Remember 'The Jacksons,' 'Sonny and Cher' and more summer variety shows?

Two historic events happened in the summer of 1976 — America's bicentennial and the premiere of "The Jacksons," a long-forgotten CBS variety series starring Michael Jackson and most of his singing siblings.

The show, which debuted on June 16, 1976, was one of numerous summer replacements that the networks would fit in time slots while their regular series went on hiatus. Variety shows, especially those headlined by a popular group or singer of the moment, were always a good bet. Here are some of the most memorable — and a few truly forgettable — variety shows of summers past.

'The Summer Brothers Smothers Show'

Though the Smothers sibs did the intro on this fill-in for their own variety hour, country music hitmaker Glen Campbell was the actual star. The June 24, 1968 opener also featured deadpan comic and mock presidential hopeful Pat Paulsen, the musical stylings of Nancy Sinatra and a dozen pigs who accompanied Campbell on "Once in a Lifetime." After wrapping a successful seven-week run, the show, rebranded as "The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour," was brought back in January 1969 and ran for three more years. 

'Hee Haw'

The corn was as high as an elephant's eye on this Grand Ole Opry-flavored twist on "Laugh-In" that CBS served up on June 15, 1969 after pulling the plug on the controversial "Smothers Brothers." Country crooner Roy Clark and honky-tonker Buck Owens served as the hosts to an assortment of cornpone comics including Grandpa Jones and Minnie Pearl, who dazzled in a $1.98 straw hat (price tag included).

A surprise smash, "Hee Haw" came back that December and remained on CBS until July 1971 when it was purged along with the rest of CBS' rural laugh riots like "Green Acres." "Hee Haw" did live on for the next two decades in syndication and on The Nashville Network.

'The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'

This August 1971 fill-in for CBS' ratings-challenged "Tim Conway Comedy Hour" was probably the greatest summer variety show success story. The first episode featured Sonny and Cher singing "The Beat Goes On" and sketches with Sonny as a penguin and Cher vamping it up as Cleopatra (with guest Jimmy Durante as Julius Caesar), Pocahontas and Mata Hari. It returned in December 1971, where it remained a ratings hit until it ended in March 1974, one month after Cher filed for divorce. Obviously it was a friendly divorce since they reunited for "The Sonny and Cher Show," which ran on CBS from February 1976 to March 1977.

Dean Martin Presents The Golddiggers

This 1968 summer sub for "The Dean Martin Show" starred the dancers from Dino's variety hour along with Joey Heatherton, Frank Sinatra Jr. and a bunch of second bananas including both Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly. TV Guide critic Cleveland Amory noted: "If the show is billed as Dean Martin Presents, he should be among those present — if not in person, perhaps, at least in spirit." Audiences didn't seem to mind, and the show returned for the next two summers.

The Bobby Darin Amusement Co.

Yet another summer replacement for Martin in 1972, this one starring Mr. "Mack the Knife." Darin crooned, including a medley of "Proud Mary," "Polk Salad Annie" and "Never Ending Song of Love" with guest Bobbie Gentry on the premiere. The "amusement" was provided by Rip Taylor (obviously Lynde and Reilly were unavailable) and future "Barney Miller" cast member Steve Landesberg, who did a weekly sketch as a crazed German psychiatrist who analyzed Darin.

Tony Orlando and Dawn

The "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" trio of Orlando, Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson replaced "Sonny and Cher" for four weeks in July 1974. The first episode featured footballer turned actor Rosey Grier and "M*A*S*H" regular Loretta Swit, who delivered a campy rendition of "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose." Quicker than you can say "Knock Three Times," the show returned that December where it lasted for two more years. We'd give anything to see the episode with Lloyd Bridges and Charo.

The Starland Vocal Band Show

Proof that anyone could get a summer variety show. John Denver's backup group scored a massive in 1976 with "Afternoon Delight" (which had nothing to do with lunch) and the following summer landed a six-week series on CBS. It was a blend of bland music and lame sketches (a Shakespearean spoof in the premiere episode was a true comedy of errors). The show did little for the band, but it was a good launching pad for two cast members (and staff writers): political humorist Mark Russell and an up-and-comer named David Letterman.

The Jacksons

Michael Jackson stated in interviews that he hated doing this show which lasted 12 episodes (four in the summer of 1976 and eight more from January to March 1977). All of the Jacksons except for Jermaine appeared, not that he was missed — the show was all about Michael, then 18, who was already a thriller as he proved in numbers like an electrifying version of "Get Happy" in the Jan. 26, 1977 episode.