Dance Fever
Encyclopedia
Dance Fever is an American musical variety series
that aired weekly in syndication from January 1979 to September 1987. The series was created and produced by Merv Griffin
and written by Tony Garofalo.
Deney Terrio
hosted the series until September 1985, where he was replaced by Adrian Zmed. The show's announcer for the first two years was Freeman King until September 1980 where he was replaced by Charlie O'Donnell
.
During Terrio's tenure as host, the show's theme was performed by a musical team called Triple "S" Connection.
At the end of a 25-week competition, the five semi-final winners all came back to face off in the show's annual Grand Prix Finals for cash and prizes worth over $25,000 which included two brand new cars (one for each member of the winning dance team). In September 1984, the grand prize package was raised to $50,000.
Each week except for the year-end Grand Prix Finals, the show also featured a segment in which some of the top Disco, Pop, or R&B artists of the day would perform their latest hit.
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
that aired weekly in syndication from January 1979 to September 1987. The series was created and produced by Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
and written by Tony Garofalo.
Deney Terrio
Deney Terrio
Denis George Mahan , better known as Deney Terrio, is an American choreographer, former film actor and one-time host of the television musical variety series Dance Fever from 1979 to 1985...
hosted the series until September 1985, where he was replaced by Adrian Zmed. The show's announcer for the first two years was Freeman King until September 1980 where he was replaced by Charlie O'Donnell
Charlie O'Donnell
Charles John "Charlie" O'Donnell was an American radio and television announcer, primarily known for his work on game shows...
.
During Terrio's tenure as host, the show's theme was performed by a musical team called Triple "S" Connection.
Format
Each week, four dancing couples competed for a weekly cash prize of $1,000; Each couple performed their dance routine for a total of two minutes and the celebrity judges scored them anywhere between 70 and 100 points. The couple with the highest total score were the winners and advanced into the next round of competition. In the event of a tie, one set of celebrity scores was dropped in an effort to decide a winner; every fifth week was a Semi-Final show where those winning couples from the last four weeks compete for $5,000.At the end of a 25-week competition, the five semi-final winners all came back to face off in the show's annual Grand Prix Finals for cash and prizes worth over $25,000 which included two brand new cars (one for each member of the winning dance team). In September 1984, the grand prize package was raised to $50,000.
Each week except for the year-end Grand Prix Finals, the show also featured a segment in which some of the top Disco, Pop, or R&B artists of the day would perform their latest hit.