Guests included Chet Atkins, Jay Chevalier, Billy Walker, Little Jimmy Dickens, George Hamilton IV, and the Country Lads; Mary Klick was a regular.

The Jimmy Dean Show aired as a live half-hour summer series from Washington, DC, on CBS-TV from June 22 to September 14, 1957 from 10:30 to 11 p.m. on Saturday nights.

The variety program featured country performers such as George Jones, Buck Owens and Dean's former band member Roy Clark, and pop artists like The Everly Brothers and Gene Pitney.

Muppet character Rowlf the Dog (performed by Jim Henson) debuted as a regular on the show, and during the premiere episode of the series in 1963, Dean interacted with an animated Fred Flintstone.

Introduced each time as Dean's "ol' buddy", Rowlf was Jim Henson's first Muppet to score a regular spot on a network television show and appeared in 85 of the 86 episodes.

"[7] When it came to an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show that aired on October 8, 1967, Jimmy Dean and Rowlf the Dog were reunited one final time where they performed "Friendship" while doing the "herd of cows" gag.

In 1969, Peppiatt and Aylesworth created Hee Haw as a way to cater to the rural audience, bringing on two of Dean's most frequent guests as hosts, Buck Owens and Roy Clark.