WHEN DID EP HEARD ABOUT THE CBS SPECIAL

how many weeks before did he knew about the cbs special....he was not in good shape.....but how was the crew of the cbs special......steve binder told him to do other things ......Producer-director Marty Pasetta for hawaii show had attended one of Presley's concerts at Long Beach in mid-November, and found it to be "boring" and lacking in any physical excitemen and told him to lost weight and change things.....it wat better i guess if parker or the cbs crew told elvis weeks before to really change things otherwise it would be a big flop.....nobody did.....

It's been awhile since we've had one of EP2's well crafted, thought provoking threads.

I guesses from how it turned out maybe Colonel forgets to tell Elvis about specials til it's too late for him go change much.

I have read and been told by people over the years that EIC was purely a financial move. There was no album to push, no career change, not even a real "theme" or "purpose" to this special. Clearly, the 68 and 73 TV shows had purpose, thought, and planning. There was also a challenge to 68 and 73 for Elvis. Quite honestly, it doesn't appear that much thought or planning went into EIC in 77.

rlj

I have reason to believe they were in talks about this special sometime in Dec. of 1976.
Ironically the article I read then, said they were waiting for him to lose weight.
Which by 1976-77 standards he was as skinny as he was going to get for that period.
They should have filmed the new years show and fast.

I have reason to believe they were in talks about this special sometime in Dec. of 1976.
Ironically the article I read then, said they were waiting for him to lose weight.
Which by 1976-77 standards he was as skinny as he was going to get for that period.
They should have filmed the new years show and fast.

Some good thoughts. It is too bad they didn't film any of the shows from the December 76 tour.

rlj

For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

Brian is 200% right.

like steve binder who had a lot of stories .....the guys from the cbs crew are not so known...i mean did the talked with ep about the special

For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

The big ratings were due to his sudden death which recently occurred. Many people tuned in out of curiosity. The concert was secondary. If he didnt die, doubt many people would have cared. They probably would have laughed it off and it may have sunk his career instead of bolster it.

CBS producers saw the May 1st show in Chicago, so I assume by then the deal was signed & sealed.
Elvis was in pretty bad shape in May and probably started to look after his weight right before the filming, that explains the state he was in Kansas City.
His looks slightly improved throughout the tour and he certainly looked better than the previous tour.

The fact that Elvis almost had two months to lose weight and he didn't, says enough. He didn't realy care.

how many weeks before did he knew about the cbs special....he was not in good shape.....but how was the crew of the cbs special......steve binder told him to do other things ......Producer-director Marty Pasetta for hawaii show had attended one of Presley's concerts at Long Beach in mid-November, and found it to be "boring" and lacking in any physical excitemen and told him to lost weight and change things.....it wat better i guess if parker or the cbs crew told elvis weeks before to really change things otherwise it would be a big flop.....nobody did.....

I never really bought Marty's comments on the late '72 shows. If Elvis was heavier than January '73 here, it couldn't have been more than a few pounds. He still looked very good.

I recently watched the footage from the late '72 Hawaii shows, and these are great shows with a lot of energy from Elvis. I'm not one of those fans that knocks Aloha, I understand why Elvis made some of the changes he did for the special, and I've always felt that vocally, he delivered on the night. However, you could argue that Elvis' late '72 tour shows were visually more exciting than Aloha, so I don't think the director added that much really.

By Spring 1977, Elvis' weight was a minor issue when compared to the other medical issues he was dealing with at that time. Elvis didn't need to lose weight to get his professional career back on track, he needed to get off the drugs, fire Parker and take a year off to figure out his next step. If all the CBS executives saw when they watched Elvis perform in Chicago was a man overweight, they weren't paying attention... This was a man in trouble...

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For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not
consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

Agreed. I'm sure I've seen a copy of a mailgram somewhere which clearly stated that all Elvis had to do was turn up and perform his regular show. There may have been some minor set list changes from previous tours. The short but well performed "I Really Don't Want To Know" and the introduction of "Fairytale" for example, but as there were no rehearsals for these tours, I would guess that these could have happened regardless of the presence of the CBS cameras.

Unfortunately by this time, Elvis was too far gone to rise to whatever challenge the CBS special presented. With hindsight late '76 would have been a better time to film Elvis, and from a fan's perspective it would be wonderful to have a complete, professionally filmed document of the New Years Eve show from Pittsburgh. However, whether the broadcast of an edited version of this show would have been enough to herald another 'comeback' for Elvis is an entirely different issue.

CBS producers saw the May 1st show in Chicago, so I assume by then the deal was signed & sealed.
Elvis was in pretty bad shape in May and probably started to look after his weight right before the filming, that explains the state he was in Kansas City.
His looks slightly improved throughout the tour and he certainly looked better than the previous tour.

The fact that Elvis almost had two months to lose weight and he didn't, says enough. He didn't realy care.

I've read this as well. Also agree with another post, "There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker." However, CBS considered postponing broadcast of the special in hopes of obtaining better performance footage vs. Parker probably didn't care. Elvis did EIC for the same reason he continued touring, because of his financial situation not because he wanted to. People inside Elvis' inner circle knew he should have taken a long break to get healthy that he shouldn't have been performing... A few days before Elvis died Lamar talking with Joe Esposito... "I'd been talking to Elvis and he told me he was tired and didn't feel good. I told him he could cancel the tour but he said he needed the money. What he really needed was a long break, six months in Hawaii or Europe or something. I suggested that to him but he felt obligated."

For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

The big ratings were due to his sudden death which recently occurred. Many people tuned in out of curiosity. The concert was secondary. If he didnt die, doubt many people would have cared. They probably would have laughed it off and it may have sunk his career instead of bolster it.

I don't agree with that.

Anytime Elvis appeared on television it got huge ratings that's why CBS wanted to make a deal for a television special in the first place.

You might be right that it got bigger ratings than it would have but i bet it still would have been a ratings winner for CBS.

The special wasn't suppose to bolster Elvis career CBS wanted ratings and Elvis wanted the money.

If people tuned in to laugh at Elvis or if the television special would've have sunk his career CBS wouldn't have been concerned about that.

Brian is 200% right.

Not quite.

It was probably standard practice for executives to ask the star to look as good as possible for tv specials.

And not unprecedented.

Marty Pasetta asked Elvis to lose weight after seeing him in nov. of 1972, and he looked very good, compared to 1976.

So, if CBS saw him or saw pictures of him in Las Vegas of 1976, they would surely want him to lose weight.

Suggesting that Elvis wouldn't want to do the special just because he would be asked to lose some weight is really not the point, because he
really didn't want to do it anyway.

Elvis by then, didn't care as much as he did in 1972, but he needed quick revenue.

He agreed to it, but he really didn't want to do it.

But it didn't require anything more from him other than the added stress of performing for camera's that
captured everything in detail.
Looking and feeling the way he did, was thee challenge in getting thru the filming.

He even stated toward the end of one of the shows that it he was performing under 'hard circumstances".

What do you think he meant by that if he didn't have to do anything extra??

Going by that, he was performing under hard circumstances the last 4 years of his life.

I repeat, CBS was looking for Elvis to do the special as early as dec. 1976, according to the press.

it is strange there are no people from the cbs crew wrote anything ....somewhere about the special.....about which shows the saw are what more show to film on the next tour....

like steve binder who had a lot of stories .....the guys from the cbs crew are not so known...i mean did the talked with ep about the special

Dwight Hemion the director of the special was actually more accomplished than either Steve Binder or Marty Pasetta.

I have never read or never seen an interview where Dwight Hemion talked about working with Elvis.

Dwight Hemion evidently took the job as a paycheck like Elvis did and just did what the CBS executives wanted him to do which was film Elvis.

Obviously there wasn't a big confrontation between them and there obviously wasn't anything special planned by Dwight Hemion.

Brian is 200% right.

Not quite.

It was probably standard practice for executives to ask the star to look as good as possible for tv specials.

And not unprecedented.

Marty Pasetta asked Elvis to lose weight after seeing him in nov. of 1972, and he looked very good, compared to 1976.

So, if CBS saw him or saw pictures of him in Las Vegas of 1976, they would surely want him to lose weight.

Suggesting that Elvis wouldn't want to do the special just because he would be asked to lose some weight is really not the point, because he
really didn't want to do it anyway.

Elvis by then, didn't care as much as he did in 1972, but he needed quick revenue.

He agreed to it, but he really didn't want to do it.

What do you think he meant by that if he didn't have to do anything extra??

It was not standard practice as Elvis in Concert is evident of that.

Elvis needed the money and CBS didn't care about his shape as the finished product is evident of that.

CBS wanted Elvis anyway they could get him.

It is the point because ep2's question was about this.

Not having to do anything extra is not having to rehearse or do any work outside of just letting CBS film him for a few days.

For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

The big ratings were due to his sudden death which recently occurred. Many people tuned in out of curiosity. The concert was secondary. If he didnt die, doubt many people would have cared. They probably would have laughed it off and it may have sunk his career instead of bolster it.

I don't agree with that.

Anytime Elvis appeared on television it got huge ratings that's why CBS wanted to make a deal for a television special in the first place.

You might be right that it got bigger ratings than it would have but i bet it still would have been a ratings winner for CBS.

The special wasn't suppose to bolster Elvis career CBS wanted ratings and Elvis wanted the money.

If people tuned in to laugh at Elvis or if the television special would've have sunk his career CBS wouldn't have been concerned about that.

Yes Elvis got ratings, and yes he probably would have won his time slot (CBS's sole purpose). My point about the big ratings he did get due to his death though I believe to be true. I know many non-Elvis fans who tuned in that night just to see how bad a shape he was in. That last image of Elvis is in many peoples mind when they think of him and that is sad. It led to cruel jokes and even worse, the impersonators. Elvis hadnt had a hit rcord on the radio in 5 years. I doubt he was in heavy demand for TV.

Brian is 200% right.

Not quite.

It was probably standard practice for executives to ask the star to look as good as possible for tv specials.

And not unprecedented.

Marty Pasetta asked Elvis to lose weight after seeing him in nov. of 1972, and he looked very good, compared to 1976.

So, if CBS saw him or saw pictures of him in Las Vegas of 1976, they would surely want him to lose weight.

Suggesting that Elvis wouldn't want to do the special just because he would be asked to lose some weight is really not the point, because he
really didn't want to do it anyway.

Elvis by then, didn't care as much as he did in 1972, but he needed quick revenue.

He agreed to it, but he really didn't want to do it.

What do you think he meant by that if he didn't have to do anything extra??

It was not standard practice as Elvis in Concert is evident of that.

Elvis needed the money and CBS didn't care about his shape as the finished product is evident of that.

CBS wanted Elvis anyway they could get him.

It is the point because ep2's question was about this.

Not having to do anything extra is not having to rehearse or do any work outside of just letting CBS film him for a few days.

None of that is evidence of anything. Let me explain in context of the time.

I am 99.9 % percent sure CBS "asked" Elvis to lose weight.
That doesn't mean they wouldn't take him even if he didn't, but it never hurts to ask.

The other context I would like to inform you of, ........Elvis died.

That could have changed things considerably.

Whether the special aired or not, or whether they would re-shoot more footage at a later date.

It probably would have aired anyway, given the agreement, but that doesn't mean that CBS would have
preferred a more in-shape star.

Of course they would.

Brian is 200% right.

Not quite.

It was probably standard practice for executives to ask the star to look as good as possible for tv specials.

And not unprecedented.

Marty Pasetta asked Elvis to lose weight after seeing him in nov. of 1972, and he looked very good, compared to 1976.

So, if CBS saw him or saw pictures of him in Las Vegas of 1976, they would surely want him to lose weight.

Suggesting that Elvis wouldn't want to do the special just because he would be asked to lose some weight is really not the point, because he
really didn't want to do it anyway.

Elvis by then, didn't care as much as he did in 1972, but he needed quick revenue.

He agreed to it, but he really didn't want to do it.

What do you think he meant by that if he didn't have to do anything extra??

It was not standard practice as Elvis in Concert is evident of that.

Elvis needed the money and CBS didn't care about his shape as the finished product is evident of that.

CBS wanted Elvis anyway they could get him.

It is the point because ep2's question was about this.

Not having to do anything extra is not having to rehearse or do any work outside of just letting CBS film him for a few days.

None of that is evidence of anything. Let me explain in context of the time.

I am 99.9 % percent sure CBS "asked" Elvis to lose weight.
That doesn't mean they wouldn't take him even if he didn't, but it never hurts to ask.

The other context I would like to inform you of, ........Elvis died.

That could have changed things considerably.

Whether the special aired or not, or whether they would re-shoot more footage at a later date.

It probably would have aired anyway, given the agreement, but that doesn't mean that CBS would have
preferred a more in-shape star.

Of course they would.

CBS might have asked Elvis to lose weight but it's evident that there wasn't a clause demanding that he be in better shape or no special.

That's not true.

For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

The big ratings were due to his sudden death which recently occurred. Many people tuned in out of curiosity. The concert was secondary. If he didnt die, doubt many people would have cared. They probably would have laughed it off and it may have sunk his career instead of bolster it.

I don't agree with that.

Anytime Elvis appeared on television it got huge ratings that's why CBS wanted to make a deal for a television special in the first place.

You might be right that it got bigger ratings than it would have but i bet it still would have been a ratings winner for CBS.

The special wasn't suppose to bolster Elvis career CBS wanted ratings and Elvis wanted the money.

If people tuned in to laugh at Elvis or if the television special would've have sunk his career CBS wouldn't have been concerned about that.

Elvis hadnt had a hit rcord on the radio in 5 years. I doubt he was in heavy demand for TV.

Elvis was actually always in demand to appear on television.

I know he got offers to appear on Cher's show as late as 1975 and of course Colonel Parker was able to make this deal with CBS.

It depends on what you mean by hit record Elvis had several top 20 hits during 1973-1975.

Even without any hit records there are many singers that can still bring in ratings for television shows and Elvis was one of them.

For the millionth time.

Elvis knew about the CBS special in plently of time to get in better shape if he wanted.

Television shows take months and sometimes longer to plan.

The whole point of the television special was that CBS would film him randomly on tour and Elvis wouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary.

For Elvis and the Colonel they would get $750,000. for little work and that's why they agreed to it.

If the CBS executives had told Elvis to lose a substantial amount of weight Elvis wouldn't have wanted to do it.

In the end all the CBS executives care about is the ratings and Elvis in Concert delivered big for them but they did not consciously try to sabotage the show.

There was no big conspiracy by CBS or Colonel Parker.

The big ratings were due to his sudden death which recently occurred. Many people tuned in out of curiosity. The concert was secondary. If he didnt die, doubt many people would have cared. They probably would have laughed it off and it may have sunk his career instead of bolster it.

I don't agree with that.

Anytime Elvis appeared on television it got huge ratings that's why CBS wanted to make a deal for a television special in the first place.

You might be right that it got bigger ratings than it would have but i bet it still would have been a ratings winner for CBS.

The special wasn't suppose to bolster Elvis career CBS wanted ratings and Elvis wanted the money.

If people tuned in to laugh at Elvis or if the television special would've have sunk his career CBS wouldn't have been concerned about that.

Elvis hadnt had a hit rcord on the radio in 5 years. I doubt he was in heavy demand for TV.

Elvis was actually always in demand to appear on television.

I know he got offers to appear on Cher's show as late as 1975 and of course Colonel Parker was able to make this deal with CBS.

It depends on what you mean by hit record Elvis had several top 20 hits during 1973-1975.

Even without any hit records there are many singers that can still bring in ratings for television shows and Elvis was one of them.

By hit record, I mean one people would know. Most people dont know anything after 1972's Burning Love except of course Elvis fans. Top 20 means nothing if the radio never played it. There are some records like some Darlene Love hits in the 60's that barely made top 40 but people are familiar with the songs. No one really knows the 70's Elvis stuff.

About losing weight: to me it's strange that Marty Pasetta in November 1972 after the Long Beach concert asked Elvis to lose some weight and complained the show was dull and Elvis didn't move on stage. But after 2 month, in Aloha show Elvis was more stiff and subdued. So Marty Pasetta made a lot of gimmicks with the flashlights and convinced Elvis to rerecord 4 songs from Blue Hawaii, plus Early Mornin' Rain. Not much creativity, I think. In my opinion Steve Binder was light years away from Marty Pasetta. And about EIC: Elvis (and the Colonel of course) took the money being completely disinterested about the program. So this time Elvis and his manager (who for the first time apllied the 50/50 % agrreement) were agree to cash the almighty dollar and they don't care about everything else.