Where’s Ed Sullivan when you need him?

September 19th, 2007

Years ago, when television was still black and white and Elvis Presley was still a skinny hick, there was a weird old man on TV every Sunday night named Ed Sullivan. With his hunched shoulders and nasal delivery, Ed was an odd duck, but it didn’t matter much. Television was so new back then you didn’t have to be beautiful to be a star.

Ed was the host of a variety program that brought music, comedy and a dizzying array of other entertaining acts to the viewing public each week. It was called The Ed Sullivan Show, and audiences ate it up like candy. The Ed Sullivan Show was a Sunday night staple in the 1950s and 60s, and the affable host was a respected star maker, because of the number of performers that became household names after appearing on his show.

He had a knack for identifying and promoting top talent, and often paid a great deal of money to secure that talent. Virtually every type of entertainment appeared on the program. Opera singers, rock stars, songwriters, circus acts, comedians and ballet dancers were all regularly featured.

Ed Sullivan brought the world to television viewers. Unlike many other shows at that time, Sullivan asked his acts to perform their music live, rather than lip sync to their recordings. He promoted country when it wasn’t cool, broke the colour barrier by promoting black acts, and had a knack for finding what the “youngsters” wanted to see, no matter how out of touch it made him look.

If only Ed Sullivan were alive today, because we need him now—more than ever. Television today has been assaulted by “reality TV”, a relatively new phenomenon where everyday folks are thrust into the limelight to fight for the spotlight. Some of it actually makes for compelling television, but the bulk of it is a bombardment in much the same way a manure spreader bombards a farmer’s field in the fall.

On any given night on television, seemingly average mullet heads can be found trying to survive in a hostile environment, trying to get rich, racing across the globe, or gobbling down horse intestines. You can watch them become a model, an idol, a comic, rich, married, popular, or all of the above. You can watch everything but talent.

The latest assault on television viewers is the new game show “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”, where ordinary citizenry can go home with million, provided they accurately guess the words to a selection of well-known songs. It might seem like a good idea, until the poor saps start singing, and you could swear a flock of geese were drilling holes into your skull.

Ed Sullivan would never have let this happen, and neither should we. Television should be a showcase for the talented, a place where the best of the best can be recognized, and duly appreciated. When Ed Sullivan brought Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Doors, James Brown, Tom Jones, and hundreds of others to a nationwide audience, you knew you were watching the best of the best.

Today’s viewers deserve the same courtesy. Instead of reality TV, we deserve quality TV and, right over here, I think Ed Sullivan would agree.