The Jackie Gleason Show - American Scene Magazine

In 1962, Gleason returned to the tried-and-true variety format with his American Scene Magazine. The official title of the show was, again, The Jackie Gleason Show. In its first year, Gleason's ratings killed the competition: a revived comedy-western-variety program, The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, on ABC and the legal drama Sam Benedict with Edmond O'Brien on NBC. American Scene was initially taped in New York City; after two seasons, production moved to Miami Beach (1964), on Jackie's insistence. (This caused some difficulties for annuncer Johnny Olson, who had several other announcing jobs, including Match Game, in New York, and Olson commuted frequently back and forth from New York and Miami to do both jobs.)

Each week, Gleason would begin his monologue and be surprised by the flamboyant jackets worn by bandleader Sammy Spear. (Beholding Spear's animal-print blazer, Gleason quipped, "I've heard of Tiger Rag, but this is ridiculous!") Ralph Kramden, Reggie Van Gleason, the Poor Soul, and the rest of Gleason's comic characters were regular attractions. Frank Fontaine, as bug-eyed, grinning "Crazy" Guggenheim, starred in the Joe the Bartender skits, delighting fans with his nutty speaking voice and goofy laugh, and charmed by his surprisingly mellow singing voice. June Taylor's chorus girl routines revived for the TV generation the aerial pattern kaleidoscope formations made famous on film by Busby Berkeley.

In the fall of 1966, the title once again became simply The Jackie Gleason Show (dropping the American Scene format), and would remain so until its cancellation in 1970. By this point the episodes included well-known guest stars and skits. A component during this period was the musical Honeymooners episodes, which had first been tried on Gleason's variety show during the 1956-1957 season. These were later collected as The Color Honeymooners, with Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean as Alice and Trixie. The regular cast included old sidekick Art Carney; Milton Berle was a frequent guest star. The show was taped at the Miami Beach Auditorium (today called the Jackie Gleason Theatre of the Performing Arts), and Gleason (along with the show's announcer, Johnny Olson) never tired of promoting the "sun and fun capital of the world" on camera. Hordes of vacationers took Gleason's advice, boosting Florida's economy. Later specials were taped at the Olympia Theatre's Gusman Center across Biscayne Bay, in downtown Miami). The shows began with the television camera in front of a boat speeding toward the shore of Miami Beach, and ended with Gleason bellowing, "Miami Beach audiences are the greatest audiences in the world! G'night, everybody!" — a line often used by Gleason imitators, along with his curtain-call introductions, in particular "Jane Kean!"

At the end of the 1968-69 season, The Jackie Gleason Show still garnered decent ratings, ranking at #25 in the Nielsens and CBS renewed it for an eighth season. The following year would bring a radical change to the series. In the spring and summer of 1969, Gleason went on a very stringent diet and lost an enormous amount of weight. When the show returned in September 1969, there was much publicity about Gleason's new slimmer look. To gracefully incorporate Gleason's weight loss into the show, especially in the Honeymooners episodes, it was explained that Ralph Kramden also had gone on a diet and lost weight. However, the ratings began to slip. Coupled with the fact that CBS was concerned with demographics and wanted to change its image with more urban-oriented shows (to attract younger audiences), the network not only canceled Gleason's series in the spring of 1970, but also The Red Skelton Hour and Petticoat Junction as well. Beginning in late December, 1970, CBS began airing selected reruns of The Jackie Gleason Show (featuring only the color Honeymooners episodes) in prime time on Sunday nights at 10 p.m. (EST), thereby replacing the short-lived Tim Conway Comedy Hour.