Originally Posted by
carlo
Yes, Jim, the 70's Supremes initially guested on a lot of shows, but as you mentioned, they lost the company backing, hence no company-produced special. The amount of work it takes to book an act on a show like Flip Wilson is very different from the work it takes to put together an entire TV special focused on that act. I think Berry always wanted ensure that going forward, Diana Ross would always come out ahead of the new Supremes. Giving them that platform of a TV special could possibly put them ahead and distract the public from his strategic plan, which was to make Diana Ross the leading star. It would have looked bad on her if the very group that she left, would go on to consistently out-sell her. It was unfortunate, but yes, the 70's Supremes received less attention and promotion compared to Ms Ross. It was part of the natural progression of Motown's business strategy, at the end of the day. It wouldn't have been logical for things to have occurred any other way, especially with the intent of going into film-making. You spend your time training one horse, so to speak, and put them into the race. Perhaps someone at one point did suggest to Berry, "Hey, let's do a tv special on the new Supremes" and I can't imagine his response would have been anything different other than a passive one, such as, "Oh we don't have the time." I don't know if he ever wanted the 70's Supremes to fail miserably, but he definitely always wanted to ensure they stayed one step behind Diana, much like Mary and Flo, and later Cindy, when Diana was in the group.
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