smacky and bucky

I was having a conversation this morning with one of my sisters-in-law about variety shows. She pointed me to this clip of Lynda Carter singing "I Was Made for Loving You" with back-up dancers dressed as KISS.

We started to brainstorm how a variety show would work today and came up with the following:

(1) Get ADULT stars. Not necessarily the old stars from the old variety shows, but stars old enough to remember watching the originals. Don't Disney it up with too many teens.

(2) Give a nod to the old shows, but don't copy them completely. They were corny then, but you can be corny in a way that isn't painful.

(3) Get a crazy mix of stars and musicians for variety. It's a VARIETY show. Have Morgan Freeman do a sketch with Sally Struthers. Have Morrisey perform a cover of a song by Van Halen.

(4) The host: This is the biggest single choice in creating the successful variety show. If people don't like the host, they'll never watch, regardless of who else is on. You need someone talented, who can act, sing, and ad-lib. But not someone too Broadway (No Alan Cumming or Nathan Lane). No one TOO big though, and no one who is known for "causes," so no Clooney, Pitt, Jolie, etc. But on the other end of the spectrum, no one too goofy, so no Jack Black, Robin Williams (puke), or anyone known for "blue collar comedy."

Hmm... I'm going to have to think about this. Who could host a variety show today? I'm thinking a female, most likely (but let's avoid the tabloid queens for now, so no Britney, Paris, or the freckled one whose name I can't recall).