I agree with Sup Fan, mostly. The first thing to remember is that this was a television special and therefore television rules. Had this been a PBS focused program, one might have expected more history, but this was NBC and the idea was to pull in ratings. Of course to diehards the show should've included folks like Brenda Holloway, Kim Weston, the Originals, etc, but that would not have done much for the average viewer. The Motown generation would've tuned in to see the big names: the Supremes, the Tempts, Tops, Martha, Mary Wells, J5, and a few others. Debarge surely would've brought in some of the younger crowd, as would the hype about MJ's performance. Of course that doesn't negate some of the obvious bad moves.

I'm not buying for a second that because Suzanne joined in 68 that she wouldn't have known to reach out to the Marvelettes. The Marvelettes were still very much with Motown in 68, while Mary Wells had been gone for years by that time, yet Suzanne had enough sense to ask her to participate. Maybe only Gladys Horton would've performed, but at least the group that gave Motown it's first Hot 100 number one would've been represented. [[As well as the Marvelettes were one of the few acts in the early days who kept Motown afloat.)

James Jamerson having to buy a ticket is disgusting. The Vandellas not being present is either the fault of DePasse or Reeves or both. Still a shame. Relegating Mary Wells, Martha Reeves and Junior Walker to snippets of one song each was just sad. Personally I would've told Suzanne and the powers that be to kiss my entire Black ass, but I do understand why they chose not to do that.

Ultimately the program turned out very well. And let's be real: Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" eclipsed everything right and wrong about that show. His performance became iconic.