Before there was BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, before there was MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER, there was Julie Brown.
Not to be confused with the “Wubba Wubba Wubba” Club MTV host, Julie Brown was the red haired host of JUST SAY JULIE, "the hottest little henna-head on MTV" as the theme song proclaimed. It was one of the most original and funniest shows of the 80’s.
Julie was an actress (EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY) and a musician (“The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun”).
JUST SAY JULIE aired on MTV beginning in 1989. It was a PEE WEE’S PLAYHOUSE sort of show, with Julie in her apartment talking to the camera. She would introduce videos and sometimes talk over them, or via a blue screen, enter into them and dance along. It was an early form of directors commentary (or MST3K or B&B).
The funniest episode was the blonde episode where she visited Venice Beach asking people their opinion of blondes ("No blonde woman has ever read a book").
The show may have been too much for MTV, as she was constantly mocking the biggest musical stars of the day. I think you can tie in the decline of MTV to the fact that this show no longer aired.
Today you can buy a DVD of the best moments of the show direct from Julie herself on Ebay. A great DVD. It doesn’t include most of the music videos she mocked (because of music rights issues) but has many of her greatest moments. And it includes most of her own music videos (which are alone worth picking up the disc for).
Julie continues to act. She just appeared in (as well as co-wrote) the big Disney Channel musical CAMP ROCK. She may be better known to some for her work on CLUELESS.
But JUST SAY JULIE will always be her masterpiece.
5 comments:
Thnak God someone loves & remembers JUST SAY JULIE-along with SQUARE PEGS, it's my all-time fav TV show! I also would love to see a DVD release of Julie's wonderful 1990's show STRIP MALL-another wonderful show that has been sadly overlooked.
I remember STRIP MALL as well! I didn't like it as much as JSJ (or SQUARE PEGS).
I agree that it wasn't quite as classically good as those other shows, but STRIP MALL was pretty wickedly funny-Julie & Victoria Jackson were just fabulous, as were most of the supporting cast. It also had a wonderful guest appearance by Cindy Williams in a truly great, bitchy performance.
I saw a brief intervew with Julie somewhere, though, where she stated that she had a lot of problems with Comedy Central during the run of the show & she thought they were "nervous" about the campy, gay nature of the show & some of it's characters. I personally loved the fact that STRIP MALL featured characters like the hilarious lesbian couple that ran the Chinese Restaurant in the mall-it was really refreshing in that era.
Hopefully maybe Julie shares part of the rights & can secure a release of this overlooked show!
I plunked a new hat I just got on my niggin today & I felt like Ms. Julie putting on her "high fashion hat" in the HOW TO BE A MODEL episode (which is my very fav of many!!!!!)
DON'T HATE ME BECAUSE I'M BEAUTIFUL...
I also love the "Cookies? Contest Winner?" dilemma in Julie's Contest Winner episode-I feel like doing that to people on a daily basis!!!!
^I caught my "noggin" typo in the above post! Clumsy me...
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