It is quite possible that, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Barbara Madrell was the biggest female in country music. While she never achieved much crossover success on the pop charts, her singles and albums soared to the top of the country charts, and she had what is arguably the last successful primetime network variety series with Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters, which ran for two seasons from 1980 to 1982. NBC wanted the show to continue, but Mandrell, having discovered that it was almost impossible to star in a weekly TV series and maintain a full-time music career, chose to end it. She became the first person to win back-to-back Entertainer of the Year awards from the Country Music Association, in 1980 and 1981, and is still one of only two women (Tayler Swift being the other) who have more than one CMA Entertainer of the Year award (she also has one from the Academy of Country Music). However, a car accident in 1984 left her grievously injured. She would be able to mount a comeback in 1985 and 1986, with two new non-Christmas albums and a Christmas special.
Most variety specials are usually chock full of special guests. Barbara Mandrell's Christmas: A Family Reunion bucks that trend, as other than a kids choir and backup singers and dancers, the cast list was made up entirely of Mandrells, namely Barbara's two sisters, Louise and Irlene, and their parents. The only other person who got much screentime was the anonymous actor who played Mandrell's bus driver, and my guess is he really was Mandrell's bus driver.
The show starts with Barbara directly addressing viewers in the kitchen of her tour bus, which looks much more like a kitchen in a house than on a bus, before the bus comes to a sudden halt. It's broken down, and right before Christmas, too. That leaves Barbara only able to imagine what Christmas at home must be like, which, as it turns out, consists of elaborate stage shows involving her and her sisters.
Indeed, the show is a bit of a grab bag. Irlene, the youngest sister who, at least on the show, is presented as a ditz, does a magic act in which she saws her sisters in half, Barbara sings a bluesy Christmas song, Barbara sings and dances with a giant teddy bear, Louise sings with the kids choir, and back in "reality", Barbara sings a solo outside of her stalled bus.
After their opening number, it takes nearly half the special for the three sisters to perform together again, in a number designed to show off the their abilities on a variety of instruments (and to let Irlene, wearing numerous bells, to shimmer and shimmy) than their singing voices.
Back in "reality", the bus finally starts, and Barbara gets home in time to introduce her entire family (kids, husbands, and parents) to the viewers, before a couple of final numbers and, interestingly enough, a blooper reel during the closing credits.
Mandrell would continue to perform for another decade, though her commercial clout began to slip soon after this. She would choose to leave music behind in 1997, to focus on acting, though she also retired from that in the early aughts. Today, she mostly keeps her life private, though she does emerge occasionally, most recently in 2022 at an all-star concert to celebrate her half-decade as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Her sisters remained active in show business as well, though both of them have also largely retired at this point.
With no special guests, Barbara Mandrell's Christmas: A Family Reunion is pretty much only for fans of the sisters. It's a pleasant enough special, but it is also pretty generic. That said, it's worth checking out if you like the Mandrells or country music.
Next time: A big name indulges in his love of flying for a new streaming special.
No comments:
Post a Comment