The popularity of variety and talent programs on TV today is proof that many things are cyclical in nature.  I was watching America's Got Talent this week and all the fantastic performers ( and some not so fantastic ones as well) took me back to my childhood when our family would watch great programs like Ed Sullivan and The Ted Mack Variety hour. 

Variety TV today includes hits American Idol, America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance. In the Golden Age of television shows were more inclusive.

Ed Sullivan would have a juggler or chimpanzee smoking a cigar followed by Elvis or the Rolling Stones. That is what made those shows so great. You never knew what was coming next.

Watching all that talent made me nostalgic for those times so I though perhaps we might take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the great variety TV shows from the past.