American Bandstand
Eric Carmen
TV Flash files “Eric Carmen” as hour 2775 of 2821 in the TV Flash guide — American Bandstand (1952–1989) on WFIL-TV/ABC, season 31, episode 17, aired 1988-01-09, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S31E17: listed hour 2775 of 2821 in the American Bandstand guide, hour 17 of 35 in season 31. It aired 1988-01-09 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Other Ones / Jellybean” (S31E16). Next is “Laura Branigan” (S31E18). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Eric Carmen sit in the American Bandstand guide?
S31E17 is listed hour 2775 of 2821 — hour 17 of 35 in season 31, season 31 episode 17.
When did American Bandstand S31E17 air?
Eric Carmen aired 1988-01-09 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Clark's national ABC years: rate-a-record, the dance floor, a guest act paying court. The after-school machine is the point, not a plot.
In the series
Why this series still plays
American Bandstand is Dick Clark's after-school dance floor: kids rating records, stars paying court, payola-era survival skills. Watch it now as the machine that nationalized teen music culture — a Philadelphia floor that taught labels TV could sell singles overnight, and made the host a perpetual industry power broker.
Distribution first: local WFIL-TV Philadelphia, then national ABC from 1957. Dick Clark's after-school floor. **2,821 episodes, 33 seasons**, 1952–1989 in the long count. Kids on camera rating records, artists paying court (often lip-synced), Rate-a-record as participatory UI, dance crazes as the weekly SKU. That is not a sock hop. That is a distribution channel disguised as a dance floor. Rex can hymn the jukebox. The metric is overnight singles.
Filed against
- Dick Clark as Host
Dick Clark made American Bandstand an after-school dance floor with national reach — kids rating records, stars paying court, payola-era survival skills, a Philadelphia machine that taught labels television could sell singles overnight.…