The Julie Andrews Hour
Original channel
ITV (UK)
ABC (USA)
Original run
1972 – 1973
Starring
Julie Andrews
Supporting cast
Rich Little
Alice Ghostley
Garrett Lewis
The Dick Williams Singers
Choreographer
Tony Charmoli
The Julie Andrews Hour is a television variety series starring Julie Andrews that was produced by ATV and distributed by ITC Entertainment. It aired on the ABC network in the United States.
In order to secure Andrews for the series, Sir Lew Grade and ABC offered her an extremely lucrative contract. In 1963, when another major star, Judy Garland, was signed to a weekly television variety series, it failed to catch on with the public. One of the main reasons for its demise was its constant change of format and the fact that critics and audiences felt that Garland was not shown off to her best advantage. In order to avoid that error, Andrews asked producer Nick Vanoff what the premise of the show would be about. Vanoff immediately answered her by saying "Julie Andrews...without Julie Andrews there is no 'Julie Andrews Hour'".
The show premiered on ABC Wednesday, September 13, 1972 at 10:00 P.M. ET to rave reviews. Unfortunately, its time slot proved to be daunting because it was up against the popular CBS detective series, Cannon. Another reason for the low ratings was that the lateness of the hour was not conducive to family viewing since children were in bed by that time. On Thanksgiving Eve, November 22, 1972, "The Julie Andrews Hour" devoted an entire episode saluting Walt Disney. To make it more of a "family special", ABC switched the time slot of "The Julie Andrews Hour" that night to 8:30 P.M. and The ABC Wednesday Movie Of The Week to 9:30 P.M. The ratings improved a little so ABC then made a decision to alternate Andrews' time period each week (one week it would be 10:00 P.M. and the next week, it would be 8:30 P.M.) This continued until January, 1973 when the series was moved to Saturday nights at 9:00 P.M. The ratings went from bad to worse as Andrews' chief competition was The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show (both highly rated series) on CBS. (Ironically, Moore had been Andrews' co-star in the 1967 hit film, Thoroughly Modern Millie.) "The Julie Andrews Hour" was finally canceled by ABC after its 24th episode in April, 1973.
Andrews was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Leading Role — Musical Or Comedy Series for the show; she lost out to Jean Stapleton in All in the Family. The show went on to win seven Emmy Awards in 1973, (out of eight nominations) including the Outstanding Variety Musical Series award given to the show's producers, Nick Vanoff and William O. Harbach, and star.
As a consolation for all the awards her show received, ABC offered Andrews five variety specials which were produced in England also under the auspices of Lew Grade between 1973 and 1975. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, several edited episodes of The Julie Andrews Hour were shown on syndicated stations throughout the United States as "specials."
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