Pink Lady and Jeff
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Pink Lady, known unofficially as Pink Lady and Jeff [1], was a television show that aired for six weeks on NBC in 1980. It is considered by many to be one of the worst US television shows ever made.
Pink Lady was a Japanese female singing duo composed of Keiko Masuda ("Kei") and Mitsuyo Nemoto ("Mie"), and "Jeff" was comedian Jeff Altman. The format of the show consisted of musical numbers alternating with sketch comedy. Jim Varney, who achieved later fame as "Ernest P. Worrell" in the Ernest series of movies and television shows, contributed as a character actor. The show was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and its head writer was Mark Evanier. Musical guests appearing on the show included Blondie, Alice Cooper, and Bobby Vinton.
Pink Lady became famous in Japan for a staggering streak of nine consecutive million-selling singles between 1976 and 1978. During the late 1970s, Pink Lady were everywhere in Japan—as performers, commercial pitchwomen, and even cartoon characters (the duo's managers financed a biographical TV anime series in 1978 which chronicled their rise to fame). One of their later hits, "Pink Typhoon," was a reworking of The Village People's "In the Navy," changing the lyrics to "Pink-a-La-dy" and "I want you, you want Mie/I want you, you want Kei" in place of "They want you as a new recruit." Mie and Kei took their first step toward conquering the U.S. audience with a concert in Las Vegas in 1978, and the following year were signed to Elektra/Curb Records for an English-language album which generated one minor Top 40 single, the disco tune "Kiss in the Dark."
In reality, Mie and Kei knew very little English, and had to learn their song lyrics and their lines for the TV show phonetically, which they found physically and emotionally draining. The producers of the TV show had them struggle through English-language disco songs such as "Boogie Wonderland" and "Knock On Wood," which frustrated Mie and Kei, who wanted to be allowed to perform some of their Japanese hits. On top of that, the show was filled with gags which most might consider "groaners," such as:
- Jeff: "You girls are the biggest thing in Japan!"
- Pink Lady: "No, Jeff, the biggest thing in Japan is Godzilla!"
Pink Lady returned to Japan following the failure of their TV show. With their record sales at home in decline, they officially disbanded in 1981 but have reunited for concerts and new recordings a few times since. Both Mie and Kei have also had successful solo careers in Japan. Today, their music is available in America only as Japanese imports. Meanwhile, no other J-pop act has attempted to conquer America through the medium of live television.
Pink Lady and Jeff reruns were seen on Trio for a brief period. A DVD set of the entire series was released in 2001.
The show was the subject of the "Not My Job" segment on National Public Radio's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! show on November 18, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Pink Lady at the Internet Movie Database
- Writer Mark Evanier's notes
- http://www.pinkladyamerica.com, a Pink Lady fan site maintained by an American fan. The site also contains information on the "Pink Lady and Jeff" TV series as well as an episode guide.
