Streisand / Television

TV specials are rarely as innovative and charming as the work Barbra Streisand did on CBS-TV in the sixties and seventies. 

Back in 1964, Barbra signed an exclusive contract with CBS. Mike Dann (Vice President in charge of television programming at the time) told the press: “We'll take a year, maybe two years just to develop a show, a format, a way in which to capture this talent, to fit it within the confines of a television screen.”

Streisand's contract with CBS produced five specials for the network. “I had such a great team when I was making (them),” she said,  ”especially the first two: (music arranger) Peter Matz and (choreographer) Joe Layton and (director) Dwight Hemion and (monologue writer) Robert Emmett. It was so fun. This was very exciting at this period of time, I remember, because they didn’t have one-woman shows, one-man shows in television. They were all guest stars with a host.”

But Streisand's television work was not constrained to CBS only. She may not have felt comfortable playing host to special guests on her solo shows, but she was an interesting, provocative and spontaneous guest on other people's shows throughout the years. Streisand has provided decades worth of interesting talk on many prestigious chat shows. 

Streisand has been lauded with many awards over the years (she's an E.G.O.T. — winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and, fortunately, there are videos of most of these ceremonies as they were broadcast on television.

In the ‘80s, ‘90s, and later, Streisand's television specials enabled her fans to see her on the concert stage, especially if they couldn't make it to the actual concerts.  HBO promoted her 1994 concert special with the following tag line: “For those who couldn't be there ...”

Barbra Streisand has won several Emmy Awards for her work on the small screen and both she and her creative associates have been nominated in many categories over the years.

Fans will see that television appearances give way to streaming and live feeds as we get into the 2020s.  They're all covered here.