Shindig!

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For the Firefly episode, see Shindig (Firefly).

Shindig! was a music variety show which was aired every week on the American ABC network from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966.

The show's pilot was taped in Britain with The Beatles as the guests. (They were about to hit the U.S. with their own "invasion", as they had with their home country). Singer Cilla Black also appeared.

At the beginning, the show aired for a half-hour every week, but was expanded to an hour in January 1965. In the fall of 1965, the show split into two half-hour telecasts, on Thursday and Saturday nights. In contrast to American Bandstand, it ran during prime-time. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, who was a famous disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time. Accompanying the music acts of the week was a dance troupe called the Shindiggers.

Many popular performers of the day played on the program, and this show is widely considered to have jumpstarted the careerishBobby Sherman. The Righteous Brothers and Sonny & Cher were frequent guests. In the fall of 1965, transmissions from London would commence, allowing performers from the British Invasion bands to play without having to leave the United Kingdom.

Teri Garr, one of the dancers on this program, later found success on film. The show's assistant choreographer, Antonia Basilotta, later changed her name to Toni Basil and enjoyed a long career as a choreographer and became the epitome of the one hit wonder with her iconic 1980s hit recording, "Mickey". Leon Russell was the keyboardist and band leader in the show's house band, The Shindogs, and also performed as a solo act on the show. Delaney Bramlett, later famous as part of Delaney, Bonnie & Friends, was also a member of The Shindogs. Glen Campbell also did a long stint as a member of the house band. The Blossoms, an all-female vocal group featuring Darlene Love, backed up many of the performers and usually got to do one or more spotlight performances themselves in each show.

Shindig!'s success prompted NBC to air the similar Hullabaloo. Shindig! was eventually cancelled, to be replaced in its Thursday time slots by Batman; the final episode featured The Kinks and The Who.