The Andy Williams Show

The program

The Andy Williams Show featured a number of regular performers, including, from time to time:

The first Andy Williams series began as a summer replacement on CBS in 1959. The weekly, year-round series premiered on NBC in 1962, where it ran until 1967, then was revived from 1969 through 1971.

During the fall of 1963, the show aired every two weeks, rather than weekly, alternating with the television version of The Bell Telephone Hour. [1]

When the show first started, it was tailored to Williams's pop music stylings aimed for adult viewers. During its five-year run on NBC, The Andy Williams Show drew respectable ratings, although it never made the list of the top thirty programs. In 1967, Williams decided to cut back and only do three specials per year, but in 1969, he was lured back to weekly television in a slightly revised format which included rock and roll acts and psychedelic staging. For this show, the studio audience sat on risers which moved around the stage, following Williams about as he moved. This show lasted for two years and was cancelled in 1971 as part of an industry-wide purging of shows that skewed toward older or rural viewers. After the cancellation, Williams continued to produce seasonal specials (especially at Christmas) in lieu of a weekly series.

Although the show was generally categorized as a musical variety show, it was also very popular in part for its wacky comedy skits. Crazed acrobats The Flying Silverman Brothers would hurtle across the screen, a giant talking bee would offer snide comments, a suitcase (actually a performer in a suitcase costume) would walk into the shot. Another popular recurring comedy sketch involved Williams' encounters with "The Cookie Bear" a tall, talking bear whose relentless begging for cookies would frustrate Williams to the point of his shouting at him, with increasingly high pitch, that he did not want to see him again, "Not Now... Not Ever... NEVER!!" This send-off, which became a catchphrase of the time, was funny due to its contrast with the suave performing demeanor Williams was known for. The bear would then turn to the camera, utter some depressed line, and fall straight over onto his face. This bit was often at the very end of the show. Andy would start to sing his signature song "Moon River", but was almost immediately interrupted by the bear. By the time Andy got rid of the bear, there was no time left to finish the song.

Five years after his second weekly run at NBC had ended, Williams tried his hand at a half-hour weekly variety show, this time in syndication. But it lasted only one season (1976–1977).

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