Judy Garland's four-year contract for the series called for 26 weekly shows, for which Garland's corporation, Kingsrow Enterprises, would be paid $140,000 () per episode. Of that, Garland was guaranteed between $25,000 and $30,000 () per show. Kingsrow Enterprises would also retain ownership of the tapes, allowing Garland to sell the series into
syndication. Although Garland had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series, The commercial disappointment of the film
A Star is Born meant that her share of any profits from that film would be eaten up immediately. A successful run on television would secure Garland's financial future.
The George Schlatter episodes (episodes 1–5) The Judy Garland Show was initially slated to be taped in
New York City. The network initially offered the producer's job to
Bob Banner, who was at the time producing a series for
Garry Moore. Although he was interested, he declined to relocate from the West Coast.
Bob Finkel, whose credits included shows for
Dinah Shore and
Andy Williams, was next approached but similarly refused to relocate. Veteran producer and director
Bill Hobin, then heading up
Sing Along with Mitch, was approached to produce and direct the program. Already based in the East, Hobin eagerly accepted. Unbeknownst to Hobin,
George Schlatter had been lobbying on the West Coast for the producer job and was signed to produce. Ultimately Hobin bowed out of the producer slot. Schlatter became the producer, while Hobin was retained to direct. With the producer question settled, Schlatter set about assembling the crew for the series.
Mort Lindsey was hired to conduct the show's orchestra. Gary Smith, who had designed the earlier Garland/Sinatra/Martin special, was signed as art director. Multiple
Academy Award-winner
Edith Head was engaged to design Garland's costumes, while
Ray Aghayan, who Schlatter knew from their work together with
Dinah Shore, was hired to costume Garland's guests.
Mel Tormé was brought on as
musical arranger and to write special musical material, and would also appear as a guest on the program.
Choreography duties were taken by
Danny Daniels. Comedian
Jerry Van Dyke was engaged as a series regular.
Judy Henske, who appeared in episode 2, didn't like the scripts or dialogue she was given in her episode, and turned down the offer to appear on the show regularly. In addition to musical performances from Garland and the week's guest stars, the series' initial format included the recurring segments "Born in a Trunk" (the name taken from a number in
A Star is Born), in which Garland would tell stories of her show business career and sing a related song, and "Tea for Two", which would feature her chatting with a surprise guest. Van Dyke would perform comedy sketches, sometimes with Garland or the guests. Garland would close each episode by singing the song "Maybe I'll Come Back." The obscure
novelty song, selected by Garland and Schlatter over CBS's objections (the network wanted her signature song "
Over the Rainbow"), included the line "And
President Coolidge is a cousin of mine." Garland as a running gag would substitute a different name for Coolidge's each week. Although initially planned for an
East Coast shoot,
The Judy Garland Show was taped in Studio 43 at
CBS Television City in
Los Angeles. The network had gone to great expense to prepare the studio, including an estimated $100,000 () to raise the stage and install a separate revolving stage. Garland's dressing room was a 110 by 40 foot trailer which had been decorated as a replica of her newly purchased
Brentwood home. The corridor that led from her dressing room to the stage was painted to resemble the
Yellow Brick Road from
The Wizard of Oz. The first taping commenced on June 24, 1963. Garland's old friend and frequent
MGM co-star
Mickey Rooney was, at Garland's insistence, her first guest—although, because the network elected to air the series out of production order, this was actually the tenth episode to be broadcast.
The Norman Jewison episodes (episodes 6–13) On August 2, after six weeks of taping and five completed shows, Schlatter was fired as producer. Varying reports have Schlatter being fired by
James Aubrey, Jr. (president of CBS) or by Garland herself, but in either case, production was suspended for five weeks. Replacing Schlatter as
executive producer was
Norman Jewison, who shared a vision for the series that was closer to that of Aubrey's. That vision was that Garland was too glamorous for television and that she needed her series to present her in a more conventional light. Veteran musical variety show writers
John Aylesworth and
Frank Peppiatt were brought in as well. Jewison, who had agreed to serve as producer through the thirteenth episode, implemented changes designed to "make the sacred cow less sacred," including Garland's subjection to Van Dyke's jokes that denigrated her issues with her weight, her reputation for unreliability and her career highs and lows. Jewison also introduced a new recurring feature, "Be My Guest," with Tormé's material tailored for the week's guest to perform with Garland near the top of each show.
The Judy Garland Show premiered on September 29, during Jewison's run as producer. The episode chosen to be the premiere was Jewison's second completed episode, the seventh produced episode overall. Reviews were generally favorable (see below), though Jerry Van Dyke's supporting role was heavily criticized; Van Dyke was let go from the cast after the tenth produced episode. Jewison himself left after episode thirteen, as he had intended.
The Bill Colleran episodes (episodes 14–26) After Jewison,
Bill Colleran joined the show as Garland's selection for its third executive producer. Colleran revamped the format yet again, doing away with the insulting humor and focusing the show more on Garland and her singing, although there were still comedy elements in Colleran's initial episodes, with guests such as
Bob Newhart and
Shelley Berman. As well,
Ken Murray was briefly featured as a regular, showing his home movies of Hollywood stars, but was dropped after four episodes. Ratings continued to be poor, and CBS announced the cancellation of
The Judy Garland Show on January 22, 1964. Officially, it was reported that it was Garland who exited the series, as explained in a letter released by CBS, supposedly from Garland to Aubrey, advising him that she wanted to spend more time caring for her children. Despite
The Judy Garland Show's announced cancellation, it was allowed to finish out the 1963/64 season, and continued to tape episodes for broadcast. The final seven episodes taped after the cancellation notice jettisoned any pretense of sustaining a comedy and variety element, and simply presented Judy Garland "In Concert"—sometimes solo for the entire episode, sometimes with musical guests such as
Lena Horne,
Diahann Carroll or Mel Tormé. During these final episodes, following Show 22 specifically, Tormé was fired and was replaced by
Bobby Cole, a musician Garland had met recently in New York. Tormé would later file suit for breach of contract and write a tell-all book about the series,
The Other Side of the Rainbow: With Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol. ==On the air==