Four decades are covered, and the story begins, of course, with the marriage of the Osmond parents, who raised nine children in Salt Lake City's Mormon community. It was on a family trip to Yellowstone that the boys discovered their distinctive harmony and decided to form a quartet. Their parents opted not to pressure the boys into using their talents but allowed the group to make its own decisions--they decided to be entertainers. The program provides a well-written history of the group's rise from Disneyland Barbershop Quartet to their seven-year run on The Andy Williams Show in the mid-1960's, and through the pop chart successes that provided a launch pad for the solo careers of both Donny and Marie.

It's probably obvious that there's a happy ending to the program, which is filled with interviews featuring every member of the joyful clan and provides a fairly broad overview of this show business force. There's also plenty of clips from The Donny and Marie Show (both the 1970s and 1990s versions), which allow us to revel in this nostalgia along with the family that created it. --Zach Lively