Because Dick Ebersol was taking over as the CEO and he had his own ideas...by now he knows it was a huge mistake. Want more then look at the wikipedia entry on The Midnight Special.
shareMidnight Special was cancelled when Ebersol took over SNL and NBC replaced it with SCTV (which had previously been shown on CBC in Canada and in syndication in the US)
shareIt was never as good after that odious Helen Reddy was made permanent host.I liked the idea of rotating hosts,but if they wanted a permanent,why that pinko no talent?She had an irritating nasal drone,& was thoroughly obnoxious.Much to the credit of the producers,they dumped her after less than a year,but it still wasn't as good as before.
share...Would you really consider an Australian ( And she lives there, Down Under , in retirement to-day , so I guess she was a true Aussie at heart . ) a " pinko " ?
That , beside being dated as a phrase , really was more an American-used/-applied one , I tend to think .
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Helen Reddy was a far left radical,a.k.a.,pinko.Whether she was Australian,American,or extraterrestrial,she was a pinko.I really believe Burt Sugarman would agree with me making her a permanent host was a mistake.She always appeared high in surveys of most hated female vocalist at the time.If he wanted a permanent host,Wolfman Jack was there,he could have introduced the guests & maybe done brief interviews,no long winded chit chat.Another idea would have been maybe another non-musician,such as a game show host,comic,or actor.Among people in those genres who could have been given the job were Bob Eubanks,David Steinberg,or this one from left field,Chuck Connors.Mr.Connors once filled in for an ill Merv Griffin,& did an excellent job.One thing I might have considered about him was if he was a fan of the music on the show.If not,I would have passed on him.One thing to his advantage would have been none of the guests would have caused trouble with him around.As far as Helen Reddy living in Australia,they can have her.
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Chuck Connors?? The Rifleman as a guest host for a live music show? Big fan of his, but I don't think so. And never knew Helen Reddy was Australian, either way she was a "commie pinko"!! And Dick Ebersol messed up a lot of shows on his watch, they didn't just call him Dick cause that was his name!!
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Like I mentioned in my previous post,Chuck Connors filled in for an ill Merv Griffin & did an excellent job.My idea would have been for any permanent host to have not been a singer,who would have introduced the performers & done interviews.Chuck Connors was an excellent interviewer on that one Merv Griffin Show,minus Merv Griffin.Another thing I would have considered,he was a former professional athlete,& physically large,any troublemakers would have thought twice about making trouble in his presence.Consider this,most of his career he played Western cowboy types,even in contemporary settings,such as Cowboy in Africa.Chuck Connors was a native & resident of Brooklyn,NY.I would also have wanted a fan of the music scene,which if Chuck Connors had not been,I would have bypassed him.
Yes, both Ebersol's decision to promote SCTV and falling ratings (popular consensus does point to the host change as the primary reason) were both causes of the cancellation of The Midnight Special.
However, insider info reveals what was named as the main reason: the last episode of The Midnight Special was broadcast at its regular time-slot on 27 March 1981. MTV was in active development nearly a year before that date; all of the major record labels were said to be "ecstatic" about the prospect of reaching a far larger audience with 24/7/365 delivery via cable TV providers. MTV debuted on 01 August 1981; within two years radio stations were bowing down before MTV, and often changing their playlists to incorporate some to many of the songs and artists featured on MTV. Also, producing a music video that could be replayed for years was ultimately less expensive than flying an entire band to another city, putting them up in an overpriced hotel, and then hoping they could be clean & sober enough to either perform live or lip-sync reasonably well (I realize that last part applies only to some).
Let me be clear: I am NOT placing MTV above TMS; just relaying a bit of history. I loved the variety of musical genres that TMS showcased: where else could you watch and listen to rock, pop, folk, p-funk, country, and R&B/soul in one sitting? But TMS was a showcase for those acts who had already made it to the top (some music critics — not my favorite bunch by any means — were referring to artists who appeared on TMS as "one step away from the old folks' home" — ouch!). Conversely, I loved MTV's approach to playing music (videos) by completely unheard-of artists (think of the so-called second "British Invasion" from 1982 to 1986). And this is precisely what the record labels were excited about: selling new (and therefore more) music. Established acts were already generating huge profits selling vinyl and cassettes via radio promotion. But MTV's break-the-rules approach would actually provide new and even unheard-of acts a platform to directly reach consumers (remember, this was before the Internet).
Was MTV more restrictive in what they played genre-wise? Yes: recall that Sony threatened to pull all of their artist's videos from MTV unless MTV played three Michael Jackson music videos. But MTV's willingness to play non-established artists would go on to influence radio stations worldwide. This concept lives on in the Internet age, where music streaming services seem probable to overtake the traditional music-purchasing models of either CDs or digital downloads. Can you imagine explaining to a teenager in the 70s or 80s that one day, for the price of one vinyl album at $9.99, you could pay that same dollar amount each month and listen to 37.5 million (Apple Music) songs?
Variety of genres is the legacy of TMS, and I'm extremely thankful for it introducing me to more than one kind of music. The openness to listen to something new is the legacy of the MTV golden age, and I'm equally grateful for that.