Olivia

This Special came after Olivia's success with Grease. Olivia is so very natural and sweet in this. Olivia and her guests ABBA and Andy Gibb work very well together. A great addition to any fan's collection as it features songs not found on any of Olivia's albums

Olivia and ABBA had briefly met when they were both contestants in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest (ABBA came first with Waterloo, Olivia came joint fourth with the terrible Long Live Love). Despite this setback Olivia's career had since rocketed. ABBA had great success in Europe but, unlike Olivia, had yet to break America. Being Olivia's guests meant ABBA would be seen and heard by over thirty million American viewers.

"The whole things was a beautiful experience," said Benny from ABBA. "It was one of the best shows we've ever done. Olivia was a very lovely, warm person, and we all had a lot of fun doing the programme. Of course, we've done the usual quota of TV talk shows in America, but this one with Olivia was an important step for us. Besides presenting our music for large audiences of thirty to forty million viewers, we all sat down for a ten minute "rap" session which gave the whole thing more intimacy."

It was during the "rap" session that ABBA joined Olivia in singing The Beach Boys hit Barbara Anne. Frida delighted everyone when she sang some opera publicly for the first time. This informal session wasn't pre-scripted as Olivia wanted it to be natural, the friends sat around chatting, singing and joking. The result was achieved!

Olivia singing with the Southern Californian Community Choir is an unusual addition to the special but it's highly enjoyable to hear Olivia singing something so different from her usual style. Also of note Olivia and Gary Frank enacting a touching scene, to the backdrop of Olivia's Changes, as a husband and wife who've separated and have a young son.

Theme: childhood

Best line delivered to Andy Gibb - Do you have any musical brothers or sisters?

Watch out for: Olivia's two dogs on the set. Olivia's expression when the 10 year-old director tells her how to act.

This program was also available in the US on laserdisc (but not VHS), as one of the early discs pressed by the MCA Discovision plant.