[1] It was a nightly series featuring jazz and pop music as well as trivia games, book and movie reviews, comedy segments and interviews.
[3] It was hosted by David Cole in its first season,[4] followed by Vicki Gabereau for the remainder of its run.
[5] Cole continued to contribute to the program in 1982 and 1983 as producer of Here Come the Seventies, a sketch comedy series that aired as a weekly half-hour segment of Variety Tonight.
[7][8] In the show's first season, it hired Don Novello, in character as Father Guido Sarducci, to serve as a correspondent covering the 1980 United States presidential election.
[13] In January 1986 she announced that she would be leaving the show at the end of the season to pursue other interests;[14] she was ultimately convinced to change her mind and remain with the network, although her show moved to a weekly airing on Saturdays and its nightly time slot was taken over by Stan Carew's new Prime Time.