The Carol Burnett Show

Background

In 1967, Carol Burnett had been a popular veteran of television for 12 years, having made her first appearances in 1955 on such programs as The Paul Winchell Show and the sitcom Stanley starring the comedian Buddy Hackett. In 1959, she became a regular supporting cast member on the CBS-TV variety series The Garry Moore Show. Departing the Moore Show in the spring of 1962, she pursued other projects in film, Broadway productions and headlining her own television specials. Burnett signed a contract with CBS for 10 years which required her to do two guest appearances and a special a year. Within the first five years of this contract, she had the option to "push the button" and be put on the air in 30 one-hour variety shows, pay-or-play. After discussion with her husband Joe Hamilton, in the last week of that fifth year of the contract, Burnett decided to call the head of CBS Michael Dann and exercise the clause. Dann, explaining that variety is a "man's genre", offered Burnett a sitcom called Here's Agnes. Burnett had no interest in doing a sitcom, and because of the contract, CBS was obliged to give Burnett her own variety show.

Production

In addition to Carol Burnett, the cast consisted of:

Vicki Lawrence

Harvey Korman (seasons 1–10)

Lyle Waggoner (seasons 1–7)

Tim Conway (seasons 9–11; frequent guest performer in seasons 1–8)

Dick Van Dyke (first half of season 11)

Comedic actor Harvey Korman had done many guest shots in TV sitcoms. From 1963 to 1967, he had been a semi-regular on the CBS variety series The Danny Kaye Show. When Kaye's program ended in the spring of 1967, Korman was immediately hired for The Carol Burnett Show. Lyle Waggoner, who often played a self-absorbed Adonis and often performed skit narration, was also signed for the series.

Vicki Lawrence, a young singer from The Young Americans wrote a letter to Burnett when she was 17, remarking on their physical resemblance. This led to her audition and getting hired to play Burnett's kid sister in numerous "Carol and Sis" sketches.

Jim Nabors was the guest star on every season premier of the show. Burnett considered Nabors to be her good luck charm.

In addition, several notable actors were used in the comedy sketches in featured roles, especially in the first season, such as William Schallert and Reta Shaw.

The popular variety show not only established Burnett as a television superstar, but it also made her regular supporting cast household names, with such sketches as "As the Stomach Turns", (a parody of As the World Turns) and "Went with the Wind!" (a spoof of Gone with the Wind), "Carol & Sis", "Mrs. Wiggins", and "The Family" (which led to a made-for-TV movie titled Eunice, as well as a spin-off television series titled 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. The long-running show was frequently nominated for Emmys for best variety series and won three times.

A favorite feature consisted of an unrehearsed question-and-answer segment with the audience in CBS Studio 33 (now Bob Barker Studio) lasting about three to four minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett stated that she borrowed the concept from Garry Moore, who did the same on his variety show, but never taped it. Burnett asked for the lights to be turned up ("let's bump up the lights") and then randomly picked audience members who raised their hands. Burnett often ad-libbed funny answers, but occasionally ended up as the straight (wo)man. For example:

Young woman: "Have you ever taken acting lessons?"Carol: "Yes, I have."Young woman: "Do you think it did any good?"

The show was rehearsed each day until its two Friday tapings. Differently colored cue cards (black, blue, green, and red) were used for each major performer ("Carol Burnett: Bump-Up The Lights"). The second taping was fairly routine until Tim Conway came aboard as a guest star. As a recurring guest star from the show's launch and later a regular cast member, Conway provided unrehearsed bits to sketches that became known to the staff as "Conway's Capers". Conway would play the first taping straight, but ad-lib bizarre scenarios during the second. Some notable clips included Conway as a Nazi interrogator berating an American captive (Lyle Waggoner). Using a Hitler puppet and a pencil as a "club", Conway sang three verses of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" as Waggoner tried in vain to ignore him. Some, like the Hitler puppet, made it into the final broadcast; others, like a notably convoluted story about Siamese elephants joined at the trunk (ad-libbed during a 1977 "Mama's Family" sketch), were edited, the uncensored version only appearing years later on CBS specials. Conway's favorite victim was Harvey Korman, who often broke character reacting to Conway's zaniness, such as when Conway played a dentist misusing Novocain or the recurring role of "The Oldest Man" – an elderly, shuffling, senile man who slowly rolled down stairways and fell prey to various mechanical mishaps (including an electric wheelchair and an automated dry-cleaning rack).

The show also became known for its closing theme song, written by Burnett's husband, with these lyrics:

I'm so glad we had this time togetherJust to have a laugh or sing a songSeems we just get started and before you know itComes the time we have to say, "So long."

At the close of each episode, Burnett tugged her ear. This silent message was meant for her grandmother, who raised her, and meant she was thinking of her at that moment. After her grandmother's death, Burnett continued the tradition.

When The Carol Burnett Show made its network debut on CBS-TV in September 1967, it was scheduled on Monday nights at 10:00 pm opposite NBC’s I Spy and ABC’s The Big Valley. At the end of its first season and through the spring of 1971, it consistently ranked among the top-30 programs. (For the 1969–70 season, it posted its highest rating ever, ranking at number 13.) For season five, CBS moved the show to Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm, where its chief competition was NBC’s Adam-12 and the ABC sitcoms Bewitched and The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Despite the schedule change, the show continued to do well until the fall of 1972, when the ratings slipped. In December 1972, CBS again moved The Carol Burnett Show to Saturday nights at 10:00 pm (EST) where, for the next four years, it not only received solid ratings, but was also part of a powerhouse Saturday-night lineup of primetime shows that included All in the Family, M*A*S*M*A*S*H, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Bob Newhart Show.

In the 1973–74 season, the "Family" sketches (with Burnett as Eunice, Korman as her husband Ed, and Lawrence as Eunice's mother) were introduced and the "Carol and Sis" segments were phased out. At the end of that season (the series' seventh), after having been with The Carol Burnett Show from the beginning, Lyle Waggoner left the series to pursue other acting opportunities. The following season, Waggoner's spot as a supporting regular remained vacant. Don Crichton, the lead male dancer on the show, began to inherit some of Waggoner's duties. Then in season nine, because of his many popular guest appearances on the series, Tim Conway was signed as a full-time regular, joining Korman and Lawrence.

In November, 1976, the series' tenth year, The Carol Burnett Show presented what would become one of its best-known and most well-regarded sketches: "Went with the Wind!," a parody of the 1939 film Gone with the Wind," which had its television debut on NBC the week before. After the 1976-77 season ended, Harvey Korman decided to leave the series. After a decade of working with Burnett and winning several Emmy Awards, Korman had been offered a contract by ABC to headline his own series. Also, the ratings had begun to decline. Nevertheless, CBS renewed Burnett's show for an 11th season.

Dick Van Dyke, fresh from headlining his own short-lived Emmy-winning variety series, Van Dyke & Company, was brought in to replace Korman. However, his presence did not help stem the sagging ratings, as the show faced new competition in ABC's The Love Boat. After three months, Van Dyke departed the show, and CBS, in a desperate attempt to save the series, moved The Carol Burnett Show from Saturday nights at 10:00 pm to Sunday nights at the same hour, beginning in December 1977. Regular guest stars Steve Lawrence and Ken Berry were brought in to fill the void left by Korman and Van Dyke. The ratings improved considerably.

CBS wanted to renew the show for another year, but by this time, Burnett had grown tired of the weekly grind and wanted to explore acting roles outside of the comedy genre, despite her success in it. With the changes in cast along with the mediocre ratings, she felt that television was undergoing a transition and that the variety series format was on its way out. Therefore, Burnett decided to end the series on her own rather than be canceled later. Thus, on March 29, 1978, in a special two-hour finale entitled "A Special Evening with Carol Burnett", The Carol Burnett Show left primetime television after 11 years, finishing its last season in 66th place. Reruns were aired during the summer of 1978.

Notable characters/sketches

As the Stomach Turns – a soap opera parody taking place in the fictional town of Canoga Falls with Burnett as the main character Marion

Carol and Sis – Burnett as Carol and Lawrence as her sister Chris with Korman as Carol's husband Roger; the sketch was based on Burnett's life in New York raising her kid sister in New York with her first husband, and Lawrence was originally hired just for this sketch

The Charwoman – Burnett's signature character, an unnamed charwoman (most often in a musical number), whose animated image has been used in the opening credits

Chiquita – Burnett's parody of Charo; in one sketch, Charo herself played Chiquita and Burnett played her mother

Nora Desmond – Burnett as a has-been silent film actress and Korman as her bald, dutiful butler Max in the take-off of the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard; Gloria Swanson praised Burnett for the character

Shirley Dimple - Burnett's parody of Shirley Temple

The Family – Burnett and Korman as Eunice and Ed Higgins, a married couple, with Lawrence portraying Eunice's very difficult mother Thelma Harper

George and Zelda – Burnett as a Zelda, a whiny, nasal-voiced woman and Korman as her husband George; the sketch was inspired by the roles of Montgomery Clift and Shelly Winters in A Place in the Sun

The Ham Actor (also known as Funt and Mundane) - Korman as Alfred Funt and Burnett as Mundane, two over-the-top actors who run into mishaps on the stage; it started off with Korman as Funt and Burnett as different types of partners; the names Funt and Mundane are take-offs of legendary acting couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne

Mother Marcus – Korman as a full-figured, Yiddish grandmother who was based on his own real-life grandmother; usually featured in "As the Stomach Turns", but has also been portrayed in other sketches such as the grandmother in "La Caperucita Roja", the Mexican version of Little Red Riding Hood, and the fairy godmother in "Cinderella Gets it On", the disco version of Cinderella

The Old Folks – Burnett and Korman as Molly and Bert, an elderly couple who sit in rocking chairs on a porch talking about their lives

The Oldest Man – Conway as Duane Toddleberry, an old, slow-moving man, usually in various situations involving Korman being annoyed with his lack of speed

Alice Portnoy – Burnett as a little girl who is a member of the Fireside Girls of America, a Girl Scout-type of organization, always trying to blackmail adults into making a contribution to her troop; Lawrence has played her sister Cecily

The Queen – Burnett's parody of Queen Elizabeth II, with Korman as the king, and Conway as a soldier who is completely hollow due to having swallowed a live grenade; Lawrence once played the princess and was engaged to the hollowed-out soldier

Stella Toddler – Burnett as an elderly woman who always ends up in unfortunate accidents

Unforgettable Commercials – Parodies of well-known commercials of the time featuring the entire cast; this was an annual sketch

Mrs. Wiggins (also known as Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins) – Conway as Mr. Tudball, a businessman who speaks in a mock Romanian accent, putting up with his empty-headed secretary Mrs. Wiggins played by Burnett; Lawrence occasionally played Mrs. Tudball

Movie parodies

A notable sketch was the 1976 parody "Went with the Wind!", in which Scarlett O'Hara must fashion a gown from curtains; Burnett, as Starlett, descends a long staircase wearing a green curtain complete with hanging rod. When Starlett is complimented on her "gown", she replies, "Thank you. I saw it in a window and I just couldn't resist it." The outfit, designed by Bob Mackie, is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

In addition to Gone with the Wind, The Carol Burnett Show featured many movie parodies. These included take-offs of, for example, Airport, Babes in Arms, Beach Blanket Bingo, Born to Be Bad, Caged, Dangerous When Wet, Double Indemnity, The Enchanted Cottage, From Here to Eternity, The Heiress, Jaws, The Little Foxes, Little Miss Broadway, Love Story, Mildred Pierce, National Velvet, One in a Million, The Petrified Forest, Pillow Talk, Random Harvest, Rebecca, The Roaring Twenties, Rose Marie, San Francisco, Show Boat, The Scarlet Pimpernel, So Proudly We Hail!, A Stolen Life, Sunset Boulevard, Torch Song, and When My Baby Smiles at Me.

Continuations and revivals

In the fall of 1977, while the series was still running in prime time, the comedy sketches of the show were re-edited into freestanding programs; the resulting show enjoyed success for many years in syndicated reruns (as Carol Burnett and Friends, a half-hour edition of selected 1972–77 material).

In the spring of 1979, a year after The Carol Burnett Show left the air, Burnett and her husband Joe Hamilton were dining in a restaurant with friends which included Tim Conway. At that gathering, Burnett got wistful and started reminiscing about the show and making suggestions to Conway of future sketches that she wished they could create if the show were still running. Hamilton suggested to Burnett that she do a summer series. Taking that idea, Burnett and Hamilton approached CBS about doing a four-week program in the summer of 1979. CBS already had their schedule filled for the summer months and rejected the idea. However, ABC was interested and as a result, four postscript episodes of The Carol Burnett Show were produced. Under the title Carol Burnett & Company, the show premiered on Saturday, August 18, 1979, and included many favorite sketches such as "Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins", "The Family", "As The Stomach Turns", and Burnett doing her impersonation of Queen Elizabeth II. Its format was very much similar to Burnett's series with two exceptions. Due to the unavailability of Harvey Korman (who, ironically, had been under contract to ABC since he had left Burnett's show in 1977), comic actors Kenneth Mars and Craig Richard Nelson were added to the supporting cast, thereby joining Lawrence and Conway. Ernie Flatt, who had been the choreographer on Burnett's show for its entire 11-year run, was replaced by the show's lead dancer Don Crichton. The guest stars in that four-week period were chronologically Cheryl Ladd, Alan Arkin, Penny Marshall, and Sally Field. The reviews of the series were very favorable, with several critics heartily welcoming Burnett back to weekly television, albeit on a limited basis. The ratings also were respectable and plans were announced for the program to become a yearly summer event, but it never happened.

The "Family" sketches led to a 1982 CBS made-for-television film called Eunice starring Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Betty White, and Ken Berry. The success of this program spawned a spin-off sitcom entitled Mama's Family starring Vicki Lawrence and Ken Berry, which ran from 1983 to 1990. It occasionally featured Burnett and Harvey Korman guest-starring as Eunice and Ed Higgins, respectively. In the first year and a half of the show's run, Korman also appeared as narrator Alastair Quince introducing each episode (a parody of Alastair Cooke hosting Masterpiece Theatre) and also directed 31 episodes of the series.

NBC aired a comedy half-hour repertory series called Carol & Company that premiered in March 1990. It proved to be moderately successful in the ratings and was renewed for a second season. The regulars on the show included Peter Krause, Jeremy Piven, Terry Kiser, Meagen Fay, Anita Barone, and Richard Kind (and occasional guest stars such as Betty White and Burt Reynolds); each week's show was a different half-hour comedy play. This program lasted until 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. However, the times had changed and Burnett's humor, was tame compared to the edgier comedy popular in the 1990s. The series failed to catch on with the public and only nine episodes of this revival were aired.

In 1994, reruns of the syndicated Carol Burnett and Friends package aired on Nickelodeon. The show also aired on The Family Channel in 1996 and on TV Land as part of that network's inaugural lineup. Beginning in January 2015, the show airs on Me-TV at 11:00 EST.

Specials

The cast of The Carol Burnett Show was reunited on three CBS specials:

The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (January 10, 1993) – featured several clips of the show's best moments from 1967 to 1978 with the gang reminiscing about their time together on the show

21.4 rating; 27.1 million viewers (9–11 pm)

The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers (November 26, 2001) – consisted mostly of bloopers and outtakes from the series

November 26, 2001: 29.8 million viewers (time slot rank: first)

April 26, 2002: 11.5 million (time slot rank: first)

September 20, 2002: 6.2 million (time slot rank: third)

The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights! (May 12, 2004) – featured one of Burnett's favorite ongoing bits, turning up the house lights and then taking questions from members of the studio audience

13.6 million (time slot rank: second)

List of guest stars

Note: only the first appearance by the guest star is listed.

Legacy

Considering her large body of work, and due in great part to this TV show, Burnett received Kennedy Center Honors in 2003, and was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in October 2013.

In 2009, TV Guide ranked "Went with the Wind" number 53 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.

On September 13, 2016, Burnett released her new Carol Burnett Show memoir titled In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox. The book, full of anecdotes about the 1967–1978 variety series, covers the history of how Burnett created the show, how she cast her co-stars, the co-star she once fired (and quickly rehired), and all the show's memorable characters (Mama, Eunice, Mr. Tudball, Mrs. Wiggins, and the rest).

Media

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). Guthy-Renker released another DVD collection, The Carol Burnett Show Collector's Edition.

In August 2012, Time–Life released The Carol Burnett Show - The Ultimate Collection on DVD in Region 1. This 22-disc set features 50 episodes from the series, selected by Burnett. It also contains bonus features, including interviews with the cast, featurettes, sketches that were never aired, and a 24-page commemorative booklet.

In August 2015, Time–Life released The Carol Burnett Show - The Lost Episodes on DVD in Region 1. This 22-disc set features 45 episodes from the series' first five years (1967–72), selected by Burnett. It also contains bonus features, including interviews with the cast, featurettes, and a 24-page commemorative booklet. Previously, due to an ongoing legal battle with the production company Bob Banner Associates, the episodes from those seasons had never appeared in syndication nor been released on home media.