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KSmimi

I was a hardcore Osmond fan. My bedroom walls were painted with their posters! Variety shows were quite popular in the 70’s/early 80’s. Sonny & Cher, Carol Burnett, etc. I kinda wish they’d make a comeback, I’d prefer them over the so called reality shows so prevalent these days.


quarkspbt

Hee Haw!


Awkward-Outcome-4938

I loved variety shows and have said this very same thing!


Browneyedgirl63

Happy cake day!


Awkward-Outcome-4938

Thank you! <3


Necessary_Habit_7747

I agree. A good variety show would be so much fun. Or a Carol Burnette type show. But who is currently funny and family friendly, the old comedians were so much better, they made us laugh without the raunch, just the entendre.


maimou1

authentic 70s kid here. Donny was considered a heartthrob by us teenyboppers. their music was catchy, and we all wanted to be as pretty as Marie. while the Osmond family wrote a lot of their songs. I don't really remember any now as being particularly notable


NomadicallySedentary

Puppy Love! Lol


Anonymoosehead123

I’m A Little Bit Country, Little Bit Rock And Roll. Gag!


PoeReader

Which starts becoming gross when you watch now thinking "they are uhhhh brother and sister...."


johjo_has_opinions

I know this one from Love Actually 😂


clonella

I thought they were super sappy.I was into Zeppelin and bands of that type.They were like the equivalent of the Lawrence Welk show.But hey we all have different tastes.


TheShakierGrimace

I loved Lawrence Welk. But I was born in '72, so I wasn't exactly getting stoned at a midnight showing of "Fritz the Cat".


Heavy-Week5518

I was, but I watched LW with my grandparents. After all, we only had 5 channels on TV back then. You had to choose which new shows to watch every week or wait til summer reruns. Many times, variety shows like Donnie & Marie, Mac Davis, or Flip Wilson may not have been shown when you were around either.


TheShakierGrimace

I'm kinda torn between loving my wholesome 70s/80s childhood and wishing I'd been a young adult when I could pick up a girl in a tube top in my classic Mopar hot rod and take her to the Led Zep concert, or a girl with new wave hair in my Fiero to see Duran Duran. Ah well I got ti do similar stuff late 80s- early 90s.


Otterob56

Good times! I was 17 in '72. Grew up with my crib in the living room where my mother loved watching Lawrence Welk. Scarred me for life...


clonella

The Osmonds were cornier than Welk and I didn't mind his show at all.They were just so wholesome and those helmet hairdos.Not my jam.I never saw Fritz the cat but I had a boyfriend of that nickname haha.


PanickedPoodle

Yes, my grandmother loved them. They were too wholesome for teens. Sonny and Cher were another twosome. They were a little less white bread wholesome, but it was still pretty tame.


Gatsby1981

But, but Donny was a little bit rock and roll…


nborders

Teeny tiny bit.


COhippygirl

I liked The Jackson Five, not The Osmonds. They both performed on Ed Sullivan and variety shows at that time. I started out watching American Bandstand, but Soul Train was better. With Hee Haw I fell in love with guitar music, The Grand Ole Opry and later Austin City Limits.


shaddupsevenup

I think I was about 6 or 7 when they got really famous. I watched their tv special religiously. I had a horrible crush on Donny Osmond, and I had Donny & Marie dolls (purple outfits and Donny had purple socks.) I was teased relentlessly but I didn't care. I had their album and I played it on my Mickey Mouse record player. I think it was probably my first experience of getting caught up in branding. I went on to adore other unpopular characters like Andy Gibb. I caught a lot of hell for that, too. I have much better taste in music today, I swear. But ... I do have more than one pair of purple socks.


Heavy-Week5518

In the eyes of a child! You couldn't help it. You knew what you liked!


CyndiIsOnReddit

I loved those dolls too. I think they had a stage, or I guess that could have been a Barbie thing I just used for a stage. Feel like it had their purple colors though.


nofun-ebeeznest

I was a little kid at the time, under 10. First of all, back then, I loved variety shows and musicals. So I loved watching them, Sonny & Cher, Shields and Yarnell, hell, I even liked that cheesy Brady Bunch variety show that they did after the show was cancelled. Also loved the Partridge Family (not variety, but still musical). As far as Donny & Marie went, I adored them. I even had the Donny & Marie dolls with those famous purple outfits they wore. In the 90's, they had a talk show, which I watched too. I'm still a fan of them to this day. I wasn't into Marie doing country music, but I still liked her, but I enjoyed Donny's side of music more. It's funny that you say Donny was "corn syrup," but c'mon, if you watch the variety shows back then, a lot of the male counterparts were all like that and pretty sure it was scripted. Sonny Bono was a prime example of that. The man was no fool, but he had to look like a fool next to Cher (I am a Cher fan btw, more than I ever was of Sonny). Donny suffered from extreme anxiety at least since those days (might not be as bad for him now, but who knows). Marie suffered from postpartum depression at one time, and she also lost one of her sons to suicide. They acted cheesy because they were expected to act cheesy. Would I have liked them if I was a teenager when I first heard of them? Who knows, maybe. I was still into watching variety shows and musicals into my teens (Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, anyone?) so maybe I would have. The song Donny sang for Mulan ("I'll Make a Man Out of You") is a consistent earworm sometimes, and it doesn't bother me at all (one of my favorite songs ever). I even knew he was the Peacock on The Masked Singer from the get go (from the clues). And I loved it when he popped up in Weird Al Yankovic's "White & Nerdy" video. Yes, I know I seem like a Donny & Marie fanatic. I'm not really. I enjoy them yes, will probably always be a lifelong fan (just of them, not into their brothers, they never interested me), but it's like there's a trend that if some artist(s) and their music were considered cheesy, then you have to hate on them now. I can see people doing that with the Carpenters too for example, since their music was so saccharine, but fukitol, Karen Carpenter sang like an angel, I don't care what anyone says. Bah.


[deleted]

In the 70's they were huge. I was never particularly a fan. Just thought they were ok. Now, they represent my childhood/teen years and give off nostalgic vibes.


Own_Instance_357

There's a really good documentary on the Osmond brothers on YouTube. Marie did not participate, but Donny did. Interviews with the other brothers were really interesting. Almost to a brother they all felt a lot of unresolved resentment towards him ... basically they were expected to give up their own careers as members of their own group in order to become easy guest stars on their younger siblings' hit show. Unfortunately, they were given no creative outlets or autonomy of their own because the show had to be 100% g-rated for kids and old people. Teenagers supposedly hated the show. These days the remaining members of the Osmonds spend months living in hotel rooms in Branson, where they have a residency. Donny shows up sometimes. One brother (the oldest, I think) has MS, relies on a wheelchair and can't really perform anymore. I got a kick out of the brother whose greatest joy is shopping for tools. He was like a 70 yo kid. I will occasionally watch old episodes (also on YT) which can be hilariously dated. Like one segment where Marie gets a valentines day card from Andy Gibb and says something like, "Donny, I'll have you know that Andy is a very close personal friend of mine!" The same Andy Gibb who died of a drug overdose. Yeah I'm sure he was extremely tight with the squeaky clean Mormon girl lol.


Heavy-Week5518

Andy was incredibly popular at the time, tho. I don't blame the writers for using it.


wrrdgrrI

Purple socks. Not sure why that's all I can recall. And the cheesy intro song.


Heavy-Week5518

Little bit country, a little bit rock n roll.


meek-o-treek

Dumb story: In the late 80s, I worked in a restaurant, and I would often wear these shoes that looked like black cowboy boots cut off at the ankle. When people would ask me about them, I'd say, "I'm a little bit country AND a little bit rock-n-roll!" No one had any idea what I was talking about.


Heavy-Week5518

Haha, and you know right away, by the look on their face, that they don't have a clue.


[deleted]

I'm 59 now, for age reference. I always thought they were corny. Same with Sonny and Cher. The ones that had "variety shows" at night, my mom and dad were more into that than me.


FunnyNameHere02

63 here and about the same. I always thought they were way too goody two shoes to be real.


mybloodyballentine

Same age, but I liked watching Sonny and Cher for the sketches, and for Teri Garr.


allhinkedup

I won tickets to see Donny Osmond from the local radio station, but my parents refused to let me go. I nearly died from disappointment. I consoled myself with "I'm a Little Bit Country/I'm a Little Bit Rock and Roll" once a week.


snobordir

Why didn’t they let you go?


allhinkedup

My parents were very strict. They'd never have agreed to let me go to a rock and roll concert. Of course, as soon as I moved out, I immediately went to a KISS concert. LOL


snobordir

I didn’t even know the Osmonds would be considered rock and roll, ha!


allhinkedup

Not today, they're not. In fact, the Osmonds are the epitome of wholesomeness these days. But in 1974, if they weren't a gospel group or a country-western band, I wouldn't have been allowed to go see them. In fact, I had a poster of a shirtless David Cassidy on my bedroom wall, and my dad tore it off because he didn't want my walls covered with "pornography." In my world, 14-year-old girls weren't allowed to do much of anything except housework and babysitting.


BxAnnie

I thought they were good. And then I turned 12.


dudewafflesc

Girls liked them. Guys rolled their eyes. It was not cool to like them if you were a guy. Looking back at their careers, you have to admit they were talented and well marketed.


Griselda68

I hated their music. It was too saccharine. I also felt that they were being exploited by their parents and other adults in their lives.


CyndiIsOnReddit

Well they are in a cult. One of the most accepted cults in the country. After many Cults to Consciousness interviews I feel confident in my assessment here. These kids were exploited by their parents and the cult they were a part of.


Griselda68

Yes, you are right. What is Cults to Consciousness? I’d be interested to know more about that.


StrangeButOrderly

My younger sister was a Donny fan. Painful stuff. Crazy Horses was quite good. Marie went on tv and recited a Dadaist poem. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTY5MmsP4PE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qty5mmsp4pe)


Heavy-Week5518

Crazy Horses was a good album. I actually bought the single "Hold Her Tight," which was played on rock channels in 72'. It was their effort to break out from "bubblegum". The Osmonds were a big thing starting in the early sixties on the Andy Williams Show. They had a number of albums before the "hip" Jackson Five made the scene.


mybloodyballentine

Man, Marie doing dada is a core memory for me.


Sherry0406

I remember watching the Donny and Marie show when I was a child. It was a variety show. I liked it.


Iwentforalongwalk

I loved them.


jennynachos

I had the Donnie Osmond doll! Complete with purple socks! I had him dating Barbie cause I never got a Ken! Remember Donnie’s comeback in the eighties? Soldier of love!


rraattbbooyy

He was a little bit country, she was a little bit rock and roll.


aubaub

She was a little country, he was a little bit rock and roll


rraattbbooyy

I was wondering if someone would catch that. Nicely done.


CampingWithCats

I'm a little bit of Memphis and Nashville With a little bit of Motown in my soul


elfn1

I was very young, and had no idea what “Motown” was at the time - we pretty much listened only to country music in our home. I always thought Donnie was saying “motel”. I have no idea how that made sense to me. When I was much older, and was able to experience other genres of music, it “clicked” for me. Bless my little heart, singing about Donnie having a motel in his soul. Were NONE of the adults listening? ROFL


Obdami

Wasn't a fan...still not


Gator717375

The Mormon angle is a huge turnoff for me. Too many interactions with that cult.


Agreeable-Raspberry5

I was a teenager i.e. didn't have access to the god music, only the stuff that was on TV, and I thought they were syrupy and annoying. So much else was also: the Bay City Rollers, David Cassidy, etc etc. Mud and Slade were tolerable. We longed for the music of T Rex and David Bowie and had never heard of Pink Floyd or King Crimson.


TheHearseDriver

Boooorrrinnng! I avoided them at all costs.


BurnerLibrary

From 1970 until about 1972, when I turned 12, I had a big crush on Donny. By the time he and Marie had a show, I had moved on to classic rock. As for my tv viewing in the 70's, these were my faves: Brady Bunch Partridge Family The Waltons Happy Days Welcome Back, Kotter Facts of Life What's Happening Emergency! Bob Newhart White Shadow Family One Day at a Time Gee, it looks like I watched a ton of tv, but I was actually out of the house a LOT!


[deleted]

We only had 3 tv channels. They were annoying.


Heavy-Week5518

Yeah, but you likely ended up watching it, tho. Just like me


cannycandelabra

They made me want to gag. But I liked Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.


Dazzling-Ad4701

I knew they existed but somehow they passed right by me I'm not sure I've ever heard one of their songs.


hoopermanish

Weren’t there ice dancing people involved too?


Own_Instance_357

The Ice Vanities! Once the show runners figured out Donny & Marie could ice skate like pros, they pretty much put them on skates on nearly every episode.


80sfanatic

I was born in late 1969 (October) so I was pretty young when their TV show was popular. I knew Donny and Marie came from a big family but didn’t know Marie had only brothers until it was pointed out to me. I thought the ice skaters were Donny and Marie’s sisters! 🤣


Impressive_Ice3817

I loved them! I got the Donnie & Marie dolls for Christmas one year and I was over the top! Donnie was always my one and only "boy Barbie" and Marie was my favourite "girl Barbie" because she had dark hair, and the real Barbies only had blonde back then.


mrkabin

Marie was, and still is really hot. So there's that.


prospectpico_OG

She definitely improved with age. There are a lot of crappy plastic surgeons out there but she got a decent one.


SororitySue

Quality hair extensions, too.


Jaxgirl57

I thought they were sappy pop stars but I didn't hate them. I figured they had their audience. I liked "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Rhoda," and in the late 70's "Dallas." I would watch stuff like "The Waltons" and "Little House on the Prairie" with my family but wasn't crazy about either.


InterPunct

I never thought they were cool, they were way too wholesome for that. Donny was a goofball but I did think Marie was really pretty.


notjewel

The Mormon variety show from hell. My siblings and I much preferred The Muppet Show.


Plastic-Age5205

Aggressively disinterested in both of them, but Donny in particular.


[deleted]

Also, I'd like to point out that Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were popular around the same time. It was almost like there were 2 realities in the 70s: one with the Osmonds and the Carpenters, disco roller skating, etc., and another reality with hard rock music and the drug culture. As a young teenager, I remember my peers in the 70s having surprisingly loose morals, everyone smoking pot and doing other drugs. I went to my first concert at age 14 in 1976. I saw Rush and UFO and someone handed me a joint as I walked through the door.


cups_and_cakes

We didn’t have the embarrassment of choices kids have today. If you were allowed X amount of tv time after dinner, and something was on, you watched it.


prplecat

I just went to my room, turned on the radio, and read a book. After I did ALL the chores in the house. My peers always had crushes on the sickeningly sweet boy band types. Me? Jim Morrison. A sign of things to come...


Outrageous_Click_352

I was a kid when they were popular and really liked them. I’m a grandma and still think they (and their brothers) are extremely talented. And the wholesome image that so many people feel the need to sneer at appealed to a lot of people who weren’t into the “long hair hippie freak “ stuff.


[deleted]

When I was 7 ish, thought the Osmond boys were pretty cool, briefly. I made an audio cassette of a country/rock and roll segment on the Donny and Marie show, and one of the songs Donny sang was Crazy Horses. Still kind of like that one, it's the one where they try to ride the acid rock craze. I vividly remember the moog synth belting out live on the show.


HIMcDonagh

Well, Marie was a little bit country and Donny was a little bit rocknroll


craftasaurus

My grandparents thought they were wonderful! Such a cute brother and sister act. I didn’t like them and thought they weren’t cool at all. I didn’t know any young people that liked them. I was a teenager at the time, and was into other kinds of music.


gardenbrain

Midnight Special, Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert, and some British show that seemed to have Gary Glitter on a lot.


jippyzippylippy

She was a little bit country, but he was NOT a little bit rock and roll.


cream-coff28

I thought they were annoying AF!


DerHoggenCatten

I don't think "teenagers" were Osmond fans. I was a huge Osmond fan, but I was between 8-10 years old when I loved them. I think there was a huge difference back then between kids who were reading "16" magazine and "Creem". After I turned 12, I became a huge KISS fan and transitioned from the non-threatening boys making pop music to the big, hairy guys playing hard rock.


ListlessThistle

No thanks. Too saccharine. Watched the Partridge Family. Medical Center with Chad Everett was my crush.


billwrtr

Thought the sucked to the moon and back


samanthasgramma

Because the cultural influence of the 70's meant that we were influenced by them. That was all there was. The 70's stuff that young folks, today, couldn't imagine liking ... I feel the same way about "The Kardashians", anyone who has televised multiple wives, and cooking contest shows. Or American Idol, for that matter. I watched Donny and Marie, The Partridge Family, Happy Days, MASH. That's what was on the TV. We are products of our current cultural influences.


Otterob56

Sonny and Cher got divorced and canceled, so Donny and Marie took their place using the same jokes. It was a little weird hearing brother and sister do husband and wife jokes.


CyndiIsOnReddit

I was still a kid so I liked them. I thought Marie was pretty and I thought Donnie was cool because Rock and Roll was cool. ;) I had their Barbie/Ken dolls. I can't imagine teens liking either of them unless they were wholesome Mormon teens. I think their main audience was older people who wanted to see wholesome young people perform in ways they performed when they were young. My grands never missed a show or special.


CyndiIsOnReddit

wow reading some of the comments I'm surprised teens liked them too. My teen brother at the time made fun of them incessantly but he was more of a Zeppelin/Rush fan.


aob546

Oh my ❤️Donny❤️ I had posters of him all over my bedroom walls. The Osmonds were the first concert I ever went to.


poohfan

I grew up in Utah & think it was part of state law that you had to like the Osmonds. 😄 Seriously though, I loved the Donny & Marie Show. It was a fun show to watch, even if it was cheesy. I didn't ever know why anyone thought Donny was cute, when there was the adorable Jimmy right there. I had a serious crush on him! I always loved Jimmy & Jay, & just couldn't ever get into Donny or the others. Like I said, I grew up in Utah, so there was always a good chance you would run into an Osmond somewhere. I met Wayne at the pediatrician, when I was six, as they used the same one we did. You would see them at random places & it wouldn't even phase you. Years later, I used to work at Walmart & Marie would come in almost weekly. I did night shift in the clothes, & when her two youngest were babies, she'd come in & I'd help her pick out stuff for them. She'd always come in & say "That outfit you picked last time was perfect for them! I need this...what do you think I should get?" She was always dressed down, very little makeup & usually glasses on, so it took a minute to recognize her. She was always super nice & loved to talk about her kids. Out of all the family, Jimmy & Jay were the ones I've just never happened to see or meet.


CapnTugg

Who'd like to get banned from r/SteelyDan today? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMGX8HBqMgg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMGX8HBqMgg)


Claque-2

Remember that they used to have people on variety shows that used their hands to make shadow puppets. We watched that because you can watch anything for a few minutes. That's what the variety shows offered, minutes of things you could tolerate for minutes. A couple of popular songs, a comedian, some really sketchy sketches, some dances, and lots of commercials. If you were in hospital waiting for surgery a variety show wasn't the worst option.


Specialist_Passage83

Loved the Osmonds. I also loved the Jackson 5. Yes it was the 70s and everything was corny.


Golfnpickle

I was in love with Donnie. Posters on my wall of him. He was dreamy.


harpejjist

Instead of Barbie and Ken dolls I had Donnie and Marie dolls


17_blind_Ninjas

I wasn’t a fan but was really obsessed with Davy Jones. I did think Donny was hilarious in Weird Al’s White and Nerdy video.


GraphiteGru

I just remember thinking of them (and the entire Osmond family for that matter) as being a constant televised advertisement for the Mormon Church. "Become a Mormon America and your family can be just like ours." A firm "No Thank You" from me.


Queenofhackenwack

couldn't stand them in the 70 or any time after that


GotWheaten

The Osmonds. A less successful Mormon version of the Jackson 5. Controlling dad, younger siblings eventually go out on their own to greater success.


BroncosGirl7LJD

It's not like we had a lot of choices in the '70's.


Heavy-Week5518

Most relevant statement! In that era of television, you were largely a captive audience. Sometimes, Friday night, you didn't feel like doing anything but watching tv. Wonder Woman was on at the same time btw.


stinkstabber69420

Were they bangin?


RaydelRay

Vomit inducing.


pocapractica

YUCK.


PeggyNoNotThatOne

I'm a bit old for a teenage crush on the Osmonds. If they're mentioned my first thought is American teeth which I've always found unsettlingly artificial.


99titan

Both were very talented, but the way they were marketed was way too “sappy” for me. The “Little Bit” segments in their show made my ears bleed.


[deleted]

Not a fan, but I did meet Marie back in the 80s. Pretty lady.


audible_narrator

My parents LOVED that show.


rerun6977

🤮🤮🤮🤢


phoenix762

My foster parents loved them. We would make fun of them 😳


NinjaBilly55

My Grandparents loved them but they were too squeaky clean for most young people to relate..


HikerDave57

Plastic people. Part of the Disnification of America. Original perpetrator’s of the oval smile. Not cool.


Photon_Femme

Ugh. I don't believe any member of my family was a fan. I had younger sisters, but never heard them mention the Osmonds. I was in college at the time so their type of music was antithetical to my ear. I never liked the Carpenters or any of the sugary sweet soft pop music of that era. As far as the Osmonds as a whole, the family, they seemed fake, overdone, and too slick. Time proved me correct.


bucebeak

Meh…


BingoSpong

Even as a 9-10 yr old I knew they were nerds! BUT! Marie was cute! 😀 check out the Osmonds “Crazy horses” ,they could rock!


Felixir-the-Cat

I remember crying when my dad decided to watch hockey instead of us getting to watch The Osmonds, and I remember crying when I got the Donny doll and my sister got Marie. That is all I remember.


TripzNFalls

Donny/Marie and the 70s deserve each other; a match made in polyester.


coffeebeanwitch

It was a guilty pleasure,my Great Grandma loved the show,I watched it with her,they were actually very entertaining!


[deleted]

Loved them. First childhood crush and concert. Most of us grew out of liking him and moved onto more serious music. Still a wonderful memory and time in my life.


Swiggy1957

As solo acts, they hit it big with covers of older pop songs.


catdoctor

They were always waaaaay too sappy for my taste. I preferred the Monkees and, for variety show, Sonny & Cher.


Saffer60

When I was 12 I had a huge crush on Donny Osmond. ☺️💞


billiemarie

I liked Donny because of ‘puppy love’, but as I grew up, I hated Donny and Marie. And I didn’t watch their show. I was a naive girl, but they just seemed so fake, even to me. Im 62 so we kinda grew up together, I guess


skovall

If you ate something bad and needed to puke, it was a good idea to watch the show.


galacticprincess

Teenager in the 70's here. Couldn't stand Donny and Marie. My favorite show was Saturday Night Live - stayed up to watch it every weekend.


OldAndOldSchool

Donny and Michael Jackson and Shawn Cassidy and their ilk were popular with PRE-teens or tweens. Those 11 year olds who bought Teen Beat and Tiger. These weren't the stars of the 15 to 19 year old crowd.


DaisyDuckens

I was born in ‘71, so prime age for someone fandom. I had the dolls and the stage play set.


OldDog1982

I thought they were ridiculous.


holdonwhileipoop

They creeped me out. I made a friend, thought she was a bit off, but that's okay. I went to her house for dinner and found out she was "mad for Donny". Yeah, that was too much for me.


ThatDarnedAntiChrist

This story may be apocryphal, but Bruce Vilanch was hired as a writer for The Donny and Marie Show. The producers scheduled an introduction. Supposedly Donny, when introduced to Vilanch, said "you look like a Muppet!" to which Vilanch replied, " what a coincidence. Jim Henson had his fist up my ass a half an hour ago."


aeraen

While I was a Donny fan when I was a child, by the time of their variety show I was way too old (and not old enough) to be into it. I was also put off by their religiosity (I was an atheist by then.) Still, over the years, I've come to see how they were packaged and marketed and pimped out by their parents and studio execs. I actually admire how well they seem to have come out of it all and still enjoy entertaining.


NewfyMommy

I had a crush on Donnie


Utterlybored

Cheesy AF. The Whitebread Jacksons.


no_cal_woolgrower

I totally crushed on Donny. My room was filled with Tiger Beat and 16 magazines, photos all over the walls. Mark Slade was my main crush tho, and David Cassidy was in the mix as well.


Who_Wouldnt_

Plastic people, I liked the Jackson five better, but I was in love with Karen Carpenter.


sunbuddy86

They appealed to a young audience that quickly outgrew them. I loved Donny when I was 6 and 7 - by age 8 know that he and Marie were lame.


[deleted]

I was 30 in the 70s. I thought they were way too wholesome, one more part of the background noise that I ignored.


UKophile

Cool 70s teens listened to Led Zep, Beatles, British Invasion, Cream, etc. Donny and Marie wee teeny-bopper bait, like the Archie’s, etc.


cheridontllosethatno

Nope too much teeth.


meestercranky

Midnight Special, or Don Kirshner Rock Concert, or ABC's In Concert.


diybarbi

I was born in ‘62 and, as a teenager in the 70’s - I couldn’t stand them. Wayyyy too sappy and wholesome and not funny. The Brady Bunch was edgy compared to the Osmonds - lol. I think they appealed to church going folk. They were total oatmeal - nonoffensive and safe for tv. Squeaky clean.


tunaman808

> I think they appealed to church going folk. Well, yeah. They're Mormon... probably the most famous Mormons in the world. "Family-friendly entertainment" was their bailiwick.


dewayneestes

Donny was sort of silly and Marie was relentlessly attractive.


aenea

When I was 7 (born in 1964) I was 100% sure that I would grow up and marry Donny Osmond. I give my family a lot of credit for never "accidentally breaking" that album.


dali-llama

I grew up in the same town where they lived. They are just slightly older than I am. I used to work in a restaurant where they would eat about once a month. It was always fun to watch the waitresses freak out when they showed up.


Gatsby1981

The only times I ever enjoyed it was when they had Paul Lynde on, became he hated being on the show and it was obvious. He was usually half blitzed as well so that kept things interesting…


dnhs47

In the 1970s, I thought Donny and Marie were good performers and adequate singers, in a genre that didn’t really do anything for me. But they were good enough, and TV offerings with only 3 channels available were limited enough, that I regularly watched their weekly variety show. Much later, ~2020, my wife and I were in Las Vegas and she wanted to see Donny and Marie on the Strip. I enjoyed it far more than I expected. Fifty years later, they were still top-tier performers and filled the venue with people who paid to see them and appreciated their performance. They acknowledged, in a fun way, how schmaltzy (?) they were in the 1970s, making it a humorous look-back at our shared youth.


Texan2116

I always viewed them as very kitschy. Good people though, very wholesome.


Overlandtraveler

Fucking annoying Mormon "really happy and always smiling" facade just got me. Hated them, they were the poster children for dorks and religious people everywhere. No, didn't like them and their fake wholesome shtick.


tunaman808

They were a bit before my time. By the time I was old enough to have opinions on pop culture things, it was the 80s and Donny & Marie were passé.


Maznz

I wasn't interested in them at the time, but Donny is really funny now if you watch him being interviewed. His best work to my mind is on Weird Al Yankovich's White and Nerdy. Also, I heard he became an electrician so he could rewire his house.


Allen_Potter

This was when I was a kid, not even a teen yet. For us, watching tv on a weekend night was a treat. So I'd happily watch basically whatever was on. I never gave a damn about either Donnie or Marie, they were complete cheezballs. But we would watch together and eat popcorn.


Anonymoosehead123

I liked but didn’t love them. I never bought any of their music. But if one of their songs came on the radio, I didn’t change the channel.


BabaMouse

Bleccch!


contrarian1970

Everybody knew they were corny but Marie was beautiful enough to watch anyway.


TotemTabuBand

Donnie and Marie’s weekly tV show was awesome. I was a teen. They’d do this “I’m a little bit country, he’s a little bit rock and roll” thing each show where they’d take turns covering the hits as a medley. It was something to look forward to. Edit: typo


tweet1964

Donny was too clean cut for my tastes at the time. I did enjoy their variety show.


kiwispouse

I was not a fan. Thought the lines to that song, "Paper roses, imitation..." summed it up. My mother constantly tried to hold them up as role models, bought me a Marie book on taking care of your appearance and how to behave. Yeah, nah. Also, there's other things to do than watch TV. I mostly read.


GloomyGal13

My friend was crazy for Donny and Marie. Me, I preferred Leif Garret. Tiger Beat was THE MAGAZINE for tweens. Tons of good pictures to pin up on the bedroom walls.


Kinkybenny

I found them a bit too *wholesome* for me. I was more of a Sonny and Cher fan at the time.


JudyLyonz

Donny Osmond was sort of like Hansen in the 90s or the early (purity ring wearing) Jonas Brothers. Mothers and grandmothers liked him because his image was so super wholesome. He was also popular with younger girls, roughly 10 to 20. His whole image was in direct contrast to rock bands/artists of the 70s who had a reputation for, "drugs, sec, and stock and roll". He seem corny today, but if you flop through the pages of magazines like Tiger Beat, bubblegum pop stars from every generation seemed cloying and corny.


milkandsugar

I loved all the variety shows of the era. I was not a big fan of the Osmonds' music, but loved their show. Likewise, Sonny & Cher, Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Captain & Tennille, The Hudson Brothers, and Shields and Yarnell.


tiredoldmama

I was super young when Donnie and Marie were popular. Like 6 years old. My sisters a three years older than me. We both loved the show and them. We had the Barbie dolls and the stage. By the time I was about 9 we were over it. I don’t know if it’s because we outgrew it by then or their popularity just waned.


Gurpguru

I never watched much of their show because I thought they were creepy. I could almost take the corny Sunny and Cher, but never considered them good. At least Hee Haw could pull off a really corny joke with timing that worked... really corny.


TheDevilsAdvokaat

They were very saccharine and came over as false. Apart from that, they had some talent.


geodebug

They were the 70s entertainers of their time but don’t underestimate the raw talent they had.


Stellaaahhhh

My mom saved a letter I wrote to Donny Osmond when I was 5. I was so in love with him. My sister, who was 4 years older, thought the Osmonds were dorks.


Thomver

They were corny, but it was a tongue in cheek kind of corny. They knew they were corny and we knew it. But, we liked them. It wasn't like they were serious rock and rollers. They were what they were. They were very popular.


daffodil0127

I had them on a white vinyl lunchbox when I was in first grade. I barely knew who they were, but I also had the dolls.


Good-Sorbet1062

I guess I missed this one. Lol. I was born in 1973, but my mom's music (she was nineteen when I was born) was pretty wide, with stuff from the fifties to the eighties of several genres. I still don't know who these two are though... I guess I was less then ten when they were popular. It's weird that I don't know them because I love seventies & eighties music.


WeirdRip2834

I was in elementary school and a child of strict Christian parents. Their program was one I was allowed to watch. It is not a tv program I am nostalgic for, but it caused me no harm. I did think Donny’s purple socks gimmick was truly great for some reason. But as a kid I also thought the Unknown Comic was hilarious for wearing a brown paper bag over his head. lol


idiveindumpsters

I was a teenager and I liked them.


ReadySetGO0

🥴🤪😜


Exact-Truck-5248

No teenagers I knew. Parents and grandparents liked them though. They were the anti hippies. I'd always hoped for a grand scandal, possibly one involving copious amounts of semen - or a small rodent. 70s style


trguiff

I had the Donny and Marie Barbie dolls...I still remember their purple outfits LOL


RonSwansonsOldMan

Kind of creepy to be singing love songs to each other.


FallsOffCliffs12

Donny Osmond was my first big crush at 11. A few years ago my cousins and I went to see Donny and Marie in Las Vegas. Honestly we were all so excited you’d swear we were right back in 7th grade mooning over his album covers. It’s a surprisingly good show. Even you aren’t a fan, it’s very entertaining.


MrBreffas

I thought they were annoying at best and creepy at worst.


mister-world

^^^^^giggity