well. Her first show, she even did Let Me Entertain You.

Steve Martin wrote a lot of the show and because Cher has blasted the show so often, they don't get along.

Cher's shiny tan shoulders were mesmerizing.

Didn't they always close the show with Chastity?

I thought Cher had a solo show after S&C and that's where she did her strip tease in the beginning. I think the logo was a big "C" or something?

Also, there were a lot of "Sonny is short" jokes but I believe he is taller (she just wears heels)

I also envied Chastity and thought she had the most awesome parents ever

^^^

If you read the thread you'll see we mentioned the strip off on the runway was on her solo show.

Sonny was definitely short. Did you ever look at his shoes. He wore massive platforms on stage.

vamp!

I was really little, and all I remember was how utterly cool I thought it was that Chastity came out at the end of every show.

CHASTITY! GET IN HERE!

R60, we also went to a few game shows. One had 2 soundproof booths and the guest star that day was Peter Lawford, but I don't remember the name of that show. It was at NBC in Burbank. We wanted to see the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but you had to be 16 and I was only 14. I went to the taping of the pilot episode of "That's My Momma!" at ABC but that series didn't last long. There was a show called NBC Follies and we went to a couple of those. Saw Sally Struthers singing "If They Could see Me Now" about 5 times until it was perfect. At one of those shows, Jack Cassidy (David Cassidy's dad) was standing in the aisle right next to me for a while - a tall and striking man. I think we saw a couple of other shows too, but I can't remember now.

We lost interest in going to these shows after a while. But there are people who go to lots of them. It's an easy way to see celebrities for free, but sometimes there are long, boring delays where nothing interesting happens.

Lawrence Welk was known for recording his shows "live" without stopping, as if they were doing a live concert. It put pressure on the cast and crew, but Welk felt it added a more live feel to his sjow and produced better performances.

In those days, when you drove past NBC Studios in Burbank, they had an outdoor storage yard on one side of the property. They stored props there and you could see them through the chain link fence. I recognized some of the props from "Laugh-In" by the things painted on them. All custom made stuff. All these props and parts of sets were just sitting there in the sun, day after day.

I learned during that period that there are "professional laughers." These are people who laugh easily and loudly with an infectious laugh. They get paid to sit in the audiences of comedy shows and laugh at things that are the slightest bit funny. The hope is that they will stimulate other audience members to laugh more.

Right around that time I had a friend in school named Sahsa Karlik and his father went on "Let's Make a Deal" when Monty Hall and Carol Merrill were on it. Olga Karlik won the "Big Deal of the Day" or whatever they called it. $8,000+ in prizes. But he didn't get the actual prizes; instead they sent him a check for the dollar value amount. Sasha showed me a photocopy of the check, as they were proud of it. $8000 was a pretty substantial amount of money in the early 1970s, for most people at least.

I always watched for the Bob Mackie gowns and her torch songs.

Here’s a nice melodic lip-sync’d song from 1965.

I heard in the 1990s, that Cher is the only person to have a number one hit in each of 4 successive decades. Did she improve on that since? It’s pretty remarkable.

Loved the Vamp song... Of course my mother thought she was total trash and for the time she probably was - but now she looks so tame. The Madonna of our youth.

Did anyone read Chaz’s memoir? Did he talk about being on his parent’s show?

Cher will never die of course, but if she did, someone should make that the title of her obit - she was a V, A, M, P

*side turn to camera*

VAMP!

Add me to the list of people jealous of Chastity, who came out at the end (but not in every show, right?).

Cher’s outfits were considered borderline obscene. Looking at the photos now, all I can think is that her body was incredible. She was big way before personal trainers and she’d had a child.

Chaz has no recollection of his day in the sun.

I remember seeing in Chaz's documentary going backstage to see Cher and it seemed like she was a fan who won a contest. No connection but perhaps it was a tough time for them.

Brian Wilson didn't recognize Carnie at a party once. "Daddy, it's me!"

R77

Cher was the first woman to show her belly-button on TV. Mackie always maintained that the clothes weren't vulgar on Char as opposed to others because she was so lithe & small breasted.

[quote]Cher was the first woman to show her belly-button on TV.

Excuse me??

R80 At least he didn't hit on her.

Cher went to the same private school as I did and was 3 years ahead of me. She had left by the time I went. Sonny kept hanging out with her at school and he was something like 12 years her senior. The school told her he couldn't be there so she went to another HS. One of my friends who also went to that school lived about 3 houses away and knew Cher and we went to her house and hung out with her. She was a lot of fun to hang out with but she wasn't really famous yet. I was 14 or 15 at the time.

[quote]I heard in the 1990s, that Cher is the only person to have a number one hit in each of 4 successive decades. Did she improve on that since? It’s pretty remarkable.

R73. Cher's record has been extended to a number one record in six decades. Yes, it is remarkable. Cher endures. She's a national treasure.

One of my all-time favorites from Cher...

The Way Of Love

Cher - The Way of Love (The Farewell Tour)

She's gorgeous.

R84, where was that?

OP, look at the dump you're living in and my houses. 'nuff said

"Cher - The Way of Love (The Farewell Tour)"

Which farewell tour was that? Hasn't she done several?

Can somebody, somewhere kindly locate and post the clip of Cher caterwauling "O Holy Night" on their Christmas special, the one Paul Shaffer mercilessly lampooned for years on Letterman? Her winter coat alone was one of the most jaw-dropping, sexually suggestive things to ever make it past the censors and be broadcast on "wholesome," primetime TV.

R91

Here it is but how is what she's wearing sexually suggestive? she's covered from chin to ankles.

r86 That's the most lyrically lazy song ever.

If I recall, it began as a summer replacement series and was a huge hit. I was a kid and I loved it.

I've never really rated her singing and songs apart from THIS, which I highly rate >

She used to have an apartment in London. (Who would have thought... Cher... in London?) It was totally off the radar. She came here to be left alone and was furious one day when she was papped roller blading by the river.

She also used to appear on some pretty stupid shows here and what was interesting is how unjaded and what a good sport she appeared to be when she had to play games and stuff on these shows. Totally wide eyed at the "fun" of it all. I think that's why she's lasted so long. She's unjaded.

I love Cher. Just Like Jessie James is my favorite by her.

R84 She lived in Encino. the School was Montclair in Reseda. Montclair was shut down a few years ago because of a teacher-student relationship.

[quote]She lived in Encino.[/quote]

She did? Encino's pretty nice. And she went to private school? Somehow, I had the idea that Cher grew up poor, or at least struggling. Not that you can't be struggling and live in a middle-income area, but that's not what I had (mis)understood about her background.

She might have been poorer when she was young but her mother remarried and her stepfather was a banker. Not really sure about her early life.

Cher was perfection in the early 70s. She'd gotten a nose job but still looked natural. She should have stopped there.

R99 here is a background of Cher's mother. I never knew her mother was a singer-songwriter. She married six times

I love Cher's voice. I even liked her song in Momma Mia 2.

You can hate on Madge all you want but she got it right when she said Cher is "a cheap tramp with bad taste in clothes and music."

And Cher got it right when she called Madonna a cunt.

R99

Cher grew up very poor. Her dad left her mom when Cher was 18 months old He was a drug addict & eventually went to prison for a time. She never saw him again til he showed up at their door when she was 11. He didn't recognize her. That was so odd because he looked exactly like Char.

Cher's mom married 7 times. Twice to Cher's father. They were always very poor until her mom landed that rich banker. They went from nothing to living in a nice home & she went to the private school. Like most of Georgia's marriages it was quickly over and Cher, her Mom and sister were back to being poor again.

R102

Cher's mom always wanted to be an actress & singer. She landed the role in Concrete Jungle until Marilyn walked in. A few years ago they were cleaning out some of her mom's things & found long ago forgotten music her mom had cheaply recorded. For a birthday gift Cher paid studio time to have her mom professionally record her songs.

This is a duet Cher & her mom did together.

"If I recall, it began as a summer replacement series and was a huge hit."

TRUE! In fact, Glen Campbell was a summer replacement series for the Smothers Brothers, and he got a weekly CBS variety show of his own. Then later, Sonny and Cher were the summer replacements for Campbell, and they too got their own CBS show. Pardon me, but I liked the SC summer show more than the series.

I remembered wanting to be Cher with her gorgeous hair, gowns and snark.

It was lighthearted and fun from what I recall.

Wasn't/isn't she dyslexic?

Yes, R110.

My best friend Sharon and I dressed up as Sonny and Cher in her basement. Her mom had a dark fall that I wore along with fluorescent paper dresses they had, and we watercolored a mustache on her and lip synced to I Got You Babe.

Dorothy knows the tongue thing.

R106 Cher didn't really become poor again. A year after I met Cher, Sonny and Cher's first Hit record came out and they started getting famous. When she became a little famous all the girls in our school had Cher Hair.

[quote]A year after I met Cher, Sonny and Cher's first Hit record came out and they started getting famous.

The story of how they cracked it, is pretty amazing. They weren't getting hits in America, people thought they were freaks. The Rolling Stones told them to go to London.

So they did. When they got there, they tried to check into The Hilton, but the Hilton thought they were freaks and wouldn't let them. There was a big drama in the hotel lobby and it got into the British press. The publicity lead to the pirate radio stations playing their new record "I Got You Babe" which became a hit. THEN the Americans began to play it. When they got back home they had a hit in The USA. The Americans thought they were British.

Sonny & Cher in front of the London Hilton, 1965 >

Sonny Bono really was a master of self-promotion.

[quote]Sonny Bono really was a master of self-promotion.

Yes, got himself elected mayor of Palm Springs. Then got himself elected to Congress.

Are Sonny and Cher posing with JIMMY SAVILE in that photo at R115? He was a DJ, hosted Top of the Pops, was big on the music scene in London back then. I think I saw him in a picture with the Beatles, too. He was an utterly loathsome, ugly, untalented guy, so how the hell did he become such a celebrity in England? And of course he turned out to be a serial molester and rapist. He was heaped with awards for 'his charity work and viewed as a "national treasure." It boggles the mind that someone so without "looks, charm, or talent" as one critic put it could go so far and get away with so much.

R118 when everything about Saville starting coming out I remembered an old Benny Hill sketch about him and Benny played him as a talentless letch.

After reading his Wiki page, like you, I don't understand how he became so famous and so wealthy.