The Jacksons CBS Variety Show

THE JACKSONS CBS VARIETY SHOW (1976)
1. Forever Came Today (2:42)
2. Love Will Keep Us Together (Janet & Randy) (1:51)
3. Sonny Bonno Special (4:40)
4. Steppin' Out With My Baby (2:20)
5. Dancing Machine (2:34)
6. (You Were Made) Especially For Me (2:48)
7. Do The Fonz (1:21)
8. Junk Food Junky (Feat. MacKenzie Phillips) (1:42)
9. Goin' Back To Indiana (2:04)
10. Rockin' Robin (2:05)
11. Save The Bones For Henry Jones (2:48)
12. The Love You Save (2:17)
13. I Want You Back - ABC (2:26)
14. Fever (Rebbie Jackson) (2:31)
15. I Got You Babe (janet And Randy Jackson) (1:22)
16. Never Can Say Goodbye (3:17)
17. I'll Be There (1:59)


THE JACKSONS CBS VARIETY SHOW (1977)
1. On The Wall (1:56)
2. What You Don't Know (2:41)
3. Midnight At The Oasis (Rebbie Jackson) (3:07)
4. Get Ready (The Ton-Tations) (1:04)
5. Good Times (2:27)
6. I Can't Quit Your Love (2:34)
7. Think Happy (2:44)
8. Living Together (2:29)
9. Moving Violation (2:10)
10. Style Of Life (2:30)
11. The Jacksons TV Show - The Life Of The Party (2:42)
12. Dancing Machine (2:27)
13.The Jacksons TV Show - World Of Sunshine (2:00)
14. Body Language (Do The Love Dance) (2:38)
15. Enjoy Yourself (2:35)
16. They Can’t Take That Away From Me - Puttin' On The Ritz (2:48)
17. Blues Away (2:12)
18. Bei Mir Bistu Shein (Jackson Sisters) (2:10)
19. Keep On Dancing (2:34)
20. Hum Along And Dance (2:36)
21. Get Happy (3:08)
22. Lime And The Coconut (3:24)
23. Carroll O'Connor Special (2:44)
24. Show You The Way To Go (3:17)
25. Sugar Daddy (2:18)
26. Cisco Kid - I Shot The Sheriff (3:05)
27. Ben (2:35)
28. I Am Love (3:00)
29. Get It Together (2:39)
30. Chattanoogie Shoe-Shine Boy (3:09)
31. Dreamer (2:58)
32. Just A Little Bit Of You (2:31)
33. Georgia Engel Special (2:28)
34. I'll Be There (1:51)Let's go back to 1976 and 1977 with the Jackson family kids for a great TV revival moment.

In summer 1976, CBS television executive Fred Silverman signed the Jackson family (including Michael, Marlon, Tito, Jackie, Randy, Rebbie, LaToya, and Janet) to appear in their own variety show, to compete with ABC's The Osmonds.

The Jacksons debuted on June 16, 1976, and ran on CBS until its cancellation the following March. The show was the first variety show hosted by an African American family.



Looking for a pop act with youth appeal (that desperately needed TV exposure), CBS casts its eye toward The Jacksons in 1976.

The group had fallen on hard times, this was after the Jackson 5's big hits ended in 1974 and before Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album changed the face of music five years later.



The entire Jackson family was present for the TV production except Jermaine who had a solo record contract.

Even little sister Janet was in full force and Michael was a lot more open and friendly back then, too—even though he was totally against the idea of a TV show from the very start.



"We shouldn't do it," Michael argued with his siblings, to no avail. "Look at Tony Orlando. Look at Cher. It's going to really hurt our sales."
"We're the Jacksons!" Michael chirped to open the first episode.
"All of you who were expecting the Osmonds, do not adjust the color on your set.

" The series scored some impressive ratings despite the fact that the variety show genre was becoming passé by the mid-'70s.



Guests for the four-week run included Ed McMahon, who played W.C. Fields to Janet Jackson's Mae West, and Sonny Bono, who appeared in a comedy sketch about the tabloids.

This was one of Bono's last network guest-shots—just three years earlier he had the biggest show on television, now his career was grinding to a dead stop.



Much to Michael's chagrin, The Jacksons was brought back in January of 1977, but failed to catch on as a regular series and was cancelled due to abysmal ratings in March of that same year.

Michael accepted some of the blame, saying in part; "I'm not a comedian. Is it really entertaining for me to get up there and crack a few weak jokes and force people to laugh because I'm Michael Jackson, when I know in my heart I'm not funny?"



In spite of Michael's dire predictions, mere weeks after The Jacksons left the air, the brothers were back on the charts with the hit tune, Enjoy Yourself and sister Janet Jackson, the TV show's breakout star, was well on her way establishing a solo career.

She was discovered by producer Norman Lear on the variety show and, after auditioning, joined the cast of Good Times a few months later.