Shower of Stars (TV Series) 50's Music (1956) User Reviews

Sometimes there's such a thing as too much energy.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 14 June 2022]

Nanette Fabray was a great musical comedy performer, working from the late 1930's up until the late 90's, but on this episode of "Shower of Stars", she is just too much. Between her rehearsal sketch with Jack Benny and her duet of "We Flip" with Johnnie Ray, she had me reaching for aspirin. The rehearsal sketch has her frantic, changing every line and shouting each one out. It also goes on way too long. Too bad she didn't sing one of the standards from one of her hit Broadway musicals. That would have upped this a notch. Rory Calhoun and Mary Costa also guest-star, performing a musical number together, and Calhoun attempts to upstage any by telling a joke. Another sketch between Benny and Ray features Jack believing that he's going to be fired. When Ray breaks into booth of young people listening to Elvis songs and starts breaking the records, I began to wonder what the writers were thinking. A rare misfire among the classic episodes of a great TV show.