The Ed Sullivan Show
23rd Season Premiere: Barbra Streisand / The Temptations
TV Flash files “23rd Season Premiere: Barbra Streisand / The Temptations” as the first listed hour of season 23 — The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971) on CBS, season 23, episode 1, aired 1969-09-28, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S23E01: listed hour 630 of 690 in the The Ed Sullivan Show guide, first listed hour of season 23. It aired 1969-09-28 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Sam & Dave / Roslyn Kind / Jackie Mason” (S22E40). Next is “Gladys Knight & the Pips / Clint Eastwood (on film)” (S23E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does 23rd Season Premiere: Barbra Streisand / The Temptations sit in the The Ed Sullivan Show guide?
S23E01 is listed hour 630 of 690 — first listed hour of season 23, season 23 episode 1.
When did The Ed Sullivan Show S23E01 air?
23rd Season Premiere: Barbra Streisand / The Temptations aired 1969-09-28 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
If you want heat, start with Elvis’s first 1956 booking, then the Beatles on February 9, 1964. If you want the machine itself, glance at the 1948 opener, then jump to the crime scenes.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Sunday as a rope line: Sullivan’s clipboard decided who got to be loud in the living room. Watch the bookings as foreign policy — Elvis cropped, Beatles admitted, lyrics policed — and the feuds that still read like a publicist calling a freeze-out a scheduling conflict.
Flash: it is Sunday, the set is a Sunday best, and a man who looks like your accountant is about to decide whether America gets to scream. The Ed Sullivan Show was not a variety hour. It was a rope line with a full orchestra. Booking was foreign policy. One slot could mint a legend; one freeze-out could send a comic back to the Catskills with a publicist already calling it a misunderstanding. The museum wants a civic story about shared culture. I want the clipboard. Who got the eight o’clock heat. Who got the…
Filed against
- Ed Sullivan as Host
Ed Sullivan ruled Sunday night variety as the stone-faced kingmaker who put the Beatles — and every comic who needed a break — in American living rooms. Booking wars and censorship dust-ups made him hero or villain depending on the week.…
- Ray Bloch as Orchestra leader
Ray Bloch led the orchestra on The Ed Sullivan Show — Sunday as a rope line with strings, a bandleader under twenty-three years of living-room gatekeeping. Booking was foreign policy; the downbeat was Bloch’s. TV Flash still hears the…
- Ralph Paul as Announcer
Ralph Paul announced The Ed Sullivan Show — the Sunday-night voice that told a nation who was about to be loud. Booking was foreign policy; the clipboard was Ed’s. Paul was the rope line’s spoken architecture. TV Flash still hears the…
Also in season 23
- S23E02 Gladys Knight & the Pips / Clint Eastwood (on film)
- S23E03 Lee Marvin / Woody Allen / Oliver / Shirley Bassey
- S23E04 Smith / Cyd Charisse / Joan Rivers / Lana Cantrell
- S23E05 Santana / Liza Minnelli / Henry Mancini
- S23E06 The Band / Petula Clark / Pearl Bailey / Buck Owens
- S23E07 The Association / Nancy Wilson / Jack Jones