| The King Family Show | |
|---|---|
The King Family on the cover of their 1965 Christmas album |
|
| Genre | Musical variety |
| Directed by | Marc Breaux |
| Starring | The King Sisters |
| Theme music composer | Richard Rodgers Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Opening theme | "The Sound of Music" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Nick Vanoff |
| Producer(s) | Saul Ilson (1965-66) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes (1965–1966) 22–24 minutes (1969) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white (1965–1966) Color (1969) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | January 23, 1965 – September 10, 1969 |
The King Family Show was an American musical variety series that featured The King Sisters and their extended musical family. The series first aired on ABC from January 1965 to January 1966. The series was revived in 1969, airing from March to September 1969.[1]
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After an appearance on The Hollywood Palace in August 1964 drew a reported 53,000 letters, ABC decided to give the Kings their own hour-long weekly series (replacing The Outer Limits), debuting on Saturday, January 23, 1965 (the King Family made a third Hollywood Palace appearance a week before the debut of their own series in order to promote it). The show starred the four King Sisters, Donna, Yvonne, Luise and Alyce. It also featured Alyce's husband, actor Robert Clarke, and her sons, Ric de Azevedo, Lex de Azevedo and Cam Clarke. (In all, some thirty-seven members of the King family, ranging in age from seven months to 79 years, were seen on the show.) Tina Cole, later featured on My Three Sons, also regularly appeared.
While the show was somewhat successful in its initial season, the network trimmed it to a half-hour on September 18, 1965, moving its start time from 7:30 to 8pm (EST) (enabling Shindig! to appear before it), and the ratings declined - up against Jackie Gleason on CBS and I Dream Of Jeannie on NBC - but the show did inspire an intensely loyal following. One letter to ABC enthused, "the King Family was beautiful, talented, and completely entertaining. We are buying (sponsor's products) Wisk and Clairol tomorrow." Still, the show was cancelled in January 1966.[1]
In March 1969, after the program Turn-On was cancelled after a single airing, ABC brought back a somewhat pared-down version of the King Family Show that focused on a sub-group of the family "the King Cousins". The program occupied the Wednesday 8:30-9:00 timeslot until September of that year.[1]