Saturday, September 4 at 10 p.m.

The stars of the 70s, including BJ Thomas, Three Dog Night, Debby Boone, and Gloria Gaynor, perform their hits in a new PBS special hosted by Marvin Hamlisch.

Marvin Hamlisch hosts MARVIN HAMLISCH PRESENTS: THE ‘70S, THE WAY WE WERE, a television special featuring performers re-creating their big hits from the 1970s. The special stars BJ Thomas, Three Dog Night, Debby Boone, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., Ray Stevens, Freda Payne, Guy and Ralna, Bobby Goldsboro, Billy Joe Royal, Peaches and Herb, Jonathan Edwards, Gloria Gaynor, and composer and conductor Hamlisch himself.

Hamlisch looks back on the 1970s with nostalgia. "The country breathed a sigh of relief when the 1970s began," he says in the special. "The new decade brought us peace, confidence, and a feeling of national pride in our accomplishments. We celebrated our heroes, and sad memories of the previous decade melted away in the dawn of a great new future. We had reached the stars we were aiming for and it’s a goal worth remembering today!" he added.

Featured performers and songs include:

• Marvin Hamlisch, "The Way We Were" (1973); "Nobody Does It Better" (1977)
• BJ Thomas, "Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head" (1970); "(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (1975)
• Debby Boone, "You Light Up My Life" (1977); and, in a special tribute to the Carpenters, "Close to You" (1970)
• Three Dog Night, "Joy to the World" (1971); "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1971)
• Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., "You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)" (1976)
• Freda Payne, "Band of Gold" (1970)
• Billy Joe Royal, "Cherry Hill Park" (1970); "Under the Boardwalk" (1978)
• Bobby Goldsboro, "Watching Scotty Grow" (1971)
• Guy and Ralna, "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song" (1971)
• Ray Stevens, "Everything Is Beautiful" (1970)
• Group number, "Misty" (1975)
• Peaches and Herb, "Reunited" (1979); "Shake Your Groove Thing" (1978)
• Jonathan Edwards, "Sunshine" (1971)
• Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive"

This special was taped March 17, 2010, at the Bezemes Family Theater at Lindenwood University’s J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts in St. Charles, Missouri.

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