The Judy Garland Show - On The Air

On The Air

The first episode of The Judy Garland Show aired on September 29, 1963. The show, featuring guest star Donald O'Connor, was the seventh one taped. Episodes would continue to be shown out of sequence throughout the series' run. The show scored an 18.7 rating and reviews were largely positive. Variety wrote "If Judy Garland...is of a mind to work every week with the same dedication and zeal that characterized her premiere this week, Bill Paley and his associates should be in clover....Miss Garland was in fine fettle." The San Francisco Chronicle characterized the show as "tasteful, elegant and exciting." Not every review was as glowing, with the New York Herald Tribune noting "Miss Garland is fine, just fine. The rest of the show, however, needs help." Other negative reviews were in a similar vein, focusing on Van Dyke in particular and the show's format and writing in general.

CBS publicly responded to the critiques by issuing a statement through talent chief Michael Dann. "We have decided that should never appear in sketches and never play any character but herself. And she'll be singing more songs, more medleys, more standards. Songs are her babies. We told her what we think and she's listening. She's far too insecure about television to exercise her own judgment. She knows what's good for her."

Behind the scenes, however, the network continued to tinker with the show. In addition to the replacement of key production staff and constantly revising the format, Garland was also summoned to New York to receive such bits of information as she was touching her guests too much and was instructed to stop.

The revised format with its Garland-deprecating humor continued to attract criticism rather than viewers. Saturday Evening Post reviewer Richard Warren Lewis wrote, "The absurd notion of debasing Judy's reputation as a legendary figure and molding her show into an imitation of other prosaic variety shows has been a disaster where it hurts most, in the audience-rating polls." Indeed, Garland's show was averaging an 18 rating, about half of the audience represented by Bonanza and its 35 rating. With the departure of Jewison as producer and of Jerry Van Dyke (lauded as "a marvelous idea but it came too late") the focus of the show changed yet again to emphasize Garland's performances, singly and with guests. This format, including several "Judy Garland in Concert" solo episodes, would remain more or less intact for the remainder of the series. Despite continuing positive critical comment, the ratings remained flat. Fans of the show formed a "Save The Judy Garland Show committee" and organized an early letter-writing campaign on behalf of the series but their efforts were not enough to spare the show from cancellation. The final Judy Garland Show, another concert episode, was broadcast on March 29, 1964.