The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour

I remember this series when I was a child, but I've only seen clips since then. So many other variety shows are seeing the light of day on DVD, so where, oh where is Glen Campbell's Goodtime Hour? Hello? We are missing out on so many great musical performances! Somebody please release this on DVD! COME ON!

What is the hold up? Is Glen himself uncooperative? Make it happen, you guys! Yes, the comedy was cheesy, but that's what TV was like in the late sixties and early seventies. I miss the wonderfully cheesy variety shows of my youth. Tony Orlando and Dawn had a show, Sonny and Cher had a show, The Smothers Brothers had a show, and Glen Campbell had one.

Let's see em on DVD!

The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was the country music answer to The Ed Sullivan Show and The Flip Wilson Show. Glen was a regular at first on The Smothers Brothers Show and was tapped to be a Summetime replacement for them on a show called The Summer Brothers Smothers Show. Well that Summetime gig turned into said Goodtime Hour and from 1969 to 1972 Glen made Goodtime TV History. One of his constant regulars was "The Guitar Man" himself Jerry Reed. In the General Store Segment of the show Glen Jerry and a banjo picker named Larry would jam out with female backup singers usually to the top hit of the day. Other performers included Ray Charles, Cher, Bobbie Gentry, Seals and Crofts, Neil Diamond, Three Dog Night, and Rick Nelson.

One of the most memorable of episodes was the night "The Duke" himself John Wayne showed up. This was a promotional tie in for the movie "True Grit" which starred John Wayne, Glen Campbell and Kim Darby. All good things as usual came to an end and The Goodtime Hour was canceled in 72 and relegated to the vaults of CBS TV. Only recently has the series been given an a double look interest. CMT did a small but compiled version of the show showing only the best of the show and not the complete seasons. CMT filmed opening intro segments with country superstar Keith Urban, himself a Campbell fan ! Currently there has been a few minor video releases of the show on VHS and DVD as of late and it is very doubtful if the complete seasons will ever be made available to the general public on DVD Box Set or the HD Formatted Blu Ray Disc due to political red tape wrangling over copyright royalties to every song ever sang on the show.

Glen Campbell was born a seventh son, but not otherwise lucky. Raised in grinding poverty in rural Arkansas, he parlayed his good looks and singing talent (and some hard work) into a formidable career. By 1969 it seemed as if Glen Campbell was everywhere, even giving an impressive dramatic performance opposite John Wayne in 'True Grit'.

'The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour' was originally packaged as a summer replacement for 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'. I saw the promo for this at a press screening in London, where the show's U.S. producers were hoping to sell the U.K. television rights. Campbell launched his series by making a guest appearance on the Smothers Brothers show: standing on their Television City stage, Campbell promised Tom and Dick Smothers that his new series would be unpredictable. This was the cue for several dozen pigs to rush out of the wings (pigs have wings?) and scurry onto the stage, bowling over both of the Smothers siblings and Campbell. Unfortunately, nothing this unpredictable happened on Campbell's series itself.

The transition was smooth enough, with the Smothers' writers Steve Martin and Rob Reiner -- not yet famous themselves -- doing script duties for Campbell's variety hour, the usual mixture of music and comedy. Campbell's ingratiating manner and fine singing voice took care of the musical aspects, but the comedy was rather dire. In one episode, Campbell wanted to plug his starring role in the forthcoming movie 'Norwood' (based on a novel by the same guy who wrote 'True Grit'). This was the excuse for an unfunny skit in a screening room, where Campbell intends to show us a clip from the movie but he's abruptly interrupted by Dom DeLuise, carrying the world's largest bag of popcorn. It turns out that DeLuise has a bit role in 'Norwood' (thanks for warning us!), and he wants Campbell to show us that clip. Then some terrible footage unspools, notable only for offering a brief glimpse of veteran actor Jack Haley.

The opening credits of 'Goodtime Hour' showed several travelling shots of rustic exteriors, over a vocal of Campbell singing his hit song 'Gentle on My Mind'. This sounds like a warmly romantic ballad until you pay attention to the lyric: 'It's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds, and the ink stains that have dried upon some line.' Those 'forgotten words and bonds' are the wedding vows, and those 'ink stains' are the signatures on a marriage license. This is a song about a guy who wants all the advantages of marriage without the commitment.

John Hartford, who wrote 'Gentle on My Mind', was among the house musicians for this series, and made occasional guest appearances here: in one of these, he demonstrated his ability to play tunes on his face by slapping himself in the cheeks while altering the aperture of his mouth.

I still cringe at memories of the *really* bad comedy on this series. One alleged skit depicted a female kangaroo (played by a male actor in a roo cozzy) singing 'Gentle on My Mind'. When she (he? it?) got to the line about the sleeping bag behind the couch, the kangaroo's joey (played by another actor in costume) popped his head out of the roo's pouch and said 'pouch'. Geddit? 'Pouch' instead of 'couch'? Ouch! Stick to singing, Campbell, and leave the comedy to others.

"The Glen Campbell Good-time Hour" was exactly what the title states... an hour of 'good-time' (a.k.a. light on the brain 'fluff') with Glen Campbell. Already a main-stream staple with such hits as "Wichita Lineman" and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", feel-good country star Campbell got a shot at hosting his own variety show in a one hour format on CBS. The explosive boom with the world's sudden interest in variety shows would not actually take off until the mid-1970's when everyone from The Osmonds, The Jacksons, Helen Reddy and Tony Orlando hosted their own enterprises, including the more successful Sonny & Cher combination and Carol Burnett.

So I suppose you could actually call Glen Campbell one of the first pioneers when it comes to discussing 'variety shows'. Of course, people like Flip Wilson and Ed Sullivan were already big at the time, but each one had a different theme. Glen Campbell and his 'country' themed hour was one of the first to cross over to the mainstream audience and much to everyone's delight, he came off as a likeable person. Lacking the comedic wit and chemistry with his guest stars as other hosts did such as Carol Burnett and Sonny & Cher, Campbell managed to provide the best entertainment with his singing talents.

Opening the show with a two-minute (and usually abridged) song, he would introduce the guests who would be on the show and a huge brown sun entangled in small white Christmas tree lights would lower down behind him (think of the orange and black caricatures of Sonny & Cher). I remember on one particular episode, Campbell managed to book John Wayne, Tim Conway, Three Dog Night and a special appearance by Carol Burnett on the one show! Where else could you find John Wayne exchanging a 'peace' sign with Three Dog Night (who would perform "Joy To The World" on the show)! Also, it was amusing to see Carol Burnett plugging her 'new' show which would premiere that week - the infamous "CAROL BURNETT SHOW"! Albeit, hers would last a great deal longer than Glen's, it was quite amusing to see a relative unknown at the time getting her start in the biz.

I remember seeing other episodes with Raymond Burr, Neil Diamond, Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles. Unfortunately, the show would only last three seasons due to fading popularity, Glen Campbell did manage to get a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Actor (but lost to Dan Dailey for "The Governor & J.J."). Campbell later struck gold when he jumped on the disco bandwagon of the late 70's with his hit single, "Southern Nights", but disappeared later into the usual Las Vegas circuit along with fellow singers of his ilk.

"The Glen Campbell Good-time Hour" is nostalgic viewing at its best. While at the time, a rather forgettable entry into the variety show era of the 70's, it could probably be thought of as un-mined gold today. Try and catch this gem if you ever manage to get your hands on it, and especially for fans of Glen Campbell's music, there is one episode where he performs a wonderful rendition of "Autumn Leaves".