Friday Night Videos

Was real young during the early 80's yet when not in school would sit up late on Friday and Saturday nights, plus at the time before I got any cable or "MTV" this short little gem on "NBC" called "Friday Night Videos" was my only exposure to music and rock videos! If you liked a hit song or wanted to see the video of a new act then this program would often or always have it! I think different hosts came and went thru the years I don't really recall. Before "MTV" this was the classic short little jam session of the music video world! My aunt was also even a big fan and watcher she would even record it on her "VCR"!

I remember tuning in to watch this show every week and always enjoyed doing so because it was such a great show to watch. I enjoyed watching the music videos that they played as well as the stand up comedians they featured every week and I thought that Rita Sever was a lovely and very cordial host.

This show came on late night Friday/early morning Saturday. If If NBC had put this show in with their Friday prime time shows it would have survived.

We were late to get cable in the 80s. Didn't have it until 1987. So what does a kid like me addicted to music videos do? Well, ya watch any and every music video show on regular TV. This was appointment viewing for me every Friday when I was a young teen. As a matter of fact at one time ABC Rocks aired at midnight until 12:30 and then this would start at 12:30 so I was in music video heaven. The peak of this show, for me, was hosted by Nick Michaels (off camera). He would introduce the videos and they'd have interviews with different rock stars that didn't contain an interviewer. It was great. Once they ditched Michaels and brought in Scott Muni and then started having Guest Hosts like current sitcom stars and comedians I started losing interest. I just wanted to see the videos. Eventually it turned into a full on comedy show with occasional videos. By that time I had gotten MTV and had no real need for Friday Night Videos anymore.

When I was a poor college student in East Texas, it took MTV forever to make it on to our local cable provider. I remember my first exposure to a music video, was watching The Midnight Special in the 1970's. In 1982, I got my first look at the up-start MTV, while in Florida on Spring Break from school. I was hooked. Spent the entire week in a chair, watching the same, ummm, 10 videos, over and over, it seemed. If I ever see Blue Oyster Cult's "I'm Burnin' for You" one more time, I'll scream! But most music acts had yet to understand what importance the music video would play, and there were just a hand full to be screened. And many of those were from groups, best left forgotten.

NBC, caught up in the music video revolution, started in 1983 airing videos on this show. Usually there were introduced by an off camera voice talent, but I seem to recall a host every now and then.

By the mid 80's, most everyone had some sort of way to access MTV, and "Friday Night Videos" became redundant as a "music video" format. It added hosts and other bits. By then, I'd stopped watching, and accidently found the show one night, surfing thru channels.