Network: CTV Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1976 to 1978
Broadcast Medium: Television
Actress/singer Julie Amato was born in the U.S., and in 1964 was Miss New York State and a Miss America semi-finalist, winning the talent contest and being named Miss Congeniality in that year. She moved to Canada in the late 1960’s, where she did a CBC series with Alan Thicke, called Time for Living, was a regular on the Canadian soap House of Pride, and appeared as guest panellist on This Is The Law. She later made guest appearances on several CTV musical shows, including Rollin’ On The River and Half The George Kirby Comedy Hour.
In 1976, CTV gave her her own half-hour comedy/variety series, which was intended to have some of the attributes of the Carol Burnett Show. Julie opened with a monologue and took questions from the audience, and sang and performed in sketches. Regulars were comedian R.G. Brown and singer Patrick Rose, and guests included John Allan Cameron, Steve Landesberg, Ruth Buzzi, and Shari Lewis and Lambchop.
WhileJulie obviously had ability and talent, these attributes plus often strong guests were not strong enough to carry a weekly series to hit status. It might also be said that the program’s highly competitive time period, 9:30 – 10:00pm on Tuesdays in its first season, didn’t help, and the show’s move to Fridays at 7:30pm in the second year did not deliver more encouraging numbers.
Produced at CFCF-TV Montreal, The Julie Show lasted for two seasons, 1976-78.
Written by Pip Wedge – June, 2004