A New Variety Star Is Here - and Just -in Time

I don't have a "man crush" on Justin Timberlake or anything, but I think someone needs to see him as more than a swoon-inducing pop star. This guy needs a TV series, or a series of TV specials, where he can show off his range, have a blast singing and joking around - and just maybe, in the process, revive the once-powerful genre known as the prime-time variety show.

If you saw Timberlake performing at the Grammys on Sunday, you saw evidence of his range. At an upright piano, he led a soulful rendition of what he called his best composition yet, "What Goes Around ... Comes Around." Later, welcoming to the stage the winner of a contest (19-year-old Robyn Troup), he played acoustic guitar, sang, danced, flirted, rapped, smiled and charmed.

But that's only part of it. Watch this weekend's rerun of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" (11:30 p.m.), and you'll see Timberlake in full throttle - not only as a stellar musical guest, but as a comedian.

It's the episode from December that launched the infamous "... in a Box" music video, with Timberlake and "SNL's" Andy Samberg singing about a novel inexpensive Christmas gift. It became a viral video, and was streamed unedited on NBC's Web site.

Also on that "SNL" episode was an appearance by former "SNL" star Jimmy Fallon, returning just to reprise his "Barry Gibb Talk Show" skit with Timberlake. It was first performed, with Timberlake as shy brother Robin, when Timberlake first did double duty on "SNL" in 2003. Each time, Timberlake was so good at sketches that his episodes turned out to be the best of their "SNL" seasons.

Timberlake has been in the spotlight a long time, from his "Mickey Mouse Club" years to his boy-band 'N Sync days. He's even weathered the most infamous pop-culture event in recent history: the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, which he ended by causing Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction seen 'round the world.

He's the type of multifaceted, immensely popular talent who can bring TV precisely what it wants most: lots of young viewers. But he could do it in a format only older viewers might remember: the old-fashioned sketch-and-songs variety show, once the domain of the likes of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sonny and Cher.

Timberlake is a better comic than any of them, and an excellent singer. Among modern performers, perhaps only Beyoncé has hinted at similarly strong capabilities as a singer, dancer, actor and comic. But Timberlake has the résumé locked, and may even have the inclination.

Give the guy a series of specials for a year, one per sweeps month, and let him loose. Regis Philbin brought back the game show. "American Idol" brought back the talent show.

Maybe Timberlake's gift, in a box, is to bring back the variety show.-ny daily news