''Dolly'' is an American

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a co ...

starring

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album ...

that aired on ABC from September 27, 1987 to May 7, 1988. Guest stars included

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta ...

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

, Tyne Daly,

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, includin ...

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

Juice Newton Judith Kay "Juice" Newton (born February 18, 1952) is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categorieswinning once in 1983as well ...

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

, the

Neville Brothers The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. History The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 1 ...

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

, and

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...

. Tyne Daly's appearance on the show, in which she sang a duet with Parton, directly led to Daly being cast in the lead role in the 1989

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production of '' Gypsy''.

Production

On March 23, 1987, ABC-TV announced that it had signed Parton to star in a one-hour variety show set to begin airing in the fall. Banking on Parton's talent and appeal, ABC reportedly paid her (equivalent to $ in ) for a two-year contract. To bolster the odds they brought in veteran variety show writers

Buddy Sheffield Morris Taylor "Buddy" Sheffield is an American comedy writer, producer and composer. He is probably best known as Emmy-nominated head writer on Fox TV's breakthrough sketch comedy series, ''In Living Color'', having written such favorites as "Homey ...

, John Aylesworth, Jack Burns and producer

Nick Vanoff Nick Vanoff (October 25, 1929 – March 20, 1991) was a dancer, producer and philanthropist. Early life Vanoff was born in the village of Banitsa, Greece.Eleanor BlauNick Vanoff, 61, Former Dancer Who Became Successful Producer ''The New York ...

. Parton also hired then-relatively-unknown Brett Butler as one of the writers.

Bruce Vilanch Bruce Gerald Vilanch (born November 23, 1948) is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a two-time Emmy Award-winner. Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on ''Hollywood Squares'', as a celebrity participan ...

and

Fannie Flagg Fannie Flagg (born Patricia Neal; September 21, 1944) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is best known as a semi-regular panelist on the 1973–1982 versions of the game show ''Match Game'' and for the 1987 novel '' Fried Green Tom ...

were also on the writing staff. The series began production on August 14 and the first episode premiered on September 27, ranking in the top five of the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. The show was an attempt at a traditional

, featuring music, comedy skits and various guest stars. It had been roughly a decade since the last successful variety shows (''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Har ...

,'' ''

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ...

'', and ''

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

'') had gone off the air, and it was regarded as a gamble to try to revive the genre. In 1976, Parton had starred in a successful syndicated variety show, also entitled '' Dolly'', that she left after one season due to overwork and creative disputes; ABC offered Parton more creative control for this series and promoted it as "''Dolly''... Dolly's way." Though most of the show's episodes were filmed at ABC's studio in Los Angeles, a number of special episodes were filmed on location, including

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

, and a

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

episode in Parton's hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee. Following a steady decline in ratings, ABC-TV announced that it had canceled the series on May 23, 1988, 16 days after the last episode aired.

Ratings

With 39.47 million viewers, the first episode of ''Dolly'' attracted the largest audience for any television series premiere. It was acknowledged that a great deal of talent and work went into producing the show, but the initially high ratings during the first few episodes steadily declined, and despite many format changes and other attempts to create interest, ratings did not improve. Halfway through the run, Parton, who retained creative control over the show, took command and jettisoned many of the lavish, splashy segments that she felt were not working in favor of a more "down home" feel. By this time, however, many of the initial viewers had already stopped watching.

Theme songs

The opening theme song was Parton's

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

hit, "

Baby I'm Burning "Baby I'm Burnin'" is a song by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It was written by Parton who also produced the track with Gary Klein and Charles Koppelman who served as executive producer. The song was first released on Parton's twentie ...

", later to be replaced with "Hoedown-Showdown". As with her 1976 series, Parton closed each episode with her signature song, "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

Episodes

Home media

Time Life Time Life, with sister subsidiaries StarVista Live and Lifestyle Products Group, a holding of Direct Holdings Global LLC, is an American production company and direct marketer conglomerate, that is known for selling books, music, video/DVD, ...

released the 19-disc box set ''Dolly: The Ultimate Collection – Deluxe Edition'' in September 2020 and it features a selection of 16 episodes of the series, marking the first time any episodes from the series have been released on DVD. 15 of the 16 episodes included are heavily edited due to copyright issues.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolly (Tv Series) 1987 American television series debuts 1988 American television series endings 1980s American variety television series 1980s American music television series American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows