Dance shows of the '70s and '80s

For other uses, see Dance Fever (disambiguation).

1979 American TV series or program

Dance Fever is an American musical variety television series that aired weekly in syndication from January 1979 to September 1987.

Deney Terrio hosted the series until September 1985, when he was replaced by Adrian Zmed.

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Inception

The series was technically created by Merv Griffin, but his agent Murray Schwartz actually conceived the idea of a pilot which piggybacked on a special Merv Griffin Show salute to the movie Thank God It's Friday, which would feature top disco dancers from eight cities competing for a title.

Casablanca Records had already paid for the set, so a pilot could be produced at a significant reduction. Merv's vision was to have frequent Griffin guest Deney Terrio as the host, and to have celebrities dancing with professional disco dancers.

(In a sense, it was very similar to Dancing with the Stars.) But pilot show producer Ernest Chambers had no success convincing the stars who were approached to consent to the format. They were afraid the

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dance fever tv show cast