HBO Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Specials=== Alongside feature-length movies and other types of original programming, HBO has produced original [[television special|entertainment specials]] throughout its existence. Five months after its launch, on March 23, 1973, the service aired its first non-sports entertainment special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival, a three-hour-long music event broadcast from the [[Allentown Fairgrounds]] in Allentown, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pennsylvania Polka Festival|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423286391|publisher=Home Box Office, Inc.|via=WorldCat|date=March 23, 1973|oclc=423286391}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable: The First Forty Years – Mileposts on the Road to 40 |periodical=Broadcasting |page=47 |date=November 21, 1988}}</ref><ref name="An Original Voice">{{cite web |author=Bill Mesce |date=October 11, 2013 |title=It's Not TV: HBO, The Company That Changed Television: An Original Voice |url=http://www.soundonsight.org/its-not-tv-hbo-the-company-that-changed-television-an-original-voice/ |access-date=February 1, 2014 |website=Sound on Sight |archive-date=December 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217192226/http://www.soundonsight.org/its-not-tv-hbo-the-company-that-changed-television-an-original-voice/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The network has cultivated a reputation for its [[stand-up comedy]] specials, which have helped raise the profile of established comedians (including [[George Carlin]], [[Alan King]], [[Rodney Dangerfield]], [[Billy Crystal]] and [[Robin Williams]]) and served as the launchpad for emerging comic stars (such as [[Dennis Miller]], [[Whoopi Goldberg]], [[Chris Rock]], [[Roseanne Barr]], [[Patton Oswalt]], [[Margaret Cho]] and [[Dave Chappelle]]), many of whom have gone on to television and film careers. HBO premieres between five and seven comedy specials per year on average, usually making their initial broadcast in late Saturday prime time, following its weekly movie premiere presentation. {{citation needed|date=January 2018}} Regular comedy specials on HBO began on December 31, 1975, with the premiere of ''An Evening with [[Robert Klein]]'', the first of nine HBO stand-up specials that the comic headlined over 35 years. Positive viewer response to the special led to the creation of ''[[On Location (TV series)|On Location]]'', a monthly anthology series that presented a stand-up comedian's nightclub performance in its entirety and uncut; it premiered on March 20, 1976, with a performance by [[David Steinberg]].<ref name="b&c-hbodeals76"/><ref>{{cite magazine |title=HBO begins to roll its entertainment for pay cable |periodical=Broadcasting |page=25 |date=March 8, 1976}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=HBO begins to roll its entertainment for pay cable |periodical=Broadcasting |page=26 |date=March 8, 1976}}</ref> HBO's stand-up comedy offerings would eventually expand with the ''HBO Comedy Hour'', which debuted on August 15, 1987, with ''[[Martin Mull]]: Live from [[North Ridgeville, Ohio|North Ridgeville]]'', a variety-comedy special headlined by Mull that featured a mix of on-stage and pre-filmed sketches.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mario Puzo's novel "The Fortunate Pilgrim" is..|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-02-tv-469-story.html|author=Lee Margulies|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=August 2, 1987|access-date=July 22, 2020}}</ref> The ''Comedy Hour'' typically maintained a virtually identical concept as ''On Location'', taking that program's place as HBO's flagship stand-up series and ultimately resulting in ''On Location''{{'}}s phase-out after a 13-year run, ending with the premiere of ''Billy Crystal: Midnight Train to Moscow'' on October 21, 1989. A spin-off, the ''[[HBO Comedy Half-Hour]]'', airing from June 16, 1994 (with the inaugural special ''Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes'') until January 23, 1998, maintained a short-form format in which the special's featured comedian presented their routine—usually recorded live at [[The Fillmore]] in San Francisco—only for 30 minutes. George Carlin headlined the most comedy specials for the network, making 12 appearances between 1977 and 2008; his first, ''[[George Carlin at USC|On Location: George Carlin at USC]]'' (aired on September 1, 1977), featured Carlin's first televised performance of his classic routine, "[[Seven dirty words|The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television]]".<ref name="An Original Voice"/> As other cable channels incorporated comedy specials due to their inexpensive format, HBO began to model its strategy with its comedy specials after its music programming, focusing on a few specials each year featuring popular comedians. (HBO stopped billing its comedy specials under the ''Comedy Hour'' banner after the February 6, 1999, premiere of the Carlin-headlined ''You Are All Diseased''.)<ref name="An Original Voice"/> The network's library of comedy specials would become part of the initial programming inventories of two comedy-focused basic cable networks started by HBO through Time Inc./Time Warner, [[The Comedy Channel (United States)|The Comedy Channel]] (launched on November 15, 1989) and its successor, [[Comedy Central]] (launched on April 1, 1991, as a consolidation of The Comedy Channel and Viacom-owned [[Ha! (TV network)|Ha!]]). At irregular intervals between 1986 and 2010, HBO served as the primary broadcaster of ''[[Comic Relief USA]]''{{'s}} fundraising specials to help health and welfare assistance programs focused on [[Homelessness in the United States|America's homeless population]]. Developed by Comic Relief founder [[Bob Zmuda]] in conjunction with former HBO executive [[Chris Albrecht]], all eleven HBO editions of the fundraisers aired between the aforementioned years (out of the 15 produced by the charity over its 24-year existence) was hosted by Williams, Crystal, and Goldberg, featuring performances by stand-up comedians, [[improvisational comedy|improvisational comics]] and [[impressionist (entertainment)|impressionists]], and appearances by celebrities and politicians as well as documentary segments showing issues affecting the homeless. HBO and other sponsors handled all or most of the incurred costs of the Comic Relief events to ensure that money raised or contributed is distributed to the charity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Comic Relief: The Best of Comedy for the Best of Causes|author=Todd Gold|publisher=[[Avon Books]]|isbn=0-380-97391-X|year=1996}}</ref> Concert-based music specials are occasionally produced for the channel, featuring major recording artists performing in front of a live audience. One of HBO's first successful specials was ''[[The Bette Midler Show|The Fabulous Bette Midler Show]]'',{{refn|group="note"|name=TBMS|While ''The Bette Midler Show'' is the program's official title, the June 1976 edition of the ''HBO Guide'' also refers to the special as ''The Fabulous Bette Midler Show'', using both titles interchangeably.}} a stage special featuring [[Bette Midler|Midler]] performing music and comedy routines, which debuted on June 19, 1976. It served as the linchpin for the creation of ''[[Standing Room Only (TV series)|Standing Room Only]]'', a monthly series featuring concerts and various stage "spectaculars" (including among others, [[burlesque]] shows, [[Vaudeville]] routines, [[ventriloquism]] and magic performances) taped live in front of an audience; ''SRO'' premiered on April 17, 1977 (with ''[[Ann Corio]]'s 'This Was Burlesque''' as inaugural broadcast).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable Briefs: Pay for play |periodical=Broadcasting |page=94 |date=March 28, 1977}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Cable Briefs: Pay for play |periodical=Broadcasting |page=95 |date=March 28, 1977}}</ref> For a time in the early 1980s, HBO produced a concert special almost every other month, featuring major music stars such as [[Boy George]] and [[the Who]]. After [[MTV]]'s successful rollout in 1981, the ''Standing Room Only'' series began to produce fewer concerts, eventually ending on May 24, 1987 (with the premiere of the [[Liza Minnelli]] concert special ''Liza in London''); HBO's concert telecasts also began to focus more on "world class" music events featuring artists such as [[Elton John]], [[Whitney Houston]], [[Tina Turner]] and [[Barbra Streisand]], as well as fundraisers such as [[Farm Aid]].<ref name="An Original Voice"/> ''[[Michael Jackson]]: Live in [[Bucharest]]'', recorded on the first leg of his 1992–93 [[Dangerous World Tour]], holds the record as HBO's highest-rated special with 3.7 million viewers (21.4 rating/34 share) watching the October 10, 1992, premiere telecast. The special is also believed to be the largest financial deal for a televised concert performance on television, with estimates from music industry executives indicating that HBO paid around $20 million for the rights.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jackson concert sets HBO record|url=https://variety.com/1992/music/news/jackson-concert-sets-hbo-record-101198/|periodical=Variety|date=October 15, 1992|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Michael Jackson, Live, On HBO in October|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/13/arts/michael-jackson-live-on-hbo-in-october.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 13, 1992|access-date=July 7, 2020}}</ref> In recent years, concert specials have had an increasingly marginal role among HBO's television specials, limited to an occasional marquee event or the annual induction ceremony of the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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