Category Archives: Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na S2 E11, E12, E13

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I am watching these episodes on YouTube and I am very grateful to be able to see them. However, sometimes the video quality leaves a little bit to be desired. Episode 13 is a perfect example. They were just bringing Fabian in to sing by faking a golf tournament, and Fabian asked what would happen if he didn’t sing. Then the video cut out and Fabian’s performance was gone. Funny bit of coincidence for this episode.

The episode 13 also included a double feature from Lenny. Lenny sang the opening song on stage, “My Imagination”, and finished the show on stage singing “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” I do not think there has been a lead vocal doing both opening song and closing song yet. Lenny had a great voice though so he was certainly capable of pulling it off.

Screamin’ Scott had a couple of songs during these episodes too. I did not know either, but the second one, “Pinball Anonymous”, was a lot of fun.

Pattie Page was guest star in episode 12 and she did a medley of her songs including “Tennessee Waltz,” “How Much is that Doggie in the Window,” “Ol’ Cape Cod,” and “Crossing the Bridge.” She was a celeb tricked by Bowzer into performing, which was the new way of getting guest stars in this block of episodes.

I liked Joanie Summers’ song “Johnny Got Angry” in episode 11 as well. I had not heard that song before, but it really worked as she was trying to get Donny to do what she wanted.

Sha Na Na S2 E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10

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I took a deep dive into season to of the Sha Na Na show and watched seven episodes. I watched this many cause I wanted to get to episode 10, where the run of musical guests came to an end. However, this was how you take a non-musical guest and use him effectively. Of course, it was Billy Crystal.

It was interesting when Johnny introduced Billy Crystal, telling a story about Billy working with Sha Na Na in the past, before Billy hit it big with Soap. He must have been a warm-up act for the group. Awesome that he was willing to come back to the group after he had become a star. It was shocking to see what a resemblance Billy Crystal had to Johnny. They could have easily been brothers.

Billy did an act on the stage and participated in the comedy song skit by doing his impression of Howard Cosell.

Earlier that episode, Sha Na Na did a musical tribute to Little Richard, which was very cool too. This might have been the best episode of the series so far.

Not that the other ones were bad. Actually, I have found season two to be very solid. The group has really spread out the songs among each other, even though there were several songs that I did not recognize.

The show has done an effective way of bringing on their guest stars in this stretch of episodes. With Brenda Lee, she came into the diner, looking for a hiding place because she didn’t want to sing. She wanted to hide in the powder room or behind the counter, but the waitress said they would find her in both places. She then mentioned how the Shirells hid behind the counter but was caught (in a previous episode). I appreciate the continuity.

Then, in episode 5, Sha Na Na did their opening number on the stage, Santini took the microphone, and introduced the Coasters, who came up and sang “Charlie Brown.” I thought that was a cool way to introduce the guest star in a way they had never done before.

Chubby Checker came back to the show to perform again. I wonder if he had filmed this at the same time when he was on the show before in season one. He became the first headliner to return as guest star, though Milton Berle was on the show twice too.

Donny really showed off his voice in this group of shows. He had a beautiful rendition of Mr. Blue, another ballad in Oh, Donna, sang with Johnny on Let the Good Times Roll, and a street set version of Singing the Blues.

Jocko also had a bunch of songs in this stretch, including Do You Love Me, Tossin’ and Turnin’, and, a personal favorite, Ya Ya. Jocko wound up in several background dance moments when one of the other background dancers had to sing.

Speaking of that, I have a question that I wonder any time I see Jocko up front and Dirty Dan on the drums. I know a lot of the times, they sing live but to a backing track and they do not do the instruments or background vocals live. I just wonder, does Dirty Dan know how to play the drums or is it just for show? It does the same thing when Screamin’ Scott is somewhere else. In these episodes, I saw Johnny and Lenny on the piano. Are they just sitting there?

Screamin’ Scott is another interesting one because he covers guitar at times when Dirty Dan is on drums and he has been shown to play the banjo. I do believe he knows how to play the banjo because during the comedy skit based on the song “Battle of New Orleans,” which Scott sang and played banjo. However, in between the song, where they did some comedy, Scott played a bit to help someone do a song. It sure sounded as if he really did play that banjo in that moment.

We rarely see Donny on any instruments (although I saw him on a guitar once) and Denny never plays anything either. I wonder if that is because they can’t play these instruments and when someone steps in for an instrument, they know how to play it, even with the backing track. It is an interesting thought and it makes me think about it any time someone is not in their spot.

They also made the first reference to Sha Na Na’s appearance in Grease. They also played “Those Magic Changes” which was one of their big songs from the film. I wonder what the timeline of that movie compared to the show was.

Sha Na Na S2 E1, E2, E3

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I wondered what differences there might be to the show now that we have reached season two. There are a couple small things, but most of the show was fairly consistent with season one.

The changes included after the opening number on the stage, a member of Sha Na Na would come up to the microphone and do three or four jokes. These three episodes saw Jocko, Bowser and Chico take the mike. Most of the jokes turned out to be self-derogatory and not that funny.

The other thing I noticed was the show started putting the name of certain members on the screen with a jokey comment beneath their name such as “Jocko: Has a season ticket to the Ballet.” These were cute and could pop up at any time.

Otherwise, they had the same structure. It felt like Avery Schreiber was gone as the cabbie since they did not have him bringing the guest stars in like last season. Interestingly enough, two of the three episodes had Johnny pretend to do an imitation of the celebs, The Shirells and Little Anthony.

Episode two had Screamin’ Scott singing When the Saints Go Marching In during the comedy routine song. They actually had him sing the entire song before they paused for the joke. There were some other “heaven/angel” songs to go with the Saints one.

Episode three had Soupy Sales show up as a cop and a stage director. He was the “director” of the stage show, which was the comedy bit in episode three where Sha Na Na all dressed up as women to sing “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” It was slightly disturbing.

They had some of my favorite songs from Sha Na Na on these three episodes including “Baby, That is Rock ‘N Roll,” “Pretty Little Angel Eyes,” and “Teenager in Love.” In that last one, one of my favorite parts of that song is when Chico almost cracks himself up when he says “ax” instead of “ask” during the song. You can hear him giggle slightly.

They continue to get the musical acts, which really helps the show. These musical acts are acts from the 50/60s era that were probably happy to get a call to be on Sha Na Na. Bobby Rydell couldn’t have been too busy in the late 70s/early 80s.

Sha Na Na S1 E22, E23, E24

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I finished up Sha Na Na’s first season on YouTube this morning with three pretty good episodes. I do believe that some of the errors that the show did in the first half of their first season were addressed midway through and it did seem better.

Episode 22 kicked off with Blue Moon, which was strange because I am almost certain that that song has already been done on the show. I don’t think that it was just the pilot episode either. I didn’t go back through my reviews to see, but it felt very familiar. The last song of the season was sung by Dirty Dan, and it was Dream Lover, which, again, I thought I had already heard this season. I’m not sure it was a good sign if they were repeating songs just during their first season.

They continued with the musical acts as guest stars instead of comedians or actors. Dion, Marth Reeves and the Vandellas and Bobby Vee all were able to perform and added so much to each episode. The poor comedy was kept to a minimum and the show became more of a musical variety show.

Martha Reeves stuck around after her song and did some jokes with Bowzer and Lennie, both of which were funny. You can do that if it is written well.

Sha Na Na does a fantastic job of finding the right voices to blend together. They had the song Charlie Brown sung by Screamin’ Scott and Jocko, and they sounded great together. Then, they had their best singers< Johnny, Bowzer, Donny, Santini and Denny doing Remember Then, which is sensational.

In episode 23, they did one of the comedy bits where they all dress up and they called it Swine Lake. At first, I thought to myself, “What am I watching?” but as it went on, I started picturing it as an act on the Muppet Show. Had this been the pigs from the Muppets doing this “ballet” I wouldn’t have blinked at it. So, by making Sha Na Na human Muppets, I found much more enjoyment in the skit than I would have before.

Avery Schreiber, who has been a cabbie all season long, came into the diner and did a skit/song where he danced like a robot. It was a bizarre moment. It was another that kind of grew on me and I liked the effort of him doing something different than just drive his cab onto the set and bring the guest star. Apparently, the song was called Mechanical Man and it was a song Avery Schreiber wrote the song as a way to express his unhappiness over how he was being seen as an actor.

Dirty Dan had several songs in this block of three including Dream Lover, Da Do Run Run, and part of the Mexican skit in episode 22.

The comedy bit song in the 24th episode was Ahab the Arab, which was a song b Ray Stevens. I was surprised, since I thought this was too recent for Sha Na Na to do it. However, I did a quick Google search and it said that the song was released in 1962, meaning it fell right into Sha Na Na’s wheelhouse.

This brings to a close season one of the variety show. I am curious to see if there are any changes from season one to two or if the changes they made in the middle of season one will just continue.

Sha Na Na S1 E19, E20, E21

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Sha Na Na was one of my favorite shows as a kid so I am enjoying the trip down memory lane with the boys. I have to say that I still believe that the show is so much better when you have guest stars on the show with musical abilities.

These three episodes featured: Chuck Berry, Bobby Rydell and Leslie Gore. If I were them, I would have had Chuck Berry do a second song on the actual stage set. They had him do “Roll Over Beethoven” in the road set, which was great, but he could have done another one on the actual stage with the live audience.

They did brink Leslie Gore out to the stage to the audience when she was on episode 21. It just felt more special than the others, even though Chuck Berry knocked the performance out of the park.

In episode 20, Sha Na Na performed “Unchained Melody, which may be their best performance ever on the stage. The song was at a quicker pace and the background choreography was spot on. A lot of times, Sha Na Na look a touch out of step with the background dancing. I mean, they are singers and not necessarily dancers. However, this performance was fire. Unchained Melody, which was more well known as by the Righteous Brothers, was originally performed as a doo wop song by Vito and the Salutations in 1963. This is the version Sha Na Na was doing.

We also got some great vocalization with Bowzer and Johnny in Lovers Never Say Goodbye, in episode 21. This group have some great singers that compliment each other really well. Bowzer and Johnny work perfectly together in this song.

Alley Oop was one of the most distinct memories I have of the comedy skit songs the group would do. They would break in the song to do some silly joke. Most of the jokes were cringy, but I did love the song performed by Dirty Dan and Screamin’ Scott.

They still overuse the crowd noise/laugh track, but it is not as distracting as it was in the first half of season one.

Sha Na Na S1 E17, E18

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I noticed some differences in these two episodes than I did int he previous ones. First, it seemed as if they got control of the laugh track. It was still there, but it was much more in control. It was not as loud as it was in the previous 16 episodes and I actually did not notice it for awhile. That was a HUGE item for the show.

Then, the comedy, which was always real bad in most of the first 16 episodes, wasn’t that bad here. It was still not the greatest comedy I ever heard, but it was considerably better. I did not cringe as much as I did in the first part of the season.

They had a new set, a diner where they could go for some of the backstage bits. It was much improved. We had way few of the ridiculous bits by some of the other members of the cast. I wonder if they let some of the others go.

These two episodes had the benefit of having guests that could sing. The first one was Johnny Ray, who I am not sure I knew, but who I was incredibly impressed with. He sang a song on the street set that was great. He was also singing it live. I was fascinated with the way he moved his mouth as he sang. No one would move their mouth like that if they were lip synching.

The second episode of the night had Chubby Checker, who sang Let’s Twist Again (Like We Did Last Summer). He was also clearly singing the song. Truthfully, there were some times he was screaming it. It brought a lot of energy to the show. There is no doubt that when the show has singers as guests, things just seem stronger.

They had a couple of comedy songs- first Rip Van Winkel and then My Baby Loves A Western Movie, and I have to say, I thought both were decent and had some funny moments. I really prefer the group on the stage or in the street set, but these comedy bits were fun too.

These episodes had some solid songs including All Shook Up, Poetry in Motion, Yakety Yak, and Earth Angel.

Things are looking up. Some of my biggest complaints from the first part of this season seems to have been addressed, and just turning that damn laugh track down is a major step in the right direction. Next episode looks to have Chuck Berry as a guest star so that means more music from the guest. That is the way to go.

Sha Na Na S1 E13, E14, E15, E16

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Had a run of four episodes of Sha Na Na tonight and I have the same complaints that I always have. The laugh track/applause track is just terrible. Honestly, the first 10-15 seconds of every song is impossible to hear because of the fake clapping. Second, the humor is terrible. This show is so much better when they have a musical guest so they can sing with Sha Na Na instead of doing this cringe-level comedy bits.

These four episodes only had one guest star that sang. It was Della Reese and that episode was the best of the four. It did have a pretty racist comedy bit called House of Kyoto, but other than that, this was the one.

I read a tweet awhile ago from Jon Bausman who spoke about the early season comedy being less than they had wanted. He said he thought it got better in later seasons. I sure hope so.

Fact is, when Sha Na Na is singing, this show is sensational. These four episodes had some bangers in them, including Mr. Bass Man, All I Have to Do is Dream, and Why Do Fools Fall in Love, which I believe are done multiple times over the years on the show.

The strangest song of the four featured Pamela Myers singing with Frank Gorshin, who was doing impersonations of celebrities like Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman etc. Gorshin seemed really weird during this segment, but it was interesting to hear Pamela Myers sing the song. It was in the old parked car bit that they usually run.

Other celebrities on these four episodes included Adrianne Barbeau, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Kristy McNichols, Rosey Greer and Milton Berle. I think they had taped more bits with Milton Berle when he was on the show earlier in the year and they just inserted them into this episode because at the end of the show, Bowzer did not thank Milton Berle for being on the show. He only thanked Rosey Greer. Why was Rosey Greer booked for the show?

Looking ahead, Chubby Checker and Chuck Berry are coming up soon. Those are the type of guests I want to see on Sha Na Na. More music, less of all the other background jokes.

Sha Na Na S1 E11 & E12

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You see the contrast between episodes here amazingly well.

Episode 11 featured the Lennon Sisters and episode 12 featured Zsa Zsa Gabor.

In episode 11, there was a limited amount of comedy bits, with the main one being what seemed to be similar to the Muppet Show’s At the Dance skit where members of Sha Na Na danced with the Lennon Sisters and the camera followed them to each couple to tell a bad joke. That was a decent little use of the comedy (though that laugh track is still just obnoxious).

Also in episode 11, they did multiple songs including Rockin’ Robin, Runaround Sue, Tonight You Belong to Me (with the Lennon Sisters on the stage), The Great Pretender and a tribute to Elvis (interestingly, they never used the word Presley. I wonder if it was a rights thing.) in that tribute they did three songs, Heartbreak Hotel, Love Me Tender and Hound Dog.

Honestly, episode 11 may have been my favorite one so far.

Then, episode 12 was an over-reliance on the comedy bits. Way too many of them because none of them were funny. Plus, the songs were limited to Sha-Boom and 16 Candles. They did a comedy bit featuring The Lion Sleeps Tonight with Sha Na Na dressed up as cannibals.

Episode 12 may have been my least favorite so far.

When the show focused on the music, it was outstanding. When they pushed the comedy, especially without the guys in the band, it flopped. The comedy bit with The Lion Sleeps Tonight was just too long and, again, not funny.

They have so many great singers in Sha Na Na, I want them to play more music and I believe it worked much better when the special guest star(s) were musical too. I have nothing against Zsa Zsa, but her bits were just not as entertaining as the Lennon Sisters singing.

Sha Na Na S1 E8, E9, E10

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I feel like I need to mention this every episode of this show… I hate the canned laughter and canned cheers. They really do not make the show more enjoyable.

Second, the comedy bits are just not good. Episode 10 did something different, which I liked a lot. They did a Sha Na Na dance contest on the main stage and they, supposedly, grabbed three women from the audience to dance with Donny, Denny, and Santini. I don’t know how real this was, but the winner was chosen by the audience and was definitely the best of the three.

Edgar Bergen was in episode 8, but barely appeared. I also did not remember how much Edgar Bergen moved his mouth when doing his ventriloquist act.

Episode 9 & 10 featured actual musical acts in guests with Jim Stafford and Theresa Brewer. These were so much better than the comedians that they have had before. Both did a song with Sha Na Na and it was entertaining.

In episode 8, Jane Dulo, who played the woman in the window, yelled down to Denny that his father “worked like a slave.” That shocked me and it was never referenced, but I can’t believe someone didn’t notice that comment.

Denny got a couple of songs in these episodes with “The Lover’s Question” and a intro to “Jailhouse Rock.” Screamin’ Scott was featured on “Splish Splash” and “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay.” Johnny did several of the final songs of these episodes. I still like how they moved lead singers around. Jocko got to do “Chantilly Lace” as well.

Sha Na Na S1 E6, E7

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I watched two more episodes of Sha Na Na on YouTube tonight and it has become apparent that the first season of this show had the same strength and weaknesses in them.

Strengths: The songs are great. Specifically, the songs the group does on the stage in front of the studio audience. Donny did a cool rendition of “Come and Go With Me” and led the singing in “Rock Around the Clock.” Johnny, whose voice is so heavenly, did “Teen Angel” and gives an epic sob in the middle. Then, one of the best street songs so far was “Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do” with Donny and Chico taking the main part of the song. This was one of the better choreographed songs so far. Great basketball pass at the end of the song from Santini too.

Weaknesses: Comedy. The comedy on the show just feels too forced. I hate the crowd noises they add because there are several times where it just intrudes on the song. In the comedy song bit “Along Came Jones” the can laughter and applause made it hard to hear the song. Pamela Myers’s acting in this song was atrocious (though she was a Tony-nominated actress). I do not think I have laughed once with the back stage skits from Kenneth Mars, Philip Roth or Jane Dulo. At least Avery Schreiber’s cab driver character has a few laughs.

Two comedians were the guest stars on these episodes with Charles Nelson Reilly and Phyllis Diller. Both had some good moments. I am a big fan of CNR, especially during his days on the Match Game, which he referenced in the episode.

I remember being a fan of Lennie Baker as a child. Being a chubby kid, I related to Lennie. I have to say though, watching him do his background dancing is always funny. Lennie has a tremendous voice though.

I have really enjoyed the musical parts of these shows so far, but the rest have been a bit of a trudge to get through. The music is absolutely the stand out from these talented musicians.

Sha Na Na S1 E3, E4, E5

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Grease for Peace!

I am back with the next three episodes of season one of Sha Na Na. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I always looked forward to seeing the next episode.

I just have to say, some of the negatives stand out more for me now than it did when I was a kid. The comedy is downright bad. Very few of these bits were funny at all. The only ones that seemed okay were the ones in the car with one of the members of the band and Ginger. The can laughter made it all the more obvious that it wasn’t funny.

The exception was the bits during episode 5 with Milton Berle. He brought in members of Sha Na Na and would makes jokes with them. These bits felt fairly improv-like and you can see the members of Sha Na Na trying to keep from laughing. Some did better than others. Johnny was working that gum over hard during his moment with Berle.

You do have to respect how they passed around singing responsibilities on the show. In these three episodes, only Santini did not have a lead vocal or a duet. Duke of Earl and Silhouette was performed by Denny. Party Doll and Itsy Bitsy teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini was done by Chico. Whole Lotta Shakin’ was led by Screamin’ Scott. Screamin’ Scott and Jocko combined for Poison Ivy. Bower sang with Ethel Merman with Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better. Lenny sang Too Chubby to Boogie. Dirty Dan sang Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow. Johnny sang the last song of episode five, though I did not recognize the title. The whole group had a part in The Name Game.

Admittedly, some of the background dancing gets too hectic at times and it gives the audience too many things to try and focus on. However, episode five gave us something different as this was the first time that we got to see shots of the live audience and their responses to the stage songs. I liked that variation on what they had done prior.

The dancing was okay during Carol Lawrence’s dance of The One, from the Broadway musical A Chorus Line. The whole group of Sha Na Na provided chorus line dancing.

Episode five was my favorite of these episodes as it felt like they did some different things and the Milton Berle comedy worked so much more than some of the other episode comedy bits.

Sha Na Na S2 E0, E1, E2

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I was on Twitter/X a few days ago and I came across a Tweet by Jon “Bowzer” Bausman stating that the full episodes of the Sha Na Na TV series was going to be available on YouTube soon. I was excited to hear this as this was a big part of my childhood. I loved Sha Na Na and they turned out to be my first ever concert at Five Flags Center in Dubuque.

I have spent years watching musical clips from the show on YouTube and the news about the full episodes was great. I figured I could make this one of my rewatches here at EYG.

I went to YouTube and searched for Sha Na Na series and I found a playlist from pattyoc01, who had been one of the prolific posters of the Sha Na Na clips over the years. The playlist had all of the episodes on it.

I have a feeling this may not have been what Jon Bausman meant when he posted his tweet. I have a suspicion that a more clean and professional version may be coming in the future. However, I was excited to start the rewatch so I dove into the pilot (listed as episode 0) and the first two episodes of the series.

Sha Na Na consisted of the following group members on the show: Bowzer, Johnny, Screamin’ Scott, Santini, Denny, Lennie, Donny, Dirty Dan, Chico, and Jocko.

The musical numbers are far and away the best part of these first three episodes. The comedy on the show was, at best, iffy. Some of it was groan-inducing. I saw another tweet from Bausman stating that he knew the humor of the first season was not the beat, but he felt the following seasons got more clever.

I was always focused on whether they were lip synching the music. I know that they had done, at least for the stage songs, live singing with the instrumental and the back up singing being pre-taped. You could usually tell from the powerhouse vocals of Johnny Contardo. Some of the street songs or comedy sketch bits (such as the Monster Mash bit in the pilot) were clearly being lip synched. It was obvious that Bernadette Peters was not singing live in episode two either. It was not a major issue, but I am more impressed when they let their vocals come through.

A great example of this was in the third episode where five of the group’s best singers, Johnny, Bowzer, Donny, Lennie and Santini sang an a cappella doo wop version of “I Wonder Why.” This was an amazing performance with these five really blending their voices into a fantastic harmony.

Other songs performed in this first three episodes included Blue Moon, Teenager in Love, Yakkety Yak, Tell Laura I Love Her, Rama Lama Ding Dong, Personality, Little Darlin’, and Runaway.

Along with Bernadette Peters in episode two, Rita Moreno and Frank Gorshin guest starred in the other two episodes however whatever Gorshin did seemed to be cut from the episode on YouTube. This is another reason why I think this may not be the collection that Bausman was referring to in his tweet.

I have to say that this is a bizarre series as the show constantly tells you as an audience member that Sha Na Na is terrible. The show puts down their music, their intelligence and everything else. You would think that they shouldn’t be downgrading their stars, even if it is nothing more than a running joke. It is clear that these ten men are remarkably talented (although they may not have been the greatest dancers ever to grace the screen).

Seeing this show once again gives me a huge feeling of nostalgia. I forgot this show when compiling my Top 100 TV Shows list that I am currently counting down with the Daily Countdown on EYG. This should have probably had a spot on that list.

For the first three episodes… Goodnight sweetheart, well it’s time to go…