SHAPE OF THINGS, THE (TV)
Summary
This comedy/variety program, hosted by six women and created mostly by women, deals with 1970s issues from a female point of view. The program opens with the hosts -- Phyllis Diller, Lee Grant, Valerie Harper, Lynn Redgrave, Joan Rivers, and Brenda Vaccaro -- performing "The Shape of Things." Notable bits include: in a role-reversal skit, a powerful female ad exec (Grant) fires her male subordinate (Ronnie Schell) for being overqualified; Diller discusses the "most intelligent females" represented on current television, as well as what the world might have been like without such women in history as Paul Revere's wife, Noah's wife, Lady Godiva, Betsy Ross, and Joan of Arc; a women's libber (Redgrave) tries to prove that she's actually a nice lady, as she becomes increasingly agitated; Vaccaro sings the song of "a female chauvinist," featuring guest appearances by NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain and child star Rodney Allen Rippy; Rivers talks about not being into women's liberation as much as some others; an examination of the kiss, "America's favorite indoor sport"; the women give "an 'atta boy" to the men that have assisted -- most unwittingly -- in the women's lib movement, including Senator Gordon Roselip for taking Wisconsin's new birth control laws to task (and thus creating publicity for planned parenthood); a skit about Howard Hummer (Jack Klugman), patriarch of a large family, who talks about "family planning"; Diller discusses men invading the previously female-dominated centerfold field; Liz Torres sings a love song to new Secretary of State Henry "Hank" Kissinger; a cocky man (Richard Shol) tries to pick up the female president of an airline (Redgrave) in a cocktail lounge; the hosts talk about things they were taught as children; nationally syndicated columnist and humorist Erma Bombeck comments on her family vacations; a humorous tribute song to feminist magazine editor Gloria Steinem, as well as some societal observations from "the staff" of Ms. Magazine; a fashion maven (Redgrave) talks about boxer shorts being an affront to good style; a married lover (Shol) talks with his mistress (Harper) about his relationship with his wife as the years go by; a rich, highfalutin woman (Grant) discusses why the American woman doesn't need equal rights; a strident feminist (Rivers) reads from her latest book, then offers an unusual dedication; a man (Shol) and two women (Harper, Vaccaro) talk about how often they have cheated in their lives, before he goes a little too far with the revelations; and pro tennis player and "male chauvinist ham" Bobby Riggs performs with his comedic musical group "Riggie's Piggies." Finally, the women sing a song about the notable women with a "touch of class" in modern society. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: March 24, 1973 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:51:15
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:44033
- GENRE: Comedy/Variety
- SUBJECT HEADING: She Made It Collection (Lee Grant)
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1973
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- George Schlatter … Executive Producer, Writer
- Carolyn Raskin … Producer, Director
- Rita Scott … Associate Producer
- Lee Grant … Co-Director
- Sybil Adelman … Writer
- Barbara Gallagher … Writer
- Iris Rainer … Writer
- Sandra Harmon … Writer
- Linda Bloodworth … Writer
- Mary Kay Place … Writer
- Joan Rivers … Writer
- Tom Holland … Writer
- Lucille Kallen … Writer
- Marvin Laird … Theme Music by
- Margaret Harris … Conductor
- Phyllis Diller … Host, Performer
- Lee Grant … Host, Performer
- Valerie Harper … Host, Performer
- Lynn Redgrave … Host, Performer
- Joan Rivers … Host, Performer
- Brenda Vaccaro … Host, Performer
- Liz Torres … Performer
- Erma Bombeck … Guest
- Wilt Chamberlain … Guest
- Jim Hampton … Guest
- Rodney Allen Rippy … Guest
- Richard Schaal … Guest
- Ronnie Schell … Guest
- Jack Klugman … Guest
- Bobby Riggs … Guest
- Joan of Arc
- Henry Kissinger
- Lady Godiva
- Noah
- Paul Revere
- Gordon Roselip
- Betsy Ross
- Gloria Steinem