7.8 /10 1 Votes
Genre Variety show Starring Marie Osmond Original language(s) English Final episode date 26 September 1981 Number of seasons 1 Cast Marie Osmond | 7.7/10 IMDb Directed by Jeff Margulis Country of origin United States First episode date 12 December 1980 Network NBC Presented by Marie Osmond | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Music by Bob Rozario
D'Vaughn Pershing Similar Donny & Marie, Celebrity Duets, Dancing with the Stars, Van Dyke and Company, Police Academy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marie is an American comedy-variety show hosted by and starring singer-actress Marie Osmond that aired on NBC from December 12, 1980 to September 26, 1981 with a total of seven episodes produced over half a season.
Contents
Overview
Following her sitcom debut in a 1979 unsold television pilot (also titled Marie) that was never picked up by ABC as a series, Marie Osmond returned to variety television in December 1980 and headlined her own show on NBC in an attempt to repeat the success of her earlier variety series Donny & Marie from 1976 to 1979.
The new show showcased Osmond's singing, acting and comedic talents in the same format of a traditional variety series (similar to Donny & Marie) which featured musical numbers, comedy sketches and various guest stars each week. Guest stars included TV personalities and musical artists such as Gavin MacLeod, Jeff Conaway, Tony Orlando, The Pointer Sisters, Andy Williams, Scott Baio, Sally Struthers, David Copperfield, Nell Carter, Bob Hope, The Commodores and Andy Gibb. Noticeably absent on-camera were Marie's older brothers; of them, only Jimmy Osmond appeared on the show as a guest in one episode. (Alan and Jay were listed as executive producers.)
Reception
NBC cancelled Marie after only seven episodes due to low ratings and especially at a time when variety shows in general were falling out of fashion. (NBC as a whole was mired in a programming rut following a number of poor programming decisions under Fred Silverman.) The series was produced by the Osmond family's production company, Osmond Productions.