We Rated Albums and Videos, How about Rating the Television Specials?

Gee, I had completely forgotten this quote:
(Schmidt,Page 177):
Karen Carpenter.....
"We stayed away from television for quite a few years until we signed with Jerry Weintraub, at which point he got us our own shows.
That's really what we needed. We needed to have full control of what we wanted to put and present on television."
 
Gee, I had completely forgotten this quote:
(Schmidt,Page 177):
Karen Carpenter.....
"We stayed away from television for quite a few years until we signed with Jerry Weintraub, at which point he got us our own shows.
That's really what we needed. We needed to have full control of what we wanted to put and present on television."

I think they had control of the first and last specials...God knows what happened to the ones in between.
 
Ranking the specials...
1. "Music, Music, Music." (Karen Carpenter and Ella Fitzgerald. Enough said.)
2. "Carpenters at Christmas." (Karen's dramatic monologues are fun. As fun as Richard's "skits" are not.)
3. "Carpenters' Very First Television Special." (I like the self-referential staging conceit of the special, and some of Karen's vocal stylings are wonderful.)
4. "Space Encounters." (Fun and awful; a combination I really enjoy in my entertainment.)
5. "Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait." (This leaves me flat. Flat, and sad.)
 
I can't do it. It would be like ranking my favorite children. Each one has great moments and okay moments. But as a whole, I love them all equally and I wouldn't change a thing about any of them. What some people call their "worst" special is better than nearly any non-Carpenters special that came out at that time. The talents of Richard and Karen are mesmerizing, but to hear and see them in these specials is simply breathtaking.
 
I recall the morning after the first special our drive-time DJ on the number one Nashville pop station at the time saying something to the effect of... 'Gosh, I had forgotten how many great songs they had recorded'... no doubt as a result of the medley at the end...
For my market, they didn't even air Music Music Music... the ABC affiliate ran some local thing instead. I had to wait to see it in the afterlife on YouTube... a treat indeed.
 
I recall the morning after the first special our drive-time DJ on the number one Nashville pop station at the time saying something to the effect of... 'Gosh, I had forgotten how many great songs they had recorded'... no doubt as a result of the medley at the end...
For my market, they didn't even air Music Music Music... the ABC affiliate ran some local thing instead. I had to wait to see it in the afterlife on YouTube... a treat indeed.
Barry, I thought I remember seeing it at the time in the Nashville area... I guess I'm thinking you tube as well.
 
Barry, I thought I remember seeing it at the time in the Nashville area... I guess I'm thinking you tube as well.
perhaps they showed it at an alternate time and I was unaware... I remember asking my brother in Houston to tape it.... then he forgot. I was so upset! GRRRRRR
 
As fond as I am of the First Television special,
I really wish that the taping of the Top Of The World portion
had been accompanied by a newly recorded 1976 vocal performance.
Just my two cents.
 
Musically, "Music, Music, Music" is the obvious pick for the best of the bunch. It's easy to see why its the only one Richard likes. No schtick, no laugh-track....and, yet, at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings. Ella and Karen is dream duet, Karen and John Davidson? Not so much. I wonder why if they picked someone like Ella, they couldn't have another classic male crooner - say Como, Dean Martin, or Sinatra (he might not have done it, but he apparently loved Karen's voice AND was once a client of Jerry Weintraub) or even Fred Astaire (since they already worked with Gene Kelly). Mostly when I see clips from MMM all I can think is they should have made an accompanying 1980 album while they were recording tracks for it (R&K did make private recordings of the special for themselves, and Richard put portions of the special, even with his voice replacing Davidson, on ATGB). All it would have taken would be a few more standards and some full length tracks of the songs Karen sang in the special in the medleys. R&K wanted to do an album of standards, they both loved that kind of music, and Richard has said they would have gotten around to it...eventually. But it would have been a much better "comeback" album from a year off then MIA (which still would have come out for 1981). So to my mind, MMM is more the special that should have been an album.

BUT, I think as pure entertainment TV, the First Television Special was the best. Yes it had canned laughter (which everything in the 70s had so it was nothing to be ashamed of) and schtick (which according to RC himself, Karen loved doing even if he didn't). It's the best example of giving real (non A&M created) on-screen personalities for the Carpenters as individuals with Richard playing the straight man to Karen's goofball. It gave both of them a chance to do things (Richard had the race car bit with Howard Cosell and the ONJ cameo which echoed his love of cars, and while Victor Borge may not have been an A-lister like John Denver, as a world-famous pianist/comedian he was the perfect person to pair with Richard). I love the John Denver sections (as well as his duet with Karen). Karen's drum solo in a class by itself as was her Superstar/RDaM medley in the trench coat. They even poked fun at the whole concept of variety shows with a whole song about corny "jokes" to kick it off. The special is basically a "best of" from their concert performances (with the Spike Jones version of "Close to You" and the hits medley at the end) so I can't understand why Richard dislikes it that much. Unlike the three following specials, it doesn't look like he's phoning it in (the C's weren't great actors so its easy to tell) and Karen appears to be in her element.

And Karen looks GREAT in the first special. Probably as good as she appeared publicly post-1975 outside of her wedding. I've seen Youtube comments on how "thin" she is, but I think that's a lot of retroactive thinking. Everyone was thin in this period (just look at RC) and if I was a Carpenters fan seeing this in 76, a year after her collapse in 75, I would think she looked beautiful. The outfits, the hair, make-up and the work done on her ever changing eyebrows really suited her (for comparison on how the great the effect is, see the Live London concert which was filmed shortly afterwards in 76).

As for the other three, wow, I don't know what the heck happened.
The Carpenters at Christmas rates third just because it gave us the Christmas Portrait album. And the opening sequences from the cheesy "Sleigh Ride" medley opening with the bad special effects and then the more sublime Old Fashioned Christmas medley (with Karen's "White Christmas" solo) which seemed to be a homage to Como's Christmas Special in 74 are shtick free. I don't even mind the Kristy McNichol bits (though Harvey Korman and the bowling alley and Kukla and Ollie - no, please no). It certainly could've been better ("Merry Christmas, Darling" should have been in this one, it was the duo's signature Christmas song) but nowhere near as bad as the the "Christmas Portrait "special.

Space Encounters gets number four from me (and that's only because "Christmas Portrait" is so bad). The writing is so bad and I don't understand the need for Charlie Callas mugging it up, and Davidson (again!) and Suzanne Somers as space aliens. The fact they interrupt Karen singing "Sweet, Sweet, Smile" (aka a song on an album then in stores and a recent single) to show dancing aliens and Somers/Davidson doing comedy is perplexing. Just a little rewrite and they could have kept most of the numbers. They could have made the show about the Carpenters' musical influences from their beginnings ("Goofus", "Little Girl Blue", "Dancing in the Streets") to the present day ("Just the Way You Are", "Calling Occupants", "Close Encounters/Star Wars Medley"). No doing disco at the end (though a cleaner version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady would have been great) , I would NOT have put "Man Smart, Women Smarter" (the worst song the Carpenters ever recorded in my opinion with an arrangement lifted almost straight from Robert Palmer's version) in the special and I would have had KAREN (not John Davidson) sing Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are". It's a song she would have belted out of the park and one she should have recorded. Obviously R&K had heard it and liked it enough to put on the special - but they gave it to jumpsuit wearing alien John Davidson, and had Karen perform "Goofus" instead.

Christmas Portrait is the worst. Richard seems to not want to be there at all. The matching red outfits in the beginning and then the matching green suits the siblings were wearing (Richard was 30 by this time) just provided fodder for those who mocked the Carpenters image. The "guests" the C's invite to their apparently shared house (c'mon we know they had their own apartments, we saw that in their last Christmas special!) were so random: Kristy (again!) and her brother, Gene Kelly, Georgia Engle. The strange "Hi, Folks, Bye, Folks" moment with Agnes and Harold, the tasteless (in retrospect) jokes about Karen giving the gift of food, and Karen looks really frail in this one and not helped by frizzy hair (only the bad perm in 81 was worse). It DOES have Gene Kelly, it does have "Ave Maria" and "Merry Christmas, Darling" and Richard's rendition of "Toyland". But it also has Peter Pitt, hanging around being creepy. Here at least I can understand why Richard does not want this one to see the light of day.
 
Musically, "Music, Music, Music" is the obvious pick for the best of the bunch. It's easy to see why its the only one Richard likes. No schtick, no laugh-track....and, yet, at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings. Ella and Karen is dream duet, Karen and John Davidson? Not so much. I wonder why if they picked someone like Ella, they couldn't have another classic male crooner - say Como, Dean Martin, or Sinatra (he might not have done it, but he apparently loved Karen's voice AND was once a client of Jerry Weintraub) or even Fred Astaire (since they already worked with Gene Kelly). Mostly when I see clips from MMM all I can think is they should have made an accompanying 1980 album while they were recording tracks for it (R&K did make private recordings of the special for themselves, and Richard put portions of the special, even with his voice replacing Davidson, on ATGB). All it would have taken would be a few more standards and some full length tracks of the songs Karen sang in the special in the medleys. R&K wanted to do an album of standards, they both loved that kind of music, and Richard has said they would have gotten around to it...eventually. But it would have been a much better "comeback" album from a year off then MIA (which still would have come out for 1981). So to my mind, MMM is more the special that should have been an album.

BUT, I think as pure entertainment TV, the First Television Special was the best. Yes it had canned laughter (which everything in the 70s had so it was nothing to be ashamed of) and schtick (which according to RC himself, Karen loved doing even if he didn't). It's the best example of giving real (non A&M created) on-screen personalities for the Carpenters as individuals with Richard playing the straight man to Karen's goofball. It gave both of them a chance to do things (Richard had the race car bit with Howard Cosell and the ONJ cameo which echoed his love of cars, and while Victor Borge may not have been an A-lister like John Denver, as a world-famous pianist/comedian he was the perfect person to pair with Richard). I love the John Denver sections (as well as his duet with Karen). Karen's drum solo in a class by itself as was her Superstar/RDaM medley in the trench coat. They even poked fun at the whole concept of variety shows with a whole song about corny "jokes" to kick it off. The special is basically a "best of" from their concert performances (with the Spike Jones version of "Close to You" and the hits medley at the end) so I can't understand why Richard dislikes it that much. Unlike the three following specials, it doesn't look like he's phoning it in (the C's weren't great actors so its easy to tell) and Karen appears to be in her element.

And Karen looks GREAT in the first special. Probably as good as she appeared publicly post-1975 outside of her wedding. I've seen Youtube comments on how "thin" she is, but I think that's a lot of retroactive thinking. Everyone was thin in this period (just look at RC) and if I was a Carpenters fan seeing this in 76, a year after her collapse in 75, I would think she looked beautiful. The outfits, the hair, make-up and the work done on her ever changing eyebrows really suited her (for comparison on how the great the effect is, see the Live London concert which was filmed shortly afterwards in 76).

As for the other three, wow, I don't know what the heck happened.
The Carpenters at Christmas rates third just because it gave us the Christmas Portrait album. And the opening sequences from the cheesy "Sleigh Ride" medley opening with the bad special effects and then the more sublime Old Fashioned Christmas medley (with Karen's "White Christmas" solo) which seemed to be a homage to Como's Christmas Special in 74 are shtick free. I don't even mind the Kristy McNichol bits (though Harvey Korman and the bowling alley and Kukla and Ollie - no, please no). It certainly could've been better ("Merry Christmas, Darling" should have been in this one, it was the duo's signature Christmas song) but nowhere near as bad as the the "Christmas Portrait "special.

Space Encounters gets number four from me (and that's only because "Christmas Portrait" is so bad). The writing is so bad and I don't understand the need for Charlie Callas mugging it up, and Davidson (again!) and Suzanne Somers as space aliens. The fact they interrupt Karen singing "Sweet, Sweet, Smile" (aka a song on an album then in stores and a recent single) to show dancing aliens and Somers/Davidson doing comedy is perplexing. Just a little rewrite and they could have kept most of the numbers. They could have made the show about the Carpenters' musical influences from their beginnings ("Goofus", "Little Girl Blue", "Dancing in the Streets") to the present day ("Just the Way You Are", "Calling Occupants", "Close Encounters/Star Wars Medley"). No doing disco at the end (though a cleaner version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady would have been great) , I would NOT have put "Man Smart, Women Smarter" (the worst song the Carpenters ever recorded in my opinion with an arrangement lifted almost straight from Robert Palmer's version) in the special and I would have had KAREN (not John Davidson) sing Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are". It's a song she would have belted out of the park and one she should have recorded. Obviously R&K had heard it and liked it enough to put on the special - but they gave it to jumpsuit wearing alien John Davidson, and had Karen perform "Goofus" instead.

Christmas Portrait is the worst. Richard seems to not want to be there at all. The matching red outfits in the beginning and then the matching green suits the siblings were wearing (Richard was 30 by this time) just provided fodder for those who mocked the Carpenters image. The "guests" the C's invite to their apparently shared house (c'mon we know they had their own apartments, we saw that in their last Christmas special!) were so random: Kristy (again!) and her brother, Gene Kelly, Georgia Engle. The strange "Hi, Folks, Bye, Folks" moment with Agnes and Harold, the tasteless (in retrospect) jokes about Karen giving the gift of food, and Karen looks really frail in this one and not helped by frizzy hair (only the bad perm in 81 was worse). It DOES have Gene Kelly, it does have "Ave Maria" and "Merry Christmas, Darling" and Richard's rendition of "Toyland". But it also has Peter Pitt, hanging around being creepy. Here at least I can understand why Richard does not want this one to see the light of day.

Thanks for the run down... now I don't really feel like I need to see any of them! (I did buy and enjoy the Perry Como special, even if it wasn't theirs alone, but have been tempted to buy some of of the bootlegs of their specials on one of the auction websites.)
 
Musically, "Music, Music, Music" is the obvious pick for the best of the bunch. It's easy to see why its the only one Richard likes. No schtick, no laugh-track....and, yet, at the bottom of the Nielsen ratings. Ella and Karen is dream duet, Karen and John Davidson? Not so much. I wonder why if they picked someone like Ella, they couldn't have another classic male crooner - say Como, Dean Martin, or Sinatra (he might not have done it, but he apparently loved Karen's voice AND was once a client of Jerry Weintraub) or even Fred Astaire (since they already worked with Gene Kelly). Mostly when I see clips from MMM all I can think is they should have made an accompanying 1980 album while they were recording tracks for it (R&K did make private recordings of the special for themselves, and Richard put portions of the special, even with his voice replacing Davidson, on ATGB). All it would have taken would be a few more standards and some full length tracks of the songs Karen sang in the special in the medleys. R&K wanted to do an album of standards, they both loved that kind of music, and Richard has said they would have gotten around to it...eventually. But it would have been a much better "comeback" album from a year off then MIA (which still would have come out for 1981). So to my mind, MMM is more the special that should have been an album.

BUT, I think as pure entertainment TV, the First Television Special was the best. Yes it had canned laughter (which everything in the 70s had so it was nothing to be ashamed of) and schtick (which according to RC himself, Karen loved doing even if he didn't). It's the best example of giving real (non A&M created) on-screen personalities for the Carpenters as individuals with Richard playing the straight man to Karen's goofball. It gave both of them a chance to do things (Richard had the race car bit with Howard Cosell and the ONJ cameo which echoed his love of cars, and while Victor Borge may not have been an A-lister like John Denver, as a world-famous pianist/comedian he was the perfect person to pair with Richard). I love the John Denver sections (as well as his duet with Karen). Karen's drum solo in a class by itself as was her Superstar/RDaM medley in the trench coat. They even poked fun at the whole concept of variety shows with a whole song about corny "jokes" to kick it off. The special is basically a "best of" from their concert performances (with the Spike Jones version of "Close to You" and the hits medley at the end) so I can't understand why Richard dislikes it that much. Unlike the three following specials, it doesn't look like he's phoning it in (the C's weren't great actors so its easy to tell) and Karen appears to be in her element.

And Karen looks GREAT in the first special. Probably as good as she appeared publicly post-1975 outside of her wedding. I've seen Youtube comments on how "thin" she is, but I think that's a lot of retroactive thinking. Everyone was thin in this period (just look at RC) and if I was a Carpenters fan seeing this in 76, a year after her collapse in 75, I would think she looked beautiful. The outfits, the hair, make-up and the work done on her ever changing eyebrows really suited her (for comparison on how the great the effect is, see the Live London concert which was filmed shortly afterwards in 76).

As for the other three, wow, I don't know what the heck happened.
The Carpenters at Christmas rates third just because it gave us the Christmas Portrait album. And the opening sequences from the cheesy "Sleigh Ride" medley opening with the bad special effects and then the more sublime Old Fashioned Christmas medley (with Karen's "White Christmas" solo) which seemed to be a homage to Como's Christmas Special in 74 are shtick free. I don't even mind the Kristy McNichol bits (though Harvey Korman and the bowling alley and Kukla and Ollie - no, please no). It certainly could've been better ("Merry Christmas, Darling" should have been in this one, it was the duo's signature Christmas song) but nowhere near as bad as the the "Christmas Portrait "special.

Space Encounters gets number four from me (and that's only because "Christmas Portrait" is so bad). The writing is so bad and I don't understand the need for Charlie Callas mugging it up, and Davidson (again!) and Suzanne Somers as space aliens. The fact they interrupt Karen singing "Sweet, Sweet, Smile" (aka a song on an album then in stores and a recent single) to show dancing aliens and Somers/Davidson doing comedy is perplexing. Just a little rewrite and they could have kept most of the numbers. They could have made the show about the Carpenters' musical influences from their beginnings ("Goofus", "Little Girl Blue", "Dancing in the Streets") to the present day ("Just the Way You Are", "Calling Occupants", "Close Encounters/Star Wars Medley"). No doing disco at the end (though a cleaner version of "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady would have been great) , I would NOT have put "Man Smart, Women Smarter" (the worst song the Carpenters ever recorded in my opinion with an arrangement lifted almost straight from Robert Palmer's version) in the special and I would have had KAREN (not John Davidson) sing Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are". It's a song she would have belted out of the park and one she should have recorded. Obviously R&K had heard it and liked it enough to put on the special - but they gave it to jumpsuit wearing alien John Davidson, and had Karen perform "Goofus" instead.

Christmas Portrait is the worst. Richard seems to not want to be there at all. The matching red outfits in the beginning and then the matching green suits the siblings were wearing (Richard was 30 by this time) just provided fodder for those who mocked the Carpenters image. The "guests" the C's invite to their apparently shared house (c'mon we know they had their own apartments, we saw that in their last Christmas special!) were so random: Kristy (again!) and her brother, Gene Kelly, Georgia Engle. The strange "Hi, Folks, Bye, Folks" moment with Agnes and Harold, the tasteless (in retrospect) jokes about Karen giving the gift of food, and Karen looks really frail in this one and not helped by frizzy hair (only the bad perm in 81 was worse). It DOES have Gene Kelly, it does have "Ave Maria" and "Merry Christmas, Darling" and Richard's rendition of "Toyland". But it also has Peter Pitt, hanging around being creepy. Here at least I can understand why Richard does not want this one to see the light of day.

I actually liked CP better than the first special but otherwise this write up perfectly details exactly what worked and didn't work with each of them!
 
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