| The Julie Andrews Hour | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Variety show |
| Written by | Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth George Arthur Bloom Bob Ellison Lila Garrett Hal Goodman Larry Klein |
| Presented by | Dick Tufeld (announcer) |
| Starring | Julie Andrews Supporting cast: Rich Little Alice Ghostley Garrett Lewis The Dick Williams Singers Choreographer: Tony Charmoli |
| Theme music composer | Nelson Riddle Arranged by: Ian Fraser |
| Ending theme | "Time Is My Friend" |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 24 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Nick Vanoff William O. Harbach |
| Production company(s) | ATV ITC Entertainment |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV (UK) ABC (USA) |
| Original run | 1972 – 1973 |
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.
"The Julie Andrews Hour" 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;[1] she lost out to Jean Stapleton in All in the Family.[2] 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.[3]
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."
Andrews performed "Time Is My Friend" to close each episode. The music was written by Andrews with lyrics by her close friend Leslie Bricusse.[4]
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