Universal Studios, August 1973
The President office at Universal, Charles Fries and Robert Rhyme were poring over a report when Sidney Sheinberg walked in.
Charles Fries took the report and handed to sidney.
"Well, looks like the Partridge Family gig did its job," Sidney said, patting the stack of sales reports.
"That guest appearance sent Hope climbing again. Sales are back on fire about 5 million copies sold as of this week."
Sidney leaned back, folding his arms and said, "Jaws, It's time to greenlight this project, Steven is getting impatient."
Charles grabbing his coffee, "Jaws, huh? You're really going for it?"
Sidney shrugged and said, "The budget for jaws is Nine million dollars with revised terms I can bring our production budget down to Five million, These kids basically earned us the production budget without us taking any risk."
Robert chuckled, "The studio's in a strong spot, Little risk on a shark movie, Why not?."
Charles smiling, "Five million sales is certainly not the end, I just got a call before coming to meeting, Johnny Carson wants those kids on his show."
Robert looked up, surprised. "Johnny Carson? He wants them on The Tonight Show?"
Charles grinned, "Yeah, apparently, his producers think the kids are interesting enough to bring on. They want all of them to perform live."
Sidney chuckled, "Smart, Those kids have not performed a live or did promotional tour, Their fame, live performance and interview, Ratings would be a guarantee."
Charles smirked, flipping through the papers. "Good luck wrangling those five."
Sidney shrugged. "We'll see how they handle Carson."
Light & Magic club Hideout
The five of them plopped down onto the couches exhausted.
Sarah groaned, pulling her hat down low. "If I see one more camera shoved in my face, I swear…"
"Yeah!" Tommy agreed, "I'm just trying to get a burger in peace, and suddenly some guy's snapping ten pictures of me like I'm doing something special."
Liam exasperated, "I tried going for a walk the other day, just to clear my head, you know? And the next thing I know, there's this whole group following me, asking questions."
Sarah rolled her eyes, still fuming. "Oh, and don't get me started on the questions! Someone asked me yesterday if I brush my hair in some special way. What am I supposed to say to that?"
Rita leaning back on the couch. "Can't we just get some sort of disguise? Like, hats and glasses or something?"
Liam snorted. "Oh yeah, because no one would ever recognize five kids sneaking around with hats, sunglasses, and hoodies."
Max shrugged. "I mean, we could try it. It might work, if we act normal."
Sarah gave him a playful shove. "Define normal, Max. We're barely even normal when we're not famous."
Tommy suggested, "Let's give it a try, Fast trip to a mall with a disguise, grab some snacks and see if it works."
A afternoon off took them to the mall. The plan was simple: grab some snacks, check out the shopping list, and go unnoticed.
Everthing was going fine till they got to the noticed by bunch of teenagers
"Oh my god, it's them!"
Max turned, eyes wide. "Well, so much for a low-key day."
They tried to dodge through the crowd, but someone shouted, "It's the Little Monsters!" and a group of teenagers came running their way.
Tommy leaned over to Liam as they speed walked through the mall. "What are we doing? Are we hiding from fans? How's this our life now?"
Liam laughed. "I don't know, man. It's a wild ride!
Rita glanced around and spotted the entrance to a toy store. "Quick, in here! They'll never us to be hiding behind the toys."
They ducked inside, hiding behind a stack of board games, each of them stifling laughter.
Sarah looked around and shook her head. "We're literally hiding from fans in a toy store. If anyone asks, this is our 'creative process.'"
Back at the hideout
The five of them lounged around their usual spot in the hideout, sprawled out on the couches and bean bags, The trip to mall was exhuasting. No one had the energy.
Everyone looked at each other until the phone rang. "I'll get it," Liam said, grabbing it. "Hello?"
Sidney's voice on the other end. "Liam! I've got some news for you and your bandmates. You're got an invitation to be on The Tonight Show."
"Uh, The Tonight Show? Like with Johnny Carson?"
"Exactly," Sidney said. "They're want to do a whole segment with you. They want you to perform live and a interview later, Ask your parents and call me by tomorrow."
Liam gave his friends a thumbs-up, "No need to wait till tomorrow, we will convice our parents, We're in, Sidney. Just tell us when and where."
Sidney insisted. "Okay, but still confirm it with your parents and call me later."
Sidney continued. "Also come to universal day after tomorrow, we need to discuss jaws, It's a green lit for the project from our side, plus we need to discuss and revise some terms for the movie production and your payment for the record."
The phone had just clicked off, and Liam stared at it, still processing what Sidney had told him. The others looked up at him, impatiently waiting for an explanation.
Rita tapped her fingers on the armrest, "Well? Don't leave us hanging, Liam!"
Liam turned to them, still a bit stunned. "Okay so, Sidney just said that the Tonight Show invited us to be guests on an episode. The Tonight Show."
For a second, there was total silence. Then, Tommy nearly fell off his chair. "Are you kidding me? Carson's gonna ask us stuff? Like, us? A bunch of middle schoolers?"
"Yup, that's the deal," Liam nodded, cracking a grin. "But we have to get our parents' permission. He wants us to confirm by tomorrow."
Sarah practically bounced on her seat. "No way! We could actually perform on The Tonight Show?"
Rita hugged a cushion, "We've got to get our parents to say yes! live TV? What are we gonna say?"
Tommy smirked, glancing around. "Don't look at me. If Carson asks about school or homework, I'm toast."
Liam chuckled. "Well, just don't say anything that'd get us banned from TV forever, alright?"
Max scratched his head, looking amused. "We're going to be on the same show that actual celebrities go on. Like there'll be millions watching us."
Tommy elbowed him. "Yeah, better comb that mop on your head and put on a clean shirt, huh?"
Sarah snorted, "You better be talking about yourself, Tommy. No showing up in one of your scrappy old T-shirts."
Liam shrugged, trying to play it cool, "Guys, this is a big deal. If our parents say yes, we've got to make it count."
Sarah put her hands on her hips. "I say we practice like crazy. If we're doing this, we're doing it right."
Rita shrugged, "We sure need to, I don't want us to be a laughing stock in front of millions."
Liam considered everything and said, "Guys take turn on the phone, Ask your parents first, we will discuss everything later."
"Dad, Johnny Carson wants us on The Tonight Show!" Tommy blurted out as soon as his parents picked up the phone.
"You serious? That's incredible!" his dad replied.
"Dad they asked to take permission from parents. Can I go ?" Tommy asked apprehensively.
"Sure Tom, go for it, situation is already beyond normal we expected this outcome, If possible get us the tonight show ticket."
Tommy excited."Love you Dad and hung up the phone."
Everyone took their turns to get permissions.
Rita's mother was concerned but yielded,
Max parents were over the moon.
Sarah mother is big fan of johhny carson.
Liam did not need the permission it was more of confirmation as he had already told her his future plans.
The Interview practice and rehersals for the live started next day.