Real People
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Real People was an NBC reality television series that aired from 1979 to 1984, on Wednesday and later Sunday nights.
The taped program (its initial episodes aired live in the East) focused on visits to people with unique occupations or hobbies, and occasionally brought some of them in-studio to interact with the audience. In its early seasons, Real People was NBC's most popular series, often scoring at the top of the ratings.
Segments included "funny pictures" and funny newspaper errors sent in by viewers, who were awarded a Real People T-shirt. This concept would be adopted later on by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, for its "Headlines" segment.
Regular hosts included John Barbour, Sarah Purcell, Byron Allen, Skip Stephenson, Bill Rafferty, Mark Russell, Peter Billingsley, and Fred Willard. The show was produced by George Schlatter, who had previously co-created Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In for NBC.
The success of Real People led to a rash of imitators, the best known (and longest-running) of which was That's Incredible! Real People also gave fitness instructor Richard Simmons his major break into the mass media.
When the show was initially syndicated to broadcast stations, it was edited into 30-minute segments and retitled More Real People.
[edit] External links
- Real People at the Internet Movie Database
- Sarah Purcell interviews 30 year Bare-Knuckle Champ Macale Merton (video)
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