Pink Lady and Jeff

Pink Lady and Jeff was a television show that aired for six weeks on NBC in 1980. It is considered by many to be one of the worst television shows ever.

Pink Lady was a Japanese female singing duo composed of Keiko Masuda ("Kei") and Mitsuyo Nemoto ("Mie"), and "Jeff" was comedian Jeff Altman. The format of the show consisted of musical numbers alternating with sketch comedy. Jim Varney, who achieved later fame as "Ernest P. Worrell" in the Ernest series of movies and television shows, contributed as a character actor. The show was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and its head writer was Mark Evanier. Musical guests appearing on the show included Blondie, Alice Cooper, and Bobby Vinton.

Pink Lady became famous in Japan for singing The Village People's "In the Navy," changing the lyrics to "Pink-a-La-dy" and "I want you, you want Mie/I want you, you want Kei" in place of "They want you as a new recruit." (The reworking, titled "Pink Typhoon," made the Japanese top 10 in 1979.) When they came to America to film the show, they knew very little English. The producers had Mie and Kei struggle through English-language disco songs such as "Boogie Wonderland" and "Knock On Wood" and balked on letting them sing anything in Japanese, which frustrated Mie and Kei to no end. On top of that, the show was filled with gags which most might consider "groaners," such as:

Jeff: "You girls are the biggest thing in Japan!" Pink Lady: "No, Jeff, the biggest thing in Japan is Godzilla!"

Pink Lady had actually first attempted a U.S. breakthrough before their TV show, in 1979, releasing an English-language album on Elektra/Curb. The disco single "Kiss In The Dark" peaked at #37 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #49 on the Cash Box top 100, but the follow-up single, "Show Me The Way To Love," flopped, and they had nothing in the way of American chart success afterward.

By that time, Pink Lady's popularity was also past its peak in Japan. The duo had monopolized the Japanese pop charts for most of the late 1970s, with a staggering streak of nine consecutive million-selling singles, including "Peppa Keibu" ("Sergeant Pepper"), "Wanted," "UFO," "SOS" (no relation to the ABBA hit of the same name), and "Chameleon Army." During that time, the duo became a huge marketing machine in Japan, endorsing commercial products from shampoo to radios to children's books including step-by-step instructions of how to do the synchronized dances Mie and Kei performed in their stage act. The duo's managers even financed a television anime cartoon series chronicling their history and rise to the top. Their first concert in the United States was in 1978 in Las Vegas. They were then guest stars on a Leif Garrett TV special in the spring of 1979 that was meant to be a springboard for their U.S. career.

Pink Lady officially disbanded in 1981 but have reunited for concerts and new recordings a few times since. Both Mie and Kei have also had successful solo careers in Japan. Today, their music is only available in America as Japanese imports. Meanwhile, no other J-pop act would attempt to conquer America through the medium of television until 2004's "Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi," which has far outlived "Pink Lady and Jeff."

Pink Lady and Jeff can be seen on Trio, a television network which designates June as "Flops!" month.

For more on Pink Lady in English, visit http://www.pinkladyamerica.com, an excellent Pink Lady fan site maintained by an American fan. The site also contains information on the "Pink Lady and Jeff" TV series as well as an episode guide.

External links

• Internet Movie Database entry (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080262/)