Network: CTV Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1974 to 1975
Broadcast Medium: Television
Although Canadian television writer/producers Allan Blye and Chris Bearde were able to take their CBC-honed talents to Hollywood and prosper in the late 1960s, they never missed an opportunity to bring U.S. productions to Canada, where production costs were less, and where they knew just where to look for the talent they needed. The Ray Stevens Show, a summer replacement for the Andy Williams Show in 1970, was just one example.
After having brief success with a Hudson Brothers prime time summer replacement for the Sonny and Cher Show on CBS in 1974, Blye/Bearde sold CBS on a weekly live Saturday morning half-hour featuring this talented singing group – Mark, Brett and Bill, the last-named being Goldie Hawn’s one-time husband, and the father of movie star Kate Hudson.
The show, whose full title was the Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, was produced in Canada, in Toronto, and joining the Hudsons were Chuck Margolis, Murray Langston, Ted Zeigler, Billy Van, Peter Cullen, and Rod Hull with Emu. The program was scheduled on CTV at 10:30am on Saturdays during the 1974-75 season.
Such was the cult appeal of the series that a 3-disc DVD set containing all 16 episodes was issued over 30 years later, in 2008.
Written by Pip Wedge – June, 2008