Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan

Sunday Best is more than a music doc. It's a celebration of talent, resilience, and cultural history. It shines a light on how Ed Sullivan gave Black performers a national stage at a time when so few others did. The archival footage is incredible and the stories are deeply moving. It's beautifully done, thoughtfully edited, and full of heart. You walk away feeling both heartbroken by what these artists endured and grateful that their voices were seen and heard. The performances give you chills. The interviews and context stay with you. This film honors the past while making it feel urgent and alive. I honestly can't recommend it enough.

A 2023 Netflix documentary about the great host & entertainer, Ed Sullivan. Tracing his roots from being a sports journalist to eventually hosting his own program which went off the air in 1973, the doc argues the case, w/talking head support from the likes of Harry Belafonte, some of the Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson & Motown head Berry Gordy, that Sullivan was quite instrumental in getting talent of color on the air when other outlets wouldn't do so. Showcasing early footage from our beloved Balck performers in their heyday, we get a sense of the pressure Sullivan was under (one car manufacturer threatened to pull their support from his show if he didn't change course) but possibly knowing he was doing God's work, he pushed ahead & we're the richer for it. If the performance samplings doesn't put a spring in your step, you may have to get your pulse checked.

What a great tribute to Ed Sullivan as well as all of the Black artists. I remember watching Ed his last few years and he had a lot of guests that were singers as well as dancers, acrobats, comedians and everything else you can image. I had no idea he was such a champion for the colored artists and that he hand picked every act! It's safe to say that many of the colored artists in the 60's owe Ed their careers.

Barry Gordy Jr and Motown was especially appreciative.

I knew a little about his back ground, getting started as a sports writer and columnist and then moving up the ladder and finally getting chosen by CBS to be the host of his own show and changing the way we spent Sunday nights..

I'm too young to have experienced The Ed Sullivan Show when it aired, and like most people, when I think of Ed Sullivan, I picture the Beatles or Elvis Presley shaking up America's living rooms. But Sunday Best shines a light on another story-one I never knew about-his deliberate push to showcase Black artists at a time when TV was anything but inclusive. As someone who has worked in the entertainment industry for decades covering music and film, this was a genuine eye-opener. Through vivid interviews and archival gems, the film shows how Ed was ahead of his time-sometimes with his finger on the pulse, sometimes creating the very pulse that America would come to follow. And honestly? I didn't realize how cool Ed was. Turns out, he was OG cool.

How television's first presenter, Ed Sullivan, changed the very fabric of the USA by having Black musicians appear on his high rating show, opening doors nationwide for these artists during a time of segregation and injustice. There are great performances from James Brown, The Supremes, Jackie Wilson, plus a very young, Stevie Wonder, and even a much younger Michael Jackson with his older siblings. Every great music artist from the fifties and sixties made an impact on one of the greatest variety show. A well structured and uplifting documentary on an influential humanitarian who saw all humans as equal, and never took a step back...