The Party Machine with Nia Peeples

Shortly after Arsenio had been crowned the new king of talk, his production company expanded- offering a new show to follow his talk show, that would appeal to the same street-wise youth and young-adult hipsters that were making him a star.

Unfortunately, they came up with a virtual clone of Dance MTV (title correct?) hosted by "Downtown" Julie Brown- this time hosted by the younger, less threatening Nia Peeples. In the show, Nia would introduce a star who would lip-sync/perform a song or two to the dancing crowd, and the remainder of the show would be filled out with people dancing to the latest dance club/hip-hop treats.

Being on broadcast rather than MTV, though, the music played was tamer, the dances shown nicer, and the people allowed on more clean-cut. This wasn't what people wanted, and a short time thereafter, the show was cancelled. Nia, who had had a lackluster recording career, was now on her way to having a lackluster TV career.

(As an aside, many people who remember Arsenio's show don't know about this one. Some of my friends thought I was making this show up until they saw a SNL rerun parodying Arsenio Hall... after the parody "Carsenio", a short parody called "Party Machine with Ed McMahon" came on. The scary thing is, that show would probably have worked as good as the real thing.)

I remember "The Party Machine" used to air right after the "Arsenio Hall Show", nightly at around 12:30am. It was a dance show like "Soul Train", and "American Bandstand". The difference was that it showcased not only new R&B music, but Club music as well. It was offerings from the US, and from the U.K. One episode that really stands out with me was when Jasmine Guy performed "Another Like My Lover". She really threw down! I really liked this show because it offered a variety of music, had a nice multi-cultural mix of dancers, and most of all was hosted by the one and only Nia Peeples. I really liked her music then and still do. She also gave the show a nice feel, energy and was an excellent host. I remember the studio had a lot of catwalks plus a main dance floor which was filled with dancers and their early '90s fashions. I remember the opening credits featured Nia Peeples dancing on the catwalks. The only downside of this show was that some of the music featured was not available to buy on CD or LP in the main music stores. This was due to the show being taped in the summer. By the time the show aired, most of the Club music was discontinued. One song that I remember was "Fascinating Rhythm" by BA $$-O-MATIC. It was only available on vinyl for a short time, but I was lucky and found the song at a local DJ record store here in Toronto. In conclusion, even though this show only lasted half a season, it was memorable and will never be forgotten!

I will admit the show wasn't that bad, but the show was at it's best when Nia Peeples left the show at the end of it's run and they brought in a new host, the Bruce Lindsay Party Machine. They then changed the name of the show to "The Bruce Lindsay Party Machine"

If you don't know Bruce Lindsay, he was an international Dance Machine. I think he was brought in to sell to overseas markets since he was so well known there. Bruce would always talk about how he would rave until dawn, he was ahead of his time, who raved back then, much less talked about it. The best part of the show was when he would dance with his dancers, "The Solid Pueter" dancers. My favorite solid pueter dancer was Chi-Chi. I still have dreams about her.

My personal favorite episode was when he used his trusting dance engines (that's what he called his hips) and a woman passed out on the dance floor cause she was out of control.

Overall, the show was ok with Nia, but the show was incredible when the Bruce Lindsay Party Machine took over. Years later I met the Bruce Lindsay Party Machine at a rave in London. He was perhaps one of the best dancers I have ever seen, plus a good guy to boot. The Solid Pueter dancers, including Chi-Chi, were still with him.

Long Live the "Bruce Lindsay Party Machine"

Rave on!!!!!!

I must respectfully disagree with the previous reviewer. This show was like having a 30-minute party on your TV every night. The host was perfect, the guests had things to do, and the dancing was good. MTV had several similar shows but it was always obvious that they were trying painfully too hard to convince you that they were having a good time. On this show, the fun came naturally.

Nia Peeples may not have done that well with her dance club hit "Trouble," but this show was slick. Lots of stedicam/hand-held camera around, above and under the dancers, some of whom were wearing very little in the way of nightclub attire. The extras were well chosen as were the acts. LL Cool J performed his newest hits and as with other performers, then showed up backstage for an admittedly soft-ball interview with Nia. Very well produced and fun. Great 80s-90s dance jams! Too bad it didn't last on network. Better than Soul Train, Dance Fever, Club MTV or American Bandstand for hip-ness and freshness of talent...AND, you could dance to it, Kasey!