Editing Steve Allen (section)

==== In the 1980s ====
After television executive [[Fred Silverman]] became head of programming at [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]], he tried to revive some of the network's bygone successes. He signed [[Mitch Miller]] to reunite his old choral group for a new series of ''[[Sing Along with Mitch]]'' musical hours, and signed Miller to a pilot with an option for a 13-week series.<ref>Val Adams, ''New York Daily News'', Jan. 1, 1981, p. 48.</ref> The pilot aired but the series did not.

In the same vein, Silverman tried to return Steve Allen to the network. He hired Allen for two primetime projects: ''The Steve Allen Comedy Hour'' (1980), similar to Allen's 1950s variety hour, with comic characters and sketches; and ''The Big Show'' (1980), an attempt to stage spectacular events for television. A third Silverman project got the green light: Allen would return to his roots as a late-night star, in a weeknight revival of ''The Steve Allen Show''. Silverman scheduled the hourlong show for five nights a week at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time, immediately following ''The Tonight Show.'' Allen was excited about the opportunity, only to be disappointed: Johnny Carson opposed the plan and voiced his objections to Silverman. Silverman's own schedule of new NBC shows was failing (Allen's ''Comedy Hour'' ran for only five episodes and ''The Big Show'' for only eleven) and NBC couldn't afford to alienate Carson, the network's most important asset, so the new Steve Allen show was abandoned.

From 1984 to 1986, Allen created and hosted ''Steve Allen's Music Room'' which aired on the newly formed [[Disney Channel]].<ref>IMDb listing for "Steve Allen's Music Rhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt2770782/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1oom"</ref> This was a talk show with jazz vibraphonist [[Terry Gibbs]] leading a studio band with the top Los Angeles musicians to include [[Conte Candoli]], [[Pete Candoli]], [[Carl Fontana]], [[Med Flory]], [[Plas Johnson]], [[Alan Broadbent]], and drummer [[Frankie Capp]]. 27-year-old [[Bill Maher]] was the announcer and "sidekick." The show featured musicians and entertainers including [[Melba Moore]], [[Joe Williams (jazz singer)|Joe Williams]], [[Paul Williams (songwriter)|Paul Williams]], [[Burt Bacharach]], [[Anthony Newley]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[Lou Rawls]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], and [[Henry Mancini]]. Allen spun off a similar show for Disney, ''Steve Allen's Comedy Room'', this time with professional comedians talking about comedy styles.

From 1986 through 1988, for Allen hosted a daily, three-hour long comedy program, broadcast over the [[NBC Radio Network]], featuring sketches and some of America's better-known comedians as regular guests. Allen's co-host was radio personality Mark Simone, and they were joined frequently by comedy writers [[Larry Gelbart]], of ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' writing fame; [[Herb Sargent]], best known for his writing for  "Saturday Night Live," and [[Bob Einstein]], who created and portrayed the hapless daredevil stuntman character, [[Super Dave Osborne]].

On October 30, 1988, Allen portrayed a radio newscaster in a remake of the famous ''[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]'' broadcast of fifty years earlier. The 1988 version was produced by [[WGBH (FM)|WGBH]] in Boston and picked up by 150 [[National Public Radio]] stations.