Musical Variety TV Series Dance Fever Premieres, Brings Disco to the Masses (1979)

American musical variety television series Dance Fever aired weekly in syndication from January 1979 until September 1987. The concept for Dance Fever was created by Merv Griffin and his agent Murray Schwartz as a special Merv Griffin Show salute to then-newly released film 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 inexpensively. Griffin’s vision was to have frequent Merv Griffin Show celebrity guest Deney Terrio as the host, and to have celebrities dancing with professional disco dancers. On the Sunday prior to the show, director Dick Carson suggested that, since they already had the dancers for the Thank God It’s Friday salute, they should select the top four couples from that show and have them compete on the Dance Fever pilot episode with celebrity judges. Within a couple days, Sherman Hemsley, Barbi Benton and Herve Villechaize were secured as the first series judges.