I was two-and-a-half when The Donny and Marie Show went off the air in 1979, so I am a little too young to have been deeply involved in the first round of Osmond mania. When I was asked to write about the recent resurgence of Donny and Marie’s popularity, I asked several people who are a few years older than me what, exactly, was so special about them. Their unanimous answer? "The teeth." Nobody even had to think about it.

Even though I don’t remember watching the show, my childhood was definitely influenced by the Osmonds because I have older siblings. My sister was particularly touched. She told me the worst punishment she could imagine was to not be allowed to watch Donny and Marie. She had the lunch box and the Barbie dolls, both of which got handed down to me. My crayons lived in the lunch box, and the dolls’ costumes made of filmy shredded material in different shades of purple prepared me for '80s fashions. (I was soon making my own shredded-fabric chic Barbie outfits out of Kleenex and tape.)

My sister’s status as an Osmond fan faded over the years, as there was always something new to replace them (like Xanadu, Fame (the TV series), and later on, Def Leppard and Rush. But it was always there under the surface. In the '90s, she purchased a VHS copy of The Gift of Love, the 1978 movie based on the O. Henry story, starring Marie and James Woods. She dragged me (okay, it wasn’t that hard) to see her in a touring production of The Sound of Music in the mid-'90s. But mostly, the Osmonds were relegated to childhood. Until the latest round of Dancing With the Stars.

My sister tuned in to the premiere mostly out of curiosity to see how Marie would do, and the obsession started all over again. She emailed me the next day to tell me how “charming” she found Marie. Now she TiVos it every week, watches only Marie’s performances, then uses up all her votes on Marie.

It seems that my sister is not alone. Marie is definitely the fan favorite, and although I think she is a good dancer and some of her performances have been great, her staying power owes more to her likability than her dancing skills. (Maybe it is also because she has previous experience wearing ridiculous sparkling costumes.) Although some people are irked that Marie has stayed in the competition longer than some who might have better dancing skills, I don’t have a problem with it. She is charming and likable, and she has a great attitude. (Maybe Jane Seymour would have stuck around longer if she hadn’t made such bitchy faces every time the judges said something negative about her dancing.)

Dancing with the Stars is as much a popularity contest as it is a dance competition, hence the audience voting component. It’s a chance for celebrities who have been out of the public eye for a little while to revive their careers by reminding the public of their existence. Marie worked the system beautifully. She’s reminded us that she’s nice, wholesome, likable, and really pretty normal. Frankly, the fainting didn’t hurt; I think the way she handled that earned her the trip to the finals. (When asked if she wanted a medic, she said “No, I want my scores.” Who wouldn’t find that lovable?

Donny is also benefiting from Marie’s new popularity. Over the years, he seems to have had more brushes with being popular again than she has, with a couple of modest pop hits in the late '80s, and some success on Broadway. It doesn’t hurt that he’s been in the Dancing with the Stars audience every week. It’s nice to see siblings in their 40s still supporting each other, and it doesn’t seem like a common thing with celebrities (look at the Jacksons).

Whether Marie wins Dancing with the Stars or not (and I think she could), she’ll be back in the public eye for a while. Donny and Marie’s appearances on Oprah and Larry King have drawn a lot of attention, and they have recently announced that they will be doing a week of performances in Las Vegas this summer. With the combination of the writers' strike and the new popularity of goofy variety-style prime time programming (which the first version of Dancing with the Stars paved the way for), could a new version of The Donny and Marie Show be far behind?

* * *

Amy Kane spends as much quality time with her television as possible, when she's not busy at her day job as a cube dweller.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us