Pink Lady (TV series)

Pink Lady
Also known as
  • Pink Lady Starring Mie and Kei with Jeff Altman
  • Pink Lady and Jeff (in retrospective)
GenreVariety
Directed byArt Fisher
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6 (1 unaired)
Production
ProducerSid and Marty Krofft
Running time45–48 min
Production companyKrofft Entertainment
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseMarch 1 (1980-03-01) –
April 4, 1980 (1980-04-04)
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Pink Lady is an American variety show that aired for five weeks on NBC in 1980, starring the Japanese musical duo of the same name. The show is also referred to by the title Pink Lady and Jeff, referring to co-star Jeff Altman. The show was riddled with complications, including a dispute over the name: agents for the starring parties were never able to settle on one, and the show was advertised both ways during its run. Other difficulties included scriptwriting disagreements, guest star booking mishaps, taping and touring conflicts, and the inability of Mie and Kei, the members of Pink Lady, to understand or speak English.

Pink Lady was massively popular in Japan and even enjoyed a hit in the U.S. with the English-language song "Kiss in the Dark". A television show for the duo was proposed and swiftly approved. The show's developers, Sid and Marty Krofft, pursued the project under the erroneous assumption that the stars spoke both English and Japanese. When the reality became apparent, network executives insisted that Mie and Kei not only perform their English dialog phonetically, but also sing in English. The resulting clumsy diction compounded the show's other problems, and despite the infusion of expensive co-stars, the series did poorly and was cancelled after five episodes. The series ranked #35 on TV Guide's "The 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time" list.[1]

  1. ^ Associated Press (July 14, 2002). "TV Guide trashes 'Springer'". Seattle Times. Retrieved May 22, 2022.