Solid Gold (TV series)

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Solid Gold was an American syndicated television series which ran from 1980 to 1988. From 1987 to 1988 it was retitled Solid Gold in Concert.

Contents 1 Year-end Top 40 countdown shows 2 Hosts 3 The "Solid Gold Dancers" 4 Guest performers and the usage of the Top 10 5 Solid Gold Hits 6 Trivia 7 External links

[edit] Year-end Top 40 countdown shows

The first episode of the show in January 1980 would become a yearly tradition, as they counted down the Top 40 of 1979 in an epic 2-hour series premiere. The show was called Solid Gold '79 for that one episode. Every year thereafter through 1986, they would host a 2-hour year-end Top 40 countdown show.

[edit] Hosts

The premiere and much of the first season was hosted by Dionne Warwick and Marty Cohen, known more commonly as "Partyin' Marty Hardy". At the beginning of the 1981-1982 season, Marilyn McCoo of The Fifth Dimension and Andy Gibb took over hosting duties. In the 1982-1983 season Rex Smith replaced Andy Gibb as Marilyn McCoo's co-host and in the 1983-1984 season Marilyn McCoo hosted alone. In September 1984, Rick Dees hosted the show with comedy bits added to the format. Dionne Warwick returned to the show as host in the 1985-1986 season before Marilyn McCoo would return as host in the 1986-1987 season along with Arsenio Hall and Nina Blackwood as co-hosts which would last until the end of the series in 1988.

[edit] The "Solid Gold Dancers"

The weekly one-hour show played segments from the Top 10 charting songs accompanied by the Solid Gold Dancers. Darcel Wynne was the principal dancer on Solid Gold during her five-year reign. She appeared on the show from 1980 to 1983, took a year off during 1984 and rejoined the cast in late 1985. In 1986, Darcel had many speaking roles on Solid Gold, regularly announcing the countdown re-caps towards the end of the show. Wynne and most of the other dancers left the program at the end of that season.

[edit] Guest performers and the usage of the Top 10

At times, artists who had a single among the week's Top 10 appeared as guest performers, although the songs were lip-synced and not performed live. Celebrities also occasionally served duty as guest hosts. During the 1986-1987 season, the Top 10 was no longer danced to by the Solid Gold Dancers and instead was just simply listed halfway through the show.

[edit] Solid Gold Hits

In the summer of 1984, a weekday half-hour format called Solid Gold Hits went into syndication; it was hosted by Grant Goodeve and showcased just a general grouping of the hits of the time. The main Solid Gold program was still airing on weekends.

[edit] Trivia

• During the final season of the program, the Solid Gold Dancers were involved in filming of the Christmas-themed movie Scrooged, which was released in theaters shortly after the show's final episode.
• At the start of Solid Gold's first season (1980), Michael Miller was chosen by Dionne Warwick to be the show's Musical Director - a role he continued on with for the entire run of the series. Michael also composed the Solid Gold Theme song, along with Academy Award-winning lyricist, Dean Pitchford, who wrote the theme's words.
• Sum41 made a music video that features Solid Gold and the dancers, with the band being filmed into a green screen to make it look like they were in the show.
• Green Day ironically quotes this program on their song "I want to be on TV" from their B-Side album Shenanigans.
• Los Angeles radio personalities Robert W. Morgan and Charlie O'Donnell were the off-screen announcers throughout the duration of this series.
• One of Matthew Wilder's rare TV appearances was on Solid Gold, with a live performance of Break My Stride in 1983.
• Solid Gold was produced by Brad Lachman and Bob Banner in association with Operation Primetime and Paramount Television.
• When Culture Club appeared on Solid Gold, frontman Boy George asked that the Solid Gold Dancers not be on stage during their performance.

[edit] External links

• "Solid Gold" at the Internet Movie Database
• the Solid Gold dancers photograph gallery