Dance Fever

Well, again, as I said in my review of "Puttin' on the Hits," if you can't say anything nice....

But, here are three observations that should easily exceed the 10-line minimum:

(1) The only good part of this show was after the closing credits rolled, the copyright notice was shown at the top of the screen with the "Ownership of this program is protected by copyright and other applicable laws...." warning at the bottom with the IATSE union bug and the AMPTP (Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers, of which production company 20th Century Fox Television was - and *still is* - an active member) logo in between - superimposed over the crowd - then cutting to the pretty woman proclaiming "Dance Fever" was recorded live, then the animated Merv Griffin Enterprises "blinking eye griffin" logo and then - the *best* part of all - the "20th CTELEVISION FOX" (as it was sometimes humorously referred to) logo with the short version of the Alfred Newman fanfare. Fade to black;

(2) For those who wondered why this ultra-cutesy and insipid personality parade managed to survive six years after the disco craze ended in 1981 and despite poor ratings, former Chicago Tribune TV critic Gary Deeb - who rightly labeled "Dance Fever" as being "fatuous" - observed that Merv Griffin had "deep pockets, and as long as his bankroll holds out, the show will be around for a while." Mercifully, in the spring of 1987 Griffin and Fox finally saw the writing on the wall; and

(3) As with "Puttin' on the Hits," because of ultra-expensive music clearances - the majority of the music on this show was recorded - 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, glad to say, has *no* plans to release "Dance Fever" on DVD anytime soon, nor will they lease the rights out to other companies like Shout! Factory, who also complained of the same problem. One might remember when Fox decided to release the first season of "WKRP in Cincinnati" on DVD in 2007, they could not afford to include the original recordings featured in the episodes because of said high royalties and instead used "generic" music, causing an uproar among many fans. With regard to "Dance Fever," however, it appears Fox is acting *very* wisely in their decision to withhold any DVD releases.

(April 22, 2014. Update:

According to an article at Wikipedia.org listing all shows syndicated by 20th Television - the current syndication arm of 20th Century Fox - "Dance Fever" is *no longer* owned and syndicated by 20th but - along with all other Merv Griffin Enterprises properties - is now owned and syndicated by Sony Pictures Television. Still, although they inherited the original "Dance Fever," Sony is *also* very smart in *not* doing anything about putting the show on DVD at this time.)

*Touche! Au revoir!*

I miss this show now! Why? This is what got me started on a quest to conquer my shyness and what motivated me to take ballroom dancing lessons in the mid-80's! I still dance now (swing, hustle, salsa & Latin), and to think I have this TV show to thank for that! Favorite moments include:

1) A couple who did this hilarious comedy ballroom routine (shoes flying off and other mishaps).

2) A couple who did this Arabian/Middle Eastern routine with REAL scimitars (large curved swords), before which, good 'ol Denny grimly intones, "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!" (LOL)

3) The couples who did Hustle were always fun and sexy (with the Wonder-Woman pull-away skirt twirl deal)

4) Great dancing all around! Good fun and a great guilty pleasure for this Owl!

This half-hour show was shown weekly in syndication. I remember actor, Adrian Zmed, being the host back in the 1980s. They would have judges who were kinder than today's judges. Sometimes being brutally honest doesn't always convey a good image. They would dance on the dance fever stage in disco style to some seventies and eighties music. They were couples who competed for a prize money and the judges were probably dancers themselves. Anyway, the show was worth the entertainment for the time in syndication. The music reminds me of nostalgia and I recall syndication as being a comfortable place to see other programs that normally wouldn't be seen on network television.

I had almost forgotten this show even existed until I stumbled across its listing on IMDb. I liked it in 1979 when it was popular. That was due in large part to the fact that I was 5. Two things about the show I remember vividly:

1) At some point in just about every number the female member of the couple that happened to be dancing at the time would do a twirl while her male counterpart would hold onto her skirt, executing a "disrobe-a-swirl" leaving her dancing in nothing but a leotard.

2) The other thing I remember most about the show was the number in which a pair danced to the disco version of the "Star Wars" theme while wearing gold and silver polyester suits with matching gold and silver afro wigs. So much for their political careers but it gave me something to be happy about when I was a kid.

I rated this show a bit higher because during the first few years it was on, I didn't know anyone who didn't watch it. Granted, most of those people were kids, we still enjoyed the show.

The show centered around disco dancing and each episode was a dance contest where about 5 couples would compete for cash and an opportunity to advance to semi-finals and then the Grand Prix competition, where they would actually win a Pontiac Grand Prix. Denny Terrio would hand them the keys.

Terrio, a dancer himself, was the original host. He was accompanied by two dancer assistants, collectively known as Motion (Dianne and Toni were the originals), and Freeman King, a DJ who always wore a hat that looked like a record album on his head. I think King was only there for the first 1 or 2 seasons. There would be 3 celebrity guest judges and a singing performance by some of the top musical acts of the time.

Although it had a good run, there were a few things that really did the show in. One was the fading popularity of disco. Another was Terrio leaving the show and being replaced by Adrian Zmed in 1985. Also, probably with more focus going on music videos, I don't think they were getting the sponsorship they had in the beginning, so on a tight budget the quality of the judges and music acts began to sink. I remember Zmed himself singing a few times towards the end, for example.

But the show was decent and entertaining during the Terrio years.