Julia

Long before she became Dominique Deveraux on "Dynasty",she set ground here as being the first African-American woman to star in her own weekly TV series which was a milestone when it premiered in the fall of 1968. Julia was just that: a single parent and nurse who raised her son and working for Dr. Chegley,who was in charge of the hospital where she was employed. The show was brilliant in depicting the role model of the family and the single parent which had some good moral values which you don't find that in some shows today. Marc Copage was absolutely adorable as her son Corey,and I really like Micheal Link as Corey's playmate Earl J. Waggedorn. To this day,the show is rarely seen on some stations,but Diahann Carroll was one of the most beautiful women in the world when this show made its mark on the NBC network. I had very good memories of this show,and I wish they would do a TV movie on "Julia",bringing back the original cast for a reunion. Note: Lloyd Nolan who played the Doctor on the show recently passed away,but his status will live on with this landmark series.

I can't believe some of the vapid comments about this wonderfully gentle and sweet ground-breaking show! I remember watching Julia when I was young and being very impressed by its cast and storyline; they were both very creative. Why do you make fun of it because it wasn't about angry, bitter black people with chips on their shoulders, but about a young black mother who was a nurse and her little son trying to live upbeat, positive, fulfilling lives while the male head of the family was serving his country in Vietnam. This was a landmark show for America and deserves more respect! This show was like a Serenity Prayer for race relations! Not all "progress" is made by angry, bitter, or violent people protesting in the marketplace. Real progress is often made one by one by individuals who can see past the divides to reach out on a daily basis to people of different races and religions, with a sense of goodwill and humility.

So it was with Julia. You catch more flies with honey instead of vinegar and I'm sure this show did more to increase understanding among whites for the everyday concerns of black folk than all the Jesse Jacksons and Malcolm X's in the world!

Diahann Carroll (Dynasty "Dominique Deveraux Lloyd") played "Julia Baker" a single parent and a nurse who had one son "Corey Baker" Marc Copage (The Wave). "Corey Baker" was an adorable little boy. Lloyd Nolan (Peyton Place, Hannah and Her Sisters) "Dr. Morton Chegley" was Julia's boss in the hospital where she worked. This show portraits a role model family of a single parent. Diahann was and is a beautiful woman. I watched the show when I was growing up, dubbed and black and white. I used to look forward to finding the show. I don't think that they dubbed that many episodes, and soon I found myself watching the reruns. But it was ok, because is the show had good values. I have very good memories of the series.

As I write this, the death of Mary Tyler Moore was announced within the last hour. While MTM is rightfully lauded for her role as a single career woman, Diahann Carroll's role in "Julia" broke more ground on more fronts. Ms. Carroll depicted a black woman trying to balance a job as a nurse with raising a 6-year-old son after her husband in the Vietnam War. Add the fact that this series debuted in 1968, there were a LOT of glass ceilings shattered when NBC began airing it and even though it apparently drew criticism, the network stuck with it for three years until Ms. Carroll had had enough.

On top of that, it was a good show, a "dramedy" that was presented in understated fashion without laugh track but with a nice chemistry between the core cast of Ms. Carroll, Marc Copage as her son and old pros Lloyd Nolan and Lurene Tuttle as her doctor boss and charge nurse, respectively. I rate "Julia" a 9 because it could be a little flat at times, but it deserves far, far more attention than it receives even today.

This show has to be recognised as one of the milestones in Black TV, before Bill Cosby, before the smattering of Black shows on TV today, Diahann Carroll played a single mom raising a son all by herself.

She didn't play a rich bored housewife, or a Hollywood madam like in Dynasty. Diahann played a sensible working woman. Scatty, witty, repressed at times but a woman of our times. Characters like Julia are everyday people, they remind us of who we are,

I find Julia a powerful statement of the 70's with single working parents, this is a positive statement for women and Blacks all over, it's not all about flash,booty and bling!!! There is dignity in hard work, pity the show didn't last very long but it's important to note that she played the lead and there were hardly any race-related issues on the show. It was just normal "everyday people"

Also being filmed in Black and White dates it but gives it a classic feel.

SOUND!!! 7/10