The Carol Burnett Show - The Show

The Show

In addition to Carol Burnett, the cast consisted of:

• Vicki Lawrence
• Harvey Korman (seasons 1–10)
• Lyle Waggoner (seasons 1–7)
• Tim Conway (seasons 8–11)
• 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. He left the show after its tenth season, and was replaced in the fall of 1977 by Dick Van Dyke. Lyle Waggoner, who often played a self-absorbed Adonis and did a lot of skit narration, left the series in 1974 to pursue a dramatic acting career and the next year was cast in Wonder Woman. Vicki Lawrence, a young singer from the Johnny Mann Singers, joined the series shortly after its start. Lawrence wrote a letter to Burnett when she was 17, remarking on her physical resemblance to the comic actress. She was initially hired to play Burnett's kid sister in numerous "Carol and Sis" skits. Lawrence was the only other cast member apart from Burnett to continue with the series through 1977.

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 parody of Gone with the Wind), "Carol & Sis", "Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins", "The Family" (which would lead to a made-for-TV movie, titled Eunice, as well as 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 unique feature consisted of an unrehearsed question-and-answer segment with the audience in CBS Studio 33 lasting about 3–4 minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett would ask for the lights to be turned up and then randomly pick audience members who raised their hands. This informality was possibly 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. Burnett would often ad-lib 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 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.

A recurring guest star from the show's launch and later a regular cast member, Tim 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." 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), would be edited, the uncensored version only appearing years later on CBS specials. Conway's favorite victim was Harvey Korman, who would often break character reacting to Conway's zaniness, such as when Conway played a dentist misusing Novocain or the recurring role of "The Old 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 the following lyrics:

I'm so glad we had this time together

Just to have a laugh or sing a song

Seems we just get started and before you know it

Comes the time we have to say, "So long."

At the close of each episode Burnett would tug 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 (E.S.T.) 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 1969–1970 season, it posted its highest rating ever, ranking at #13.) In the fall of 1971, CBS moved the show to Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm (E.S.T.) 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 (E.S.T.) 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, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Bob Newhart Show.

In the spring of 1977, 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. During the 1976–1977 season, the series ranked 35th. Nevertheless, CBS renewed Burnett's show for the 1977–1978 season.

Dick Van Dyke 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 Fantasy Island. 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 p.m. 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. 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, The Carol Burnett Show left prime-time television after eleven years, finishing its last season in 43rd place. Reruns were aired during the summer of 1978.