The Steve Allen Show

infobox Television
show_name = The Steve Allen Show


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genre = variety show
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starring = Steve Allen
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country = USA
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network = NBC, ABC
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first_aired = June 24, 1956
last_aired = December 27, 1961
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imdb_id = 0048899
tv_com_id = 1465

"The Steve Allen Show" was an award-winning U.S. television variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, and from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC. [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/steveallens/steveallens.htm The Steve Allen Show] from the Museum of Broadcast Communications] .

The show won a Peabody Award in 1958 for its "genuine humor and frank experiments" during a year when most shows were "conspicuously lacking" such elements. [ [http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/search.php Winners Archive Search] from the Peabody Awards website]

The show launched the careers of cast members Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Pat Harrington Jr., and Bill Dana. The show's most popular sketch was the "Man on the street" which featured Knotts as the nervous Mr. Morrison, Poston as the man who could not remember his own name, Harrington as Italian golf player Guido Panzini, Nye as the smug Gordon Hathaway, and Dana as José Jiménez. Hathaway's greeting of "Hi Ho Steverino!" became a catchphrase [cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2005/oct/11/local/me-nye11|title=Louis Nye, 92; Comedian Coined Phrase ‘Hi-Ho, Steverino’ During Appearances on ‘Steve Allen Show’|publisher="Los Angeles Times"|date=2005-10-11|accessdate=2008-08-12] as did Jimenez's "My name José Jiménez." [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200287|title=Bill Dana|date=2002|publisher=Gale Group|work=St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture|author=Thompson, Robert] Dayton Allen also appeared in the sketch and spawned the catchphrase "Whyyyyy not?" [cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/arts/television/18allen.html|title=Dayton Allen, 85, Cartoon Voice Actor, Dies|publisher="The New York Times"|author=Associated Press|date=2004-11-18|accessdate=2008-08-12] Gabe Dell, previously a member of The Bowery Boys, was also a cast member. Gene Rayburn was the show's announcer and Skitch Henderson was the bandleader.

Although Allen had a personal disdain for rock and roll, [Austen, Jake, "TV A-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol" (2005), p.13] the show featured numerous rock and roll artists in their earliest TV appearances. The show presented Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five, The Treniers, and The Collins Kids.

After being cancelled by NBC in 1960, the show returned in 1961 on ABC. Nye, Poston, Harrington, Dell, and Dayton Allen returned. New cast members were Joey Forman, Buck Henry, The Smothers Brothers, Tim Conway, and Allen's wife, Jayne Meadows. The new version was cancelled after fourteen episodes.

Kinescopes of the NBC version were rerun on Comedy Central in the early 1990's hosted by Allen.

References

* [http://www.tv.com/the-steve-allen-show/show/1465/episode.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabssh&tag=tabs;episodes Episode Guide]