Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

*Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous*
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Genre	Reality
Created by	Alfred M. "Al" Masini
Presented by	Robin Leach; Shari Belafonte (1994-1995)
Theme music composer	Bill Conti
Composers	John Valentino; Christopher Neal Nelson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Robin Leach
Running time	originally 60 mins. (approx); later 30 mins. (approx)
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	March 31, 1984 –; September 2, 1995

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is a television series that aired in syndication from 1984 to 1995. The show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes and business moguls.

It was hosted by Robin Leach for the majority of its run. When Leach was joined by Shari Belafonte in 1994, the show was renamed Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte. Leach ended each episode with a wish for his viewers that became his signature phrase, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams."

Synopsis

Lifestyles was one of the first shows to capitalize specifically on Americans' interest in the lives of the wealthy. Later shows such as MTV's Cribs and VH1's The Fabulous Life Of... continued this trend. The show was largely intended to be an insight into the opulent residences and the glamorous lifestyles of those it profiled. However, many of the geographic areas it covered were ideal destinations for vacations, and in his on-camera appearances, Leach indirectly made references to resorts and tourist attractions. David Perry, who was the voice-over narrator for most of the segments during the bulk of the show's run and could be heard whenever Leach did not appear on camera, made more direct references to such resorts and such tourist attractions during his tenure as the show's voice-over narrator.

Lifestyles was created by Alfred M. "Al" Masini, who had also created Solid Gold, Entertainment Tonight, and Star Search; all of these were part of his "Operation Prime Time" project, which he later re-named Television Program Enterprises.

Parodies

An episode of the second season of Garfield and Friends titled "Lifestyles of the Fat and Furry" had Garfield winning the lottery and being featured on the titular program. At the end, though, Garfield loses his fortune because he was underage (he was 11 years old at the time the episode aired), and the winnings are given to a Robin Leach look-alike, whose voice was provided by the real Leach himself, who is thrilled that he can now "stop hosting this stupid program and talking in this stupid voice!"
In several episodes of Saturday Night Live, the "Lifestyles" program would be spoofed, a few times by Harry Shearer as Leach in "Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich and Famous," and another, more exaggerated parody of Leach a few years later, performed by Dana Carvey, where his Leach character would exclaim, "I'm yelling and I don't know why!"
Sergio Aragones often parodied the show in his cartoon drawings, namely in MAD Magazine. (Other MAD artists and writers targeted Leach and the show as well.) But Aragones, like Antonio Prohías, managed to do so without words. One such Aragones cartoon showed a live taping of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" suddenly interrupted by a homeless woman and children requesting food and clothing, much to the surprise of the shocked cameramen.
Cryptic Slaughter's song "Deathstyles of the Poor & Lowly," from the 1990 album Speak Your Peace, criticized the show and included a mocking imitation of Robin Leach.
Rapper Big L titled his 1995 debut album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous.
Rapper Ice-T included a song called "Lifestyles Of the Rich and Infamous" on his 1991 album O.G. Original Gangster.
The Genie, voiced by Robin Williams, featured a parody of the show in the beginning of Aladdin and the King of Thieves, calling it "Lifestyles of the Rich and Magical."
This line is included in the song "Piece Of Me," recorded by Britney Spears, where she sings "I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" in the chorus.
Rap group Lost Boyz had the hit "Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless."
The cartoon Muppet Babies parodized the show as "Lifestyles of the Pink and Famous," in the episode This Little Piggy Went to Hollywood.
The TV series Dinosaurs parodized the show as "Lifestyles of Those We Envy."
The cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog had an show-in-episode entitled "Lifestyles of the Sick and Twisted."
An episode of the cartoon Tiny Toon Adventures featured Babs and Buster Bunny as presenters of a show called "Lifestyles of the Rich and Rotten." They were supposed to interview Montana Max, but he had snubbed them, so they mainly used the show as a way to torment him.

External links