Decades Network Brings Back Ed Sullivan

“Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!” That simple introduction changed America and TV forever, as 73 million people gathered in front of their televisions to see The Beatles’ first live performance on U.S. soil.

The Fab Four had launched The British Invasion — and theirs was one of many history-making performances to grace Ed Sullivan’s stage. Starting Monday, Sept. 4, viewers of the Decades diginet will be able to experience those electrifying moments again with The Best of The Ed Sullivan Show, airing weekdays at noon, 5 and 11 pm ET/PT.

The Best of The Ed Sullivan Show will highlight select performances and Ed Sullivan bits taken from the most memorable milestones of The Ed Sullivan Show. Presenting two 30-minute episodes each weekday in three convenient time periods, every show features a “who’s who” of pop culture icons, entertainers and performers, including The Rolling Stones, The Jackson 5, Judy Garland, Carol Burnett, Harry Belafonte, Joan Rivers, The Carpenters, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, George Carlin, Ella Fitzgerald, The Temptations, The Doors, Richard Pryor, Elvis Presley, Liza Minnelli, George Burns, The Beatles, and many more.

“When Ed Sullivan left broadcast television, he left an indelible mark on America’s cultural consciousness,” said Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Decades parent Weigel Broadcasting Co. “An appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a turning point of greatness for so many artists and personalities, and a means of discovery for audiences. We are thrilled to air The Best of The Ed Sullivan Show on Decades.”

As comedian Alan King once noted, Ed Sullivan couldn’t sing, or dance, or effectively deliver a joke, but he was perhaps the greatest TV host of all time. The Ed Sullivan Show was the very definition of appointment television. It was the quintessential variety show and the longest-running in TV history.

The show aired on CBS from 1948 to 1971, through an era of great cultural shifts. Each week, a massive television audience tuned in to see a wide variety of guests from the seemingly disparate worlds of rock ’n’ roll, pop, R&B, opera, politics, comedy, novelty, and even sports. Sullivan became a star by being the ultimate star maker.