They say, “Variety is the Spice of Life” and we are going to see if that’s true this month. During the fifties, sixties, and seventies, variety shows were a big part of the television schedule. If you were a singer or a dancer, you likely had an opportunity to have your own show.

From 1962-1970, Andy Williams entertained us in our living rooms. Williams had a weekly series from 1962-1967 before deciding he wanted to cut back to three specials a year. By 1968 he changed his mind and went back to a weekly series that was on the air till 1971. When the show came back in 1968 it included more rock and roll, a talking bear, and psychedelic lighting which never seemed to fit what I thought of as Williams’ style.

Like many variety shows, Williams had a cast of performers who helped out with skits and songs. During the run of his show, The Osmond Brothers, Jonathan Winters, Ray Stevens, and the Lennon Sisters were part of the act. In 1963 the show won for Outstanding Variety Series. Like Carol Burnett, guest stars also appeared weekly on the show. I remember watching his show, especially at Christmas and loved the Osmonds who Williams discovered at Disneyland; he originally introduced them as “a youthful barbershop harmony group from Odgen, Utah.”

Andy’s show debuted on NBC on Thursday nights. It was up against The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The second season ended up on Tuesday nights taking on The Fugitive and The Jack Benny Show. Season three found it on Monday nights with the competition being a few new sitcoms and it continued in the same slot season four with Hazel as its strongest competitor. Believe it or not, season five found the show on Sunday night. No wonder it wasn’t in the top 30, no one could ever find it from year to year.

Once the show returned in 1968 with its 60s trippy themes it was on Saturday tackling the long-running The Jackie Gleason Show and the newer game shows Dating Game and Let’s Make a Deal. The only thing that changed the final year was that The Jackie Gleason Show was replaced with Mission Impossible. In addition to moving around so often, the show had to compete with a lot of other variety shows during that decade. Just a few others included Carol Burnett, Flip Wilson, Dean Martin, Dinah Shore, and Perry Como.

Eventually, Williams created his own very successful show in Branson, Missouri where he lived and performed until he passed away from bladder cancer in 2012.

I think overall Andy Williams had one of the more successful variety programs. No one did it better than Carol Burnett. I think Williams had a hard time trying to fit his style into the late sixties and early seventies. When he started, Perry Como and Nat King Cole were known for their variety series, but when his last show debuted, he was competing with people like Flip Wilson and Sonny and Cher. I’m exaggerating to a point, but it was like he began singing with Lawrence Welk and tried to change to singing with The Rolling Stones; he just needed to find his own lane and stay there.