The Decline of the Variety Show on American Television

Sonny & Cher It was on this date that The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour debuted on CBS. In many ways, along with The Flip Wilson Show , it was a last hurrah for variety shows. The format had been popular on American television from their inception in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but while the 1970s the majority of variety shows saw only moderate success. Some only lasted a few…