57 articles
Sábado Gigante
Sábado Gigante, originally Sábados Gigantes, was a Chilean-created Spanish-language variety show hosted by Don Francisco (Mario Kreutzberger) from 1962 to 2015, first on Canal 13, then from Miami on Univision, holding the Guinness record for longest-running TV variety show.
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live (SNL) is NBC's live late-night sketch comedy and variety show, created by Lorne Michaels, premiering October 11, 1975 as NBC's Saturday Night from Studio 8H, Rockefeller Center; known for Weekend Update, political satire, record Emmy wins, and the 2026 SNL UK adaptation.
Saturday Night Live UK
Saturday Night Live UK (SNL UK) is the first British adaptation of SNL, premiering 21 March 2026 on Sky and NOW, live at 10pm from Television Centre with an 11-comic cast, Tina Fey's debut hosting, and a 12-episode series 2 from September 2026.
Show! Music Core (쇼! 음악중심)
Show! Music Core (쇼! 음악중심) is MBC's live Saturday K-pop music show, first aired October 29, 2005, replacing Music Camp after a live-incident scandal; it awards a weekly chart with digital sales weighted 50% since May 2026.
Soul Train
Soul Train is Don Cornelius's American music-dance TV series, the Black answer to American Bandstand, airing from Chicago in 1970 and in national syndication 1971-2006, famous for the Soul Train line and Afro Sheen sponsorship.
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: NBC comedy specials (1974-1984, after a 1973-74 segment on The Dean Martin Show) hosted by Dean Martin, Vegas-taped, Friars Club-style celebrity insult roasts.
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show (Toast of the Town) was CBS's Sunday-night variety series from 1948 to 1971, the longest-running variety show in US TV history, famous for Elvis Presley (1956), The Beatles (1964), and featuring Black performers during segregation.
The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show, NBC comedy-variety series 1970–1974 hosted by Flip Wilson, first successful network variety show with a Black star; number-two rated show, Geraldine and Reverend Leroy characters, two Emmys and a Peabody.
The Good Old Days (British TV series)
The Good Old Days is a BBC television variety program, running from 1953 to 1983, that recreated Victorian and Edwardian music hall from Leeds City Varieties.
The Great Indian Kapil Show
The Great Indian Kapil Show is a Hindi Netflix variety comedy talk show hosted by Kapil Sharma with Sunil Grover, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, and Archana Puran Singh. Premiered 30 March 2024; five seasons by 2026; first Indian series on the Global Top 10 Non-English TV list for five weeks.
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show: American musical variety series hosted by bandleader Lawrence Welk, airing locally 1951-1955, on ABC 1955-1971, and in syndication 1971-1982, known for "champagne music," the Lennon Sisters, and continuing PBS reruns.
The Mickey Mouse Club
The Mickey Mouse Club is Disney's children's variety TV franchise, first on ABC 1955–1959 with 39 Mouseketeers, revived in 1977, 1989 (MMC, launching Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake), 2017, and piloted for Disney+ in 2026.
The Midnight Special (TV series)
The Midnight Special was NBC's late-night rock music variety series (1972–1981), created by Burt Sugarman, airing Fridays after The Tonight Show with Wolfman Jack as announcer and live performances by 1970s acts.
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show (1976–1981) is Jim Henson's syndicated puppet variety show, produced for Lew Grade's ATV in Britain after US networks passed. It reached 235 million weekly viewers worldwide and spawned the Muppet films.
The Muppet Show (2026 TV special)
The Muppet Show (2026) is a 32-minute Disney+ and ABC special reviving the Muppets' variety format for the franchise's 50th anniversary, guest-starring Sabrina Carpenter, directed by Alex Timbers, drawing 7.58 million viewers and winning four Emmys.
The Old Grey Whistle Test
The Old Grey Whistle Test (OGWT) was a BBC2 late-night British rock music show running from 21 September 1971 to early 1988, renamed Whistle Test in 1983. Known for live album-oriented performances, the Starkicker logo, and presenter 'Whispering' Bob Harris.
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour: CBS American variety series (1971-1974) hosted by married duo Sonny Bono and Cher, created by Chris Bearde and Allan Blye after Fred Silverman saw their nightclub act; Top 20 ratings, Bob Mackie costumes, ended by their divorce.
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was a Fox variety sketch series (1987–1990) hosted by Tracey Ullman, produced by James L. Brooks, and best known as the birthplace of The Simpsons' 48 animated shorts.
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops (TOTP) was the BBC's weekly UK singles chart show, broadcast 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006, featuring mimed performances, pop promos, and the number one single each week.
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 (also written TOSH.0), an American Comedy Central clip-comedy series hosted by Daniel Tosh, ran 12 seasons from June 4, 2009 to 2020 and featured viral-video commentary plus its signature Web Redemption segment.
Total Request Live
Total Request Live (TRL) was MTV's daily top-10 music video countdown, broadcast from a Times Square glass studio from September 14, 1998 to November 16, 2008, hosted by Carson Daly, later revived video-free in 2017.
University Challenge
University Challenge is a British television quiz show, based on College Bowl, first broadcast 21 September 1962 by Granada for ITV, hosted by Bamber Gascoigne, then Jeremy Paxman, then Amol Rajan, on BBC Two since 1994.
Variety show
Variety show: an entertainment program mixing short acts of music, comedy, and guests under a host, descended from vaudeville and music hall; dominant on early US television (Berle, Sullivan), faded by the 1970s, surviving in late-night, talent shows, and East Asian variety genres.
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is an American CBS panel game show (1950–1967, 876 episodes; syndicated revival 1968–1975) produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, in which a celebrity panel guessed contestants' occupations via yes-or-no questions and identified a blindfolded, disguised mystery guest.
Wicked: One Wonderful Night
Wicked: One Wonderful Night is an American television musical special that aired on NBC on November 6, 2025, co-hosted by film stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
Wowowin
Wowowin is a Philippine variety-game show created and hosted by Willie Revillame, airing on GMA Network from May 10, 2015 to February 11, 2022 and on ALLTV from 2022 to 2023.
Zoom (1999 TV series)
Zoom (1999 TV series), also ZOOM Series II, is WGBH's PBS Kids revival of the 1972 show: seven kid 'Zoomers' per season, viewer-submitted segments, Ubbi Dubbi, January 4, 1999 to May 6, 2005, 201 episodes, season 1 partially lost.