The Carol Burnett Show

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The Carol Burnett Show
Format	Variety, sketch comedy
Starring	Carol Burnett Harvey Korman Vicki Lawrence Lyle Waggoner Tim Conway Dick Van Dyke
Opening theme	"Carol's Theme" by Joe Hamilton [1]
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Joe Hamilton
Running time	~54 mins.
Production company(s)	Punkin' Productions, Inc. (1967-1976) Whacko, Inc. (1976-1978)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 11, 1967 – March 29, 1978
External links
IMDb profile

The Carol Burnett Show is a sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967 to March 29, 1978 for 278 episodes, and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33 (now known as the Bob Barker Studio).

Contents 1 Background 2 Continuations and revivals 3 Guest stars 3.1 Season 1 (1967–1968) 3.2 Season 2 (1968–1969) 3.3 Season 3 (1969–1970) 3.4 Season 4 (1970–1971) 3.5 Season 5 (1971–1972) 3.6 Season 6 (1972–1973) 3.7 Season 7 (1973–1974) 3.8 Season 8 (1974–1975) 3.9 Season 9 (1975–1976) 3.10 Season 10 (1976–1977) 3.11 Season 11 (1977–1978) 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Background

The popular variety show made the stars household names with such sketches as "As the Stomach Turns", "Went with the Wind" (a parody of Gone with the Wind featuring a scene with Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara in the dress made from a window curtain, complete with the curtain rod), "Carol & Sis", "Mr. Tudball" and "Mrs. Wiggins", "The Family" (which would later spin off into a show called Mama's Family), "Nora Desmond" (Burnett's send-up of Gloria Swanson's character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard), and "Stella Toddler." A frequent repeated segment was "Kitchen Commercials", in which cast members parodied TV commercials that drove a woman (Burnett) crazy. It had frequent, high recognition guest stars. The long-running show was frequently nominated for Emmys, and won three times.

A unique feature of the show consisted of a question and answer segment involving the audience in CBS Studio 33 and Carol Burnett. Burnett usually did this for about 3-4 minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett would ask for the lights in the audience to be turned up ("Let's bump up the lights...") and then randomly pick audience members who raised their hand to ask her a question. This informality was possible due to the design of Studio 33; cameras were to the left and right of the stage with one below in the pit and one suspended, so the actors were very close to the audience.

Sample question from young woman in audience: "Have you ever taken acting lessons?" Carol: "Yes, I have." Audience member: "Do you think it did any good?"

The show was rehearsed for three to four hours each day until the Friday tapings, when two recordings were made. As there were only two recordings, if an actor flubbed a line in both takes, the error appeared in the broadcast, giving the show some immediacy. Pick ups were exceptions, and usually only used for musical numbers.

Vicki Lawrence was the only cast member, other than Burnett, to remain with the series for its entire run. Tim Conway, though well remembered for his appearances on the show, did not become a full-time cast member until 1975. Harvey Korman left the show prior to its final season; he was temporarily replaced in the fall of 1977 by Dick Van Dyke. Original cast member Lyle Waggoner left the series in 1974 to pursue a dramatic acting career and the next year was cast in Wonder Woman.

Burnett went on to star in movies, write a Broadway play, and continues to make appearances. Conway and Korman travelled to do comedy routines all over the country. Vicki Lawrence had a U.S. #1 hit record in 1973 ("The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia") and went on to star in several shows of her own (Mama's Family, the NBC daytime edition of Win, Lose or Draw, and her short-lived talk show, Vicki) and continues to perform around America writing and performing comedy sketches.

[edit] Continuations and revivals

The comedy sketches of the show were reedited into freestanding programs; the resulting show enjoyed success for many years in syndicated reruns (as Carol Burnett and Friends). In the early 2000s, certain full-length episodes of The Carol Burnett Show were released on VHS and DVD by Columbia House on a subscription basis (now discontinued).

Following repeats of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS from June to August 1978, 4 new shows were aired between August and September 1979 on ABC as Carol Burnett & Company, just prior to the beginning of the regular fall season and plans were announced for this to become an annual event but it did not. NBC aired a comedy anthology called Carol & Company between March 1990 and July 1991.

CBS brought back The Carol Burnett Show for another run in the fall of 1991; new regulars included Meagen Fay and Richard Kind (brought over from the NBC show), and Chris Barnes, Roger Kabler and Jessica Lundy. Only nine episodes of this revival were aired.

In January 1993, the cast of The Carol Burnett Show got together for a 2-hour reunion special, The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion featuring several clips of the show's best moments from 1967-78 with the gang reminiscing about their time together on the show.

In the fall of 2001, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence reunited for a new special broadcast entitled The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers, which consisted mostly of bloopers and outtakes from the series. The program was a major ratings success; the media credited its timing, being broadcast not long after the September 11, 2001 attacks, with contributing to its success.

In May 2004, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman and Lyle Waggoner made another reunion special, The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights!, featuring one of Carol's favorite ongoing bits, turning up the house lights and then taking questions from members of the studio audience.

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Season 1 (1967–1968)

[edit] Season 2 (1968–1969)

[edit] Season 3 (1969–1970)

[edit] Season 4 (1970–1971)

[edit] Season 5 (1971–1972)

[edit] Season 6 (1972–1973)

[edit] Season 7 (1973–1974)

[edit] Season 8 (1974–1975)

[edit] Season 9 (1975–1976)

[edit] Season 10 (1976–1977)

[edit] Season 11 (1977–1978)

[edit] References

1. ^ The Carol Burnett Show (sitcom). ClassicThemes.com. The Media Management Group (2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-28.

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

[edit] External links

• The Carol Burnett Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Carol Burnett Show
• It's The Carol Burnett Show!
• The Museum Of Broadcast Communications: The Carol Burnett Show
• Tim's TV Showcase: The Carol Burnett Show
• The Carol Burnett Show at TV.com
• The Carol Burnett Show - 10/2/67 - cached copy from Internet Archives
• The Carol Burnett Show Episode Guide by: Ed Slonina - cached copy from Internet Archives

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series The Alan Young Show (1951) · Your Show of Shows / The Red Skelton Show (1952) · Your Show of Shows (1953) · Omnibus (1954) · Disneyland (1955) · Toast of the Town (1956) · The Jack Paar Tonight Show (1957) · The Jack Paar Tonight Show (1958) · An Evening with Fred Astaire (1959) · The Garry Moore Show (1960) · Astaire Time (1961) · The Garry Moore Show (1962) · The Andy Williams Show (1963) · The Danny Kaye Show (1964 · The Andy Williams Show (1966) · The Andy Williams Show (1967) · Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968) · Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1969) · The David Frost Show (1970) · The Carol Burnett Show (1972) · The Julie Andrews Hour (1973) · The Carol Burnett Show (1974) · The Carol Burnett Show (1975) Complete list: (1951–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)