Holiday specials were made for color

[NowhereMan 1966]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

People do support some stage spectaculars yet, like Cats or Lion King or etc. So why couldn't you make a go of a holiday variety show? I wonder if the remote control has killed the genre? Used to be you would turn on the "special" and if one person in the family didn't like a particular part, they would wait through it until something they liked came on. With multiple-TV households and every set with remote control, they probably can't get the continuous viewing they used to, so ratings would be lousy. Plus, production takes money, not like just turning on the lights for an unscripted talk show. - - just a little speculation here

I know, I doubt a shoe like Ed Sullivan could take place today. Back in the day, most homes had only 1 TV, if lucky, maybe a second one as a backup and most likely that one was a smaller B&W model, while the main set was a bigger B&W or, again, if lucky, color. Ed Sullivan made a point to have something for everyone, you had Topo Gigo and the early Muppets for the kids (although adults enjoyed them too), The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and The Doors for the teens, various comedians and the like for the "grown ups," pieces of Broadway plays and operas for the "high brow" crown, and daredevil type stunts for the sports minded and "extreme sports" types. I think you'd have a lot of people today zap out the "high brow" stuff, others the teens stuff, and so on. With remote control and a hundred or so channels, Ed Sullivan would have a tough time of it.