TBT: This Seminal Underground TV Show is a Must-Watch

Glenn O’Brien and Fab 5 Freddy on the set of “TV Party” Photo: Courtesy of Vice

Most people under 30 know the Disney-fied NYC of Taylor Swift’s saccharine single “Welcome to New York” over Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side.” But the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in New York were a time of high crime, cheap rent, smut in Times Square, and some of the best art, music (birthplace of punk and hip-hop, anyone?), and fashion to ever emerge out of NYC. Glenn O'Brien has been a part of New York’s cultural zeitgeist for both the Lou Reed and Taylor Swift eras, and today we pay tribute to his little-seen, but highly influential TV show that chronicled the underground scene as it emerged.

O'Brien was part of the last great era of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene, and edited his Interview magazine when it was at the apex of its influence. He later became GQ’s “Style Guy” columnist, Barney’s Creative Director of advertising, and penned the screenplay for the Jean-Paul Basquiat film Downtown 81. A lesser-known credit, but a highly influential one, was O'Brien’s show TV Party, which ran on New York public access from 1978 to 1982.

Ostensibly a talk show featuring the usual segments like celebrity interviews, musical guests, and call-in segments, O’Brien’s show had a loose feel that was more like, well, a party than a TV show. Artists had round-table discussions about religion. Guests smoked joints on the air. A shy Steven Meisel gave an audience member a make-over on camera. The guest list includes a who’s who of New York’s cutting-edge downtown music and art scene, including David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Fab 5 Freddy, Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Arthur Russell. Quite simply, there wasn’t anything else on TV like it.

Blondie’s Debbie Harry and friends appear on Glenn O’Brien’s “TV Party.” Video: Courtesy of Vice TV

In a time before YouTube, public access TV was the way individuals broadcast their point of view into the world. Other cable access shows popular at the time were “The Robin Byrd Show” which featured adult film stars dancing nude and taking calls from the public, and “If I Can’t Dance You Can Keep Your Revolution” where host Coca Crystal did a “Weekly Pot Report,” where she reviewed the most popular varieties of street weed. It was a short window where artists and weirdos coalesced around cheap rent and built their own true urban bohemia, where art, liberalism, and free speech were truly unfiltered.

For those of us who were unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your stance) not living in New York during this golden time of grime and revolution, Vice has released episodes of TV Party free for your viewing pleasure. There’s even a documentary about how the show came to be, with commentary from guests like Debbie Harry, and details on the show’s production equipment.

And, in case TV Party gives you a taste for Glenn O’Brien as a TV host, fear not — He’s back. This week, Apple TV started their new fashion network M2M (Made to Measure). On it, Glenn O'Brien hosts Tea at the Beatrice, an interview segment filmed in the dining room of Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter’s restaurant, The Beatrice Inn. “It’s a more bohemian version of Charlie Rose,” O'Brien told WWD, and guests will include influential figures in art, fashion, and film like the designers behind Proenza Schouler, and artist Richard Prince. Tea at the Beatrice might be a far cry from TV Party’s opening line “The show that’s a party!” But we’re excited to see Glenn O'Brien in front of the camera again, bringing some much needed culture back to television.

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