Star Search Spokesmodels: Do You Have a Favorite?

[a435843]

Over the last 2-3 years, a number of YouTube posters have scoured the tape archives and posted around one hundred and change clips from this lost, but classic look at the best models from the 80's and early 90's. This represents about one-third of all of the clips ever made, so nowhere near comprehensive, but better than what was put online 5 years ago. And of course, some of the tapes were in awful shape, but it's fortunate that any of these exist, although there was a very brief rerun on cable in the late 90's.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, there was a talent show on US TV, called Star Search. It was formatted like a reality show, but while it was hosted by Ed McMahon, it was taken more seriously than reality talent shows nowadays, and more seriously than the old school ones that depended on audience applause for the winner (though that was used as a tiebreaker off air, while the participants were offstage). It was more of an agent open talent call, and treated with the seriousness of such an important audition. The annual winners, while not guaranteed a contract, did receive $100,000, really good by 80's standards.

Two competitors in each category competed every week, a returning champion and a challenger. Four agents judged on a 1-4 star basis, best average winning and returning the next week. Most wins in a given half of the season advanced to a semifinal, and two winners from those advance to the grand championship, held in May.

Now there were various categories, male vocalist, female vocalist...blah blah, who cares. There was one f'ing reason, and one reason only to watch this damn show, the female spokesmodel category. About 10 minutes after (the champion) and 35 minutes after (the challenger) the show began, one of the models came out, to the infamous criteria for judging: "Our models are judged on beauty, poise, and the ability to speak effectively." WTF?! Needless to say, I didn't hear a damn word that any of them ever said.

Anyway, after a perfunctory interview, there was a modeling "photo session", where they usually wore a dress, something casual, and a swimsuit. The clips were structured so as to not give one model an advantage, by using the same set, same poses, and very similar costumes. Then she modeled another dress live, briefly, then spent the next 20 minutes of the show, bumping the show into commercials, such as "Coming up next, the junior vocalists, so stay tuned.", etc.

That being said, the quality of the models featured were top models from commercials and magazines. Truly, some of the most beautiful women of the era appeared on this show. A number of the more popular Playboy Playmates did a turn on the show after their bunny days. One stands out for me, Debbie Massey. So, check out a number of the clips, for nostalgia purposes, of course , or do you just remember...do you have a favorite?

Debbie Massey's only appearance (I can't believe she lost ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5TrO6PurNM

Most of the videos are spread out among a number of posters, including:


https://www.youtube.com/user/digitalcurrents/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/BSMuse/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/smithj102/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/wonyongsung100/videos

[Jim T]

Originally Posted by a435843

the quality of the models featured were top models from commercials and magazines. Truly, some of the most beautiful women of the era appeared on this show. A number of the more popular Playboy Playmates did a turn on the show after their bunny days. One stands out for me, Debbie Massey. So, check out a number of the clips, for nostalgia purposes, of course , or do you just remember...do you have a favorite?

Fortunately, the lovely DEBI Massey subsequently landed the role of co-host on the "Trump Card" game show.

Yup, in the era before "Victoria's Secret" came up with the concept of hiring supermodels to promote its product, and designating the top echelon ones as "Angels" for public promotions, "Star Search" assembled the premiere selection of eye candy -- on a weekly basis (whereas the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue came out only once a year, and didn't come up with the idea of releasing a "Making of" VHS videotape till around the late-1980s).
The modelling sessions were classy yet sensuous for primetime network TV -- maybe Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines should've also produced videotape of their modelling sessions.

I thought that the "TV Spokesmodel" category sort of ran against the "Star Search" concept of "discovering an unknown" -- since most of the contestants were already successful models (e.g., swimsuit catalog and even some fashion magazine cover models). But of course, I was glad that the invented "TV Spokesmodel" category was included! In addition to former Playboy Playmates, a number of contestants were future Miss USA contestants (as I recall, future Miss USA 1989 Gretchen Polhemus did not even make the semi-finals, the competition in this category being so difficult!).

My favorites included:
Lori Dickerson (Miss California 1987, ahead of Star Search grand champion Therese Kablan)
Heather Medway (became "Detective Westlake" on the "Viper" series)
Tiffany Tenfelde (Miss Kentucky)
Debbie James ("976-Evil II")
Rowanne Brewer (swimsuit model)
Lisa Parker (lingerie catalog model)
Bobbie Brown ("Cherry Pie" by Warrant music video)

[a435843]

Originally Posted by Jim T

Fortunately, the lovely DEBI Massey subsequently landed the role of co-host on the "Trump Card" game show.

Yup, in the era before "Victoria's Secret" came up with the concept of hiring supermodels to promote its product, and designating the top echelon ones as "Angels" for public promotions, "Star Search" assembled the premiere selection of eye candy -- on a weekly basis (whereas the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue came out only once a year, and didn't come up with the idea of releasing a "Making of" VHS videotape till around the late-1980s).
The modelling sessions were classy yet sensuous for primetime network TV -- maybe Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines should've also produced videotape of their modelling sessions.

I thought that the "TV Spokesmodel" category sort of ran against the "Star Search" concept of "discovering an unknown" -- since most of the contestants were already successful models (e.g., swimsuit catalog and even some fashion magazine cover models). But of course, I was glad that the invented "TV Spokesmodel" category was included! In addition to former Playboy Playmates, a number of contestants were future Miss USA contestants (as I recall, future Miss USA 1989 Gretchen Polhemus did not even make the semi-finals, the competition in this category being so difficult!).

My favorites included:
Lori Dickerson (Miss California 1987, ahead of Star Search grand champion Therese Kablan)
Heather Medway (became "Detective Westlake" on the "Viper" series)
Tiffany Tenfelde (Miss Kentucky)
Debbie James ("976-Evil II")
Rowanne Brewer (swimsuit model)
Lisa Parker (lingerie catalog model)
Bobbie Brown ("Cherry Pie" by Warrant music video)

I had forgotten Trump Card, interesting given current events, but I just really never watched that show (weird, former-jock as MC). But at least, I'm not the only one who remembers this show (bump).

Anyway, the competition results were very strange upon further reflection. There was a significant momentum for champions to go on very long winning streaks of sometimes months at a time. This was also true for the other categories on this show. It was as though the contestants got good at being on Star Search, not necessarily being the better performers week in and week out.

In the spokesmodel case, It seemed as though the "photo sessions" were never actually shown to the audience and that the judges only saw them well before the taping, likely forgetting what they saw. After the introduction of the model live, there was just this screen effect, as though the clip was being projected, but it looked like a fake chyron effect, to give the illusion that the audience and judges were viewing the clips live. So, I suspect that 95% of the judging (and all of the audience tie-breaking) was based on what was performed live, the 5-second walk down the catwalk, and the commercial bumpers. The champion can get comfortable with that fast, leaving the challenger with a deer-in-the-headlights look, doing that stuff cold for the first time, making for a lot of awkward moments, as shown in some of those YouTube videos. The net effect was that it didn't matter who the best model was, but who had the practice at the skills needed for their 30 seconds of live show time.

And you'll get complete agreement from me about not only the classiness, but the sensuality; you would have had to have a subscription to the early Playboy channel to find modeling footage that was more beautiful, more flattering, and more titillating than those clips.

It was interesting that this was the only real showcase for the top models of the time, and was definitely separate from the rest of the concept of the show, as though they really needed something "edgy" to lessen the boring repetition. And given the long, illustrious list of first-appearance losers, the quality of competition was extremely high, but it also revealed the peculiarities and weaknesses of the structure of the competition.

BTW, there were a very few Playboy specials on ABC in the late 70's, which of course, were very limited in scope, shall I say. But if you take what the PB specials had, what Star Search had, take that away from a competition format, and move it to an entertainment format, you could have had one hell of a late night show; add some live music, or concert footage, some smart, sexy hosts, and some interesting conversation, you would have had a real hit among male viewers, during the middle of the late-night wars of the era. Of course, Hefner tried that in the 60's, but he can't MC.

That reminds me of a very obscure show, called After Hours, broadcast syndicated in '89, mostly shown after Nightline on ABC affiliates, with Heidi Bohay, and someone else that even IMDB doesn't know. The show tried to get into the model and glamour scene of the time. Unfortunately, the execution was manic and ill-advised, and wandered into Entertainment Tonight-territory. It was sort of a broadcast-able Sexcetera-type show, but with a lot of celebrity gossip. Strangely, they actually included 5-minute clips (non-nude, of course) from Playboy Channel's Playmate Profiles, well before the entertainment news and tabloid shows started plugging Playboy magazine content, as they frequently did in the early to mid-90's. Those After Hours clips would be a holy-grail-type find for VEF. Even stranger, shows like Hard Copy interviewed people like Candida Royale & Ona Zee about their porn productions...it was a weird era.