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Cher: Cher Comedy Hour
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Purposefully cheesy, imaginatively produced, and packed with those outlandish Bob Mackie costumes, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was an instant smash. But it was the sharp, often risqué banter between the hosts that held viewers. They had a magnetic charm, particularly when they'd sing. Hands clasped, eyes intently locked on one another, his strained voice hardly seemed to matter. More importantly, the show ... broke ground challenging America's concept of prime-time beauty. Unlike most TV personalities of the day, Cher wasn't blonde, perky, or primly dressed.
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By the third season of the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, the marriage of Sonny and Cher was falling apart; the duo separated later that year. The show imploded, while still in the top 10 of the ratings. What followed was a nasty, very public divorce (finalized on June 27, 1975). Cher won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour in 1974.
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Cher met songwriter and producer Sonny Bono in 1963. She was 16, he was 28, and two years later they recorded their first hit song, "I Got You Babe." They were an amusing physical combination: Cher tall and willowy, Sonny short and mustachioed, both clad in the psychedelic clothing of the Love Generation. In 1967 they had another chart-topper with "The Beat Goes On." Their recording career seemed about to fade when they bounced back with a tongue-in-cheek television variety show: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was a hit from 1971 to 1974, when the couple split up and filed for divorce. (A revived post-divorce version of the show, The Sonny and Cher Show, ran from 1976-77.) Meanwhile, Cher's solo singing career took off, with hits including "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" and "Half Breed." Then Cher turned to acting. She earned praise for her work in Silkwood (1983, with Meryl Streep) and Mask (1985), and in 1988 she won the best actress Oscar as a lovelorn Brooklyn widow romanced by Nicolas Cage in the wry comedy Moonstruck.
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Cher met songwriter and producer Sonny Bono in 1963. She was 16, he was 28, and two years later they recorded their first hit song, "I Got You Babe." They were an amusing physical combination: Cher tall and willowy, Sonny short and mustachioed, both clad in the psychedelic clothing of the Love Generation. In 1967 they had another chart-topper with "The Beat Goes On." Their recording career seemed about to fade when they bounced back with a tongue-in-cheek television variety show: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour was a hit from 1971 to 1974, when the couple split up and filed for divorce. (A revived post-divorce version of the show, The Sonny and Cher Show, ran from 1976-77.) Meanwhile, Cher's solo singing career took off, with hits including "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" and "Half Breed." Then Cher turned to acting.
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Born into a lower-income California family, actress/pop singer "Cher" (born Cherilyn Sarkisian) attempted to escape her poverty by entering show business as a go-go dancer at the age of 16. She met and married singer/promoter "Sonny Bono", who lifted her from obscurity as half of the immensely popular singing duo "Sonny and Cher". The diminutive, ebullient Bono and the tall, deadpan "Cher" became a top recording team (their big hit was "I Got You, Babe") and a regular guest act on the many variety shows of the period. "Sonny and Cher" continued their upward climb until musical tastes changed in the early '70s, whereupon they began concentrating on comedy sketches and kidding-on-the-square insults directed at one another in their own variety weekly, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which enjoyed a successful three-year network run beginning in 1971.
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A good deal of press was generated throughout 1975 regarding Cher's exposed navel, and the daring ensembles created by famed designer Bob Mackie.[15] Her show featured numerous outlandish costume changes, even more than typical variety shows. The Cher show ran for two half-seasons, before a pregnant Cher pulled the plug herself, deciding instead to reunite with her ex-husband for a revamped version of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
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Cher Comedy Hour