Bruce Vilanch has written 'some of the biggest disasters' on TV. He's embracing his legacy

Remember that Snow White-Rob Lowe debacle astatine the 1989 Oscars? How astir the galactically bizarre 1978 “Star Wars Holiday Special”? Or the 1980 Village People disco weaponry “Can’t Stop the Music”?

Bruce Vilanch had a manus successful each of the above, and lived to buss and archer — and present constitute astir it. His caller book, “It Seemed Like a Bad Idea astatine the Time,” details his engagement successful immoderate of the astir gloriously atrocious moments successful the past of entertainment. Never the shy oregon retiring type, Vilanch is blessed to clasp his bequest (which is easier to bash erstwhile you’ve besides won 2 Emmys and written for 25 Oscar telecasts).

“These were immoderate of the biggest disasters, but everybody has disasters,” helium told The Times successful a caller interview. “It wasn’t similar they said, ‘Oh, this is s—. Let’s get Vilanch.’ It’s conscionable the luck of the draw. It’s conscionable the mode things turned out.”

(Chicago Review Press)

Vilanch, present a snarky and youthful 76, comes crossed arsenic a big, caustically affable and wonderfully cheery Muppet. He’s palmy capable to person been the taxable of an fantabulous documentary astir the trade of drama (1999’s “Get Bruce,” featuring Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Nathan Lane, among others), and he’s seasoned capable to cognize wherever plentifulness of bodies are buried.

And yes, helium helped constitute immoderate superior stinkers.

Some of this tin beryllium attributed to the epoch erstwhile helium made his showbiz bones. The ’70s was the decennary of the prime-time TV special, usually built astir a middling prima and featuring endowment from the airing network. (Synergy. It’s been astir for a minute.) The specials were a blatant effort to connection thing for everyone, successful a precable epoch defined by broadcasting, arsenic opposed to today’s narrowcasting.

It was also, not coincidentally, a clip erstwhile drugs were alternatively prevalent.

“Many of these things were made successful a unreality of smoke,” Vilanch said. “It was besides conscionable a brainsick play erstwhile it was a three- oregon four-channel universe, truthful you could get distant with a full batch of worldly due to the fact that a batch of radical were coming location and watching tv astatine a definite hour. People really sat down successful the surviving room. They lone bash that present for a fewer events, either a shot crippled oregon Nikki Glaser roasting a shot player.”

Carrie Fisher arsenic Princess Leia and Anthony Daniels arsenic C3PO successful CBS’ “Star Wars Holiday Special” (1978).

(CBS via Getty Images)

Such were the circumstances that gave america “The Star Wars Holiday Special.” George Lucas’ abstraction escapade — determination was lone the 1 astatine the clip — was red-hot. As Vilanch writes, “Either idiosyncratic astatine CBS, oregon idiosyncratic astatine ILM, oregon idiosyncratic successful the IRA, oregon idiosyncratic connected the IRT — depends connected which mentation you’ve heard — suggested producing immoderate benignant of ‘Star Wars’ spectacle for TV to support the franchise bubbling connected the burner of nationalist consciousness until the 2nd installment was released.”

The results, which aired Nov. 17, 1978, were not spectacular, but they were spectacularly strange. I could consciousness this adjacent arsenic a “Star Wars”-besotted 8-year-old. The story, specified arsenic it is, involves Chewbacca’s ngo to instrumentality to his location satellite of Kashyyyk to observe Life Day. The large formed members were connected hand. So were CBS mainstays including Art Carney, Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman, each of whom stopped successful to bash wacky bits.

“We were doing the happening connected a hand-painted acceptable pulled unneurotic from different things,” Vilanch said. “We didn’t spell to London for six months to sprout this thing. It was crazy. We had hand-me-down aliens that we had to get astatine the outlet store. Anybody who was funny successful ‘Star Wars’ would look astatine it and go, ‘What is this?’

“And past it disappeared. We thought we could enactment it successful a shallow sedate and cipher would truly find it.”

Enter: the internet, wherever each shallow graves are yet dug up. As Vilanch recalled, “When I started doing podcasts during COVID, radical mode younger than I americium would say, ‘“The Star Wars Holiday Special,” however did that happen? Who said yes? And person they paid their indebtedness to society?’”

Vilanch writes of the “keyboard warriors” who way him down erstwhile they observe helium was among the parties liable for specified trainwrecks. They besides privation to cognize astir the 1989 Oscars, which kicked disconnected with the spectacle of Snow White, played by the comparatively anonymous Eileen Bowman, interacting with stars successful the assemblage wearing a corporate look of “What connected Earth is happening close now?” This led into a duet with Lowe connected a Hollywood-themed mentation of “Proud Mary.”

The effect was little than enthusiastic. But Vilanch was fundamentally an guiltless bystander, adjacent arsenic a writer connected the show. The spot was the brainchild of shaper Allan Carr, who besides hired (and fired) Vilanch connected “Can’t Stop the Music” (and, it should beryllium noted, besides produced the monolithic 1978 blockbuster “Grease”). The Oscars debacle efficaciously ended Carr’s career. He died successful 1999.

“They had delivered the amusement to Allan arsenic a savior due to the fact that the ratings had been going down, and determination was immoderate caller humor astatine the Academy,” Vilanch said. “His mandate was, ‘Make it different, marque it young, marque it unusual.’ So they were trying not to second-guess him. And that proved to beryllium fatal.” Vilanch inactive has a brushed spot for his precocious friend, and is presently moving connected a theatre portion astir him.

That telecast didn’t dilatory Vilanch’s roll. He reigned for galore years arsenic the wisecracking halfway quadrate connected “Hollywood Squares,” a abstraction erstwhile occupied by Paul Lynde, for whom Vilanch wrote different peculiar featured successful the book, 1976’s “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special.” A crippled of Six Degrees of Bruce Vilanch would see Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, Steven Tyler, Roseanne Barr and a agelong database of others. The feline knows, and has written for, a batch of people.

“When you bash the Oscars you conscionable the stars who are conscionable guesting connected the show, and they’re each marching done your bureau with their publicists and their spouses and their holistic favored psychiatrists and each the different radical successful their entourage,” helium said. “So you bash conscionable a batch of radical and I emotion that.”

He helped service up a batch of turkeys. And present helium gets to gobble.