The Muscular Dystrophy Association parted ways with Jerry Lewis, and cut its annual telethon this year down from 21.5 hours to six.
The two moves are inter-related, of course.
Abandoning the real overnight marthon format for simply a long special meant a lot of the broadcast’s elements had to be cut down.
The MDA show traditionally consists of four basic elements:
- On-stage entertainment,
- documentary segments depicting “Jerry’s Kids” as cute crippled waifs,
- local cut-ins, and
- plugs for the association’s big corporate and institutional donors.
When the show’s running time was hacked down this year, three of those parts could be reduced in both frequency and duration.
But the corporate plugs still had to all go in.
Thus, the entertainment segments had to be further hacked down.
No more time for Lewis to cut it up with his classic movie-star and song-and-dance pals. Just quick intros to songs and standup comedy routines, delivered by perky and efficient cue-card readers.
So, the 85-year-old Lewis was unceremoniously dumped, for the sake of speed and modernity.
The organization’s next step: dump the demeaning “Jerry’s Kids” typing, and depict its beneficiaries as complete, respect-deserving humans (most of whom are adults), who simply have a medical condition.
Can the outfit take this leap?
Tune in same time next year.
