Television series
The Ed Sullivan Show
For twenty-three years Ed Sullivan stood stiffly in a suit and introduced everything America had to offer in one Sunday hour — Elvis's hips, the Beatles' hair, ballet, opera, plate-spinners, puppets. Watching it now is less about Sullivan's charisma, which was famously minimal, than about seeing a nation's whole taste assembled live, act after act, with no logic beyond 'this is good.'
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The Muppet Show1976
Same vaudeville bones — a nervous host, wildly mismatched guest stars, one specialty act after another — but Kermit is funnier than Sullivan ever was and knows it. The warmest, most purely joyful variety show ever made.
But The humour is gentle and puppet-based; if you want edge or satire, this isn't it.
Saturday Night Live1975
Inherited Sullivan's live-broadcast nerve and mixed bill of sketch, music and stand-up, but with teeth. Decades of history-making TV moments happened on that stage the way they once did on Sullivan's.
But Wildly uneven week to week — the genius and the filler sit right next to each other.
The Carol Burnett Show1967
Same decade, same network instinct for spectacle, but built around one performer's genius rather than a rotating carousel of acts. Sketch comedy at its most generous and technically dazzling.
But Sketch-based rather than acts-based, so it's a different rhythm if you want the pure variety format.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
American Idol2002no page yet
Both are machines for turning an unknown performer into an overnight national phenomenon — Sullivan did it by booking them, Idol does it by voting on them.
Sullivan's real gift was finding the act that would define a decade before anyone else knew it — Elvis, the Beatles, ballet dancers nobody in America had heard of yet. Idol turns that same instinct into a live weekly competition for discovering the next one.
But The judging-panel cruelty and manufactured tears are a world away from Sullivan's genial, non-judgmental presenting style.
More like this (7)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson1962
The nightly cousin to Sullivan's Sunday ritual — same mix of music, comedy and celebrity, minus the plate-spinners, plus a host with actual charisma to spare.
But Talk-show pacing is slower and more conversational, with less of Sullivan's rapid act-to-act momentum.
The Late Show with David Letterman1993
A more ironic descendant — still musical guests, still a desk and a host, but running the whole format through a layer of self-aware comedy Sullivan never had access to.
But Letterman's persona is deliberately sour where Sullivan's was earnest; a different comic temperature entirely.
Hee Haw1969no page yet
Variety format gone rural and gleefully corny — sketches, musical guests, cornfield gags. A funhouse-mirror version of the Sullivan formula built for a country audience instead of a city one.
But The humour is broad and repetitive by design; not for anyone allergic to cornpone.
America's Got Talent2006no page yet
Modern descendant of Sullivan's talent-scouting instinct, minus the ballet and opera, plus judges and a buzzer. Proof the appetite for watching a stranger do something amazing never actually dies.
But Manipulative editing and manufactured tears; the sincerity Sullivan had by accident, this show fakes on purpose.
The Dean Martin Show1965
A boozier, looser contemporary of Sullivan's — same guest-star variety structure, but built around one laid-back star's charm rather than Sullivan's stiff ringmaster act.
But Dean Martin's persona is the whole show; if he doesn't charm you, there's less holding it together.
Vaudeville1997no page yet
Sullivan's whole show was a TV embalming of vaudeville after Broadway killed it; this film tells you exactly what he was keeping alive, and why it had to die first.
This American Masters documentary tells you exactly what world Sullivan was preserving on television after it had already died on stage — the circuit, the acts, the hustle, the economics of a business built on novelty.
But It's a talking-heads historical documentary, not a rewatchable pleasure the way Sullivan's actual broadcasts still are.
The Entertainer1960no page yet
Sullivan presented vaudeville's afterlife as pure showbiz cheer; this film, from the same era, shows what it actually felt like from inside a failing act on that same circuit.
Laurence Olivier plays a fading music-hall performer clinging to a dying circuit with forced smiles and worse instincts. It strips the tinsel off the variety-stage world and shows the flop sweat underneath.
But Bleak, theatrical and deliberately unglamorous — the opposite of a fun Sunday night, on purpose.
People
Cast
Ed SullivanPresenter
Recommended by
The Muppet Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Danny Kaye Show, The Ed Wynn Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Dean Martin Show, The Milton Berle Show