It was 38 years ago this week (February 2nd, 1973) that the late night rock show The Midnight Special premiered on NBC. The show's pilot had aired in 1972, and went on to create a buzz the next year when it followed late night king Johnny Carson.The Midnight Special originally aired at 1 a.m. on Saturday mornings, but when Carson scaled The Tonight Show down from 90 minutes to an hour, the show moved up to 12:30 a.m.
Among the major guests who performed during the show's first season were John Denver, the Everly Brothers, Cass Elliott,Linda Ronstadt,Harry Chapin, Helen Reddy, the Isley Brothers, the Stylistics,Smokey Robinson,Kenny Rogers & the First Edition,Dionne Warwick,Al Green, the Bee Gees,Don McLean,Ike & Tina Turner, and many more.
Paul Brownstein, who distributed the show for owner and producer Burt Sugarman, told author Ed Robertson, "Back then, a band would come to Los Angeles on Saturday and lip-sync their hit on American Bandstand, then go to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Sunday and doDon Kirshner's Rock Concert-- which was syndicated. If they really wanted major television exposure, though, they'd have to go to NBC in Burbank and do The Midnight Special, because that was the only opportunity for a network TV gig at the time. They would perform with live vocals, and the concert would air that (Saturday morning) -- before a huge audience."
Over the years, most of the day's top rock, pop, and disco acts appeared on the stage -- with many acting as the revolving guest host. Celebrity DJ Wolfman Jack, who hosted many of the shows as well, was often on hand to introduce the groups and sometimes briefly interview them as well.
The Midnight Special was canceled in May 1981 and replaced with the Canadian comedy show SCTV Network 90,an expanded version of the popularSCTV. In 1997, VH1 aired many of The Midnight Special episodes, many of which hadn't been seen since their initial broadcast.
Out now on DVD is a highlights package, titled The Midnight Special Collector's Edition, is being sold in three different formats: 11-DVDs, six-DVDs, and a single DVD.