Series
The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. 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. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."
Episodes
Carol's series premiere guest is Jim Nabors. Highlights of this inaugural edition include: a "V.I.P." interview with Shirley Dimple; Jim and Carol as two misfit skiers in "The Ski Lodge"; the first "Carol and Sis" sketch; and a Broadway medley. Jim sings "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" in Italian, and Carol as the Charwoman sings "Georgy Girl". This episode is noted as Show #003 in the Lost Episodes DVD set.
A "V.I.P." interview sketch satirizing Luci Baines Johnson; Carol and Vicki do a "Sleeping Beauty" skit; guest Sid Caesar plays a father awaiting the birth of his child; Carol and Lyle do a "How Tall Is Your Announcer" segment; a parody of "Star Trek"; guest Liza Minnelli performs "The Debutante's Ball", and duets with Carol on a medley of songs including "Just In Time"; and Sid and the cast do a spoof of the Ziegfeld Follies.
Comic Winters mimics Jackie Gieason; Carol plays a movie star attempting a comeback and a model playing in her first jungle film; in a husband-and-wife routine Carol and Harvey can't seem to remember the names of their guests.
Two women (Carol and guest Lucille Ball) go to the "Café Argentine" whose staff includes a goose-stepping maitre d' (Harvey); Carol plays a housewife fighting off a recalcitrant washing machine and attacking pigeons, only to end up impaled by a medieval lance; "Carol and Sis" sing a rendition of "I Dig Rock and Roll Music"; guest Tim Conway plays a bumbling TV news anchor; two rent-a-car employees (Carol, Lucy) vie for the attentions of a traveler (Tim); guest Gloria Loring performs "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Try to Remember"; a woman (Carol) experiences the downside of marrying a superhero (Harvey); and Carol and Lucy sing and dance to a barroom medley. This episode is noted as Show #006 in the Lost Episodes DVD set.
A "V.I.P." sketch about Miss America; Carol, Harvey and guest Imogene Coca perform a coffee commercial sketch; guest Lainie Kazan performs a "Sunnyside"/"Silver Lining" medley, and duets with Carol on "Watch What Happens"; Carol and Harvey play "Bonnie and Clod"; a "Little Pianos" production number with the cast and dancers; and the Charwoman does a striptease pantomime and sings "There's No Business Like Show Business".
Carol plays the wife of a monster in "Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde"; a routine from guest Phyllis Diller; musical numbers from guests Gwen Verdon ("The 59th Street Bridge Song") and Bobbie Gentry ("The Look of Love"); Carol and Vicki in a foreign exchange sketch; and a "Sgt. Pepper" production number. This episode is noted as Show #008 in the Lost Episodes DVD set.
Carol and Lyle performing exercises; the Smothers Brothers doing a sketch, singing "John Henry" and joined by Carol on "Pretoria"; guest Richard Kiley sings "The Impossible Dream"; guest Diahann Carroll sings "The Rules of the Road" and "Where Am I Going?", and duets with Richard on "The Sweetest Sound I Never Heard"; and Carol and Diahann perform a haunted house production number.
A spoof of French, Polish and Japanese airline service; A "V.I.P." interview sketch with Carol as a nudist; an office triangle sketch; Carol and Nanette perform "Bosom Buddies"; Cher performs "You Better Sit Down Kids"; Sonny & Cher sing "Living for You"; and the whole cast performs "Take Me Along".
Carol and guest Richard Chamberlain attempt to make Lyle jealous; an airport interview with a "Mother of the Year"; musical numbers from Carol and the dancers ("Everybody's Gotta Be Someplace"), Richard with the dancers and singers ("Lazy Day"), and guest Gloria Loring ("A Taste of Honey" and "I've Gotta Be Me"); Carol and Vicki perform "Sisters Galore" sketch, and they and the dancers perform "Ballin' the Jack".
A "Sleeping Beauty" production number; a legs and mouth sketch; a "V.I.P." sketch satirizing Lynda Bird Johnson's wedding; musical numbers from guests Juliet Prowse ("The Fleet's In") and Martha Raye ("After You've Gone"); a sketch about ESP; and Carol as the Charwoman sings "Young and Foolish".
A "Jolly Green Thing" sketch; guest Lesley Ann Warren and the dancers perform "The Best Is Yet to Come"; a strike sketch parodying Joey Bishop's and Johnny Carson's talk shows; Harvey and guest Don Adams perform a "Two Feathers" sketch; Carol performs "Enter Laughing"; and a production number set to "All God's Children". This episode is noted as Show #013 in the Lost Episodes DVD set.
Guests Jonathan Winters and Barbara Eden join Carol for the opening question-and-answer segment; a "V.I.P." interview segment with Jonathan as Santa Claus; Carol and Vicki in a sketch about a surprise party; Barbara and dancers perform "Bend It"; guest Leonard Nimoy in a sketch about "Mrs. Invisible Man"; Carol and Barbara perform a duet about magic ("Prestidigitation"); Carol as the Charwoman in a playground sketch, and singing "I Believed It All".
A husband-wife sketch, with Carol and Mickey as a rich and bored twosome; a slapstick skit about a western filmed in Germany; Carol becomes a TV cooking expert high on wine; a spoof on "The Dating Game"; John Davidson sings "There's a Kind of Hush"; and the whole cast cavorts in a takeoff of old movie musicals.
Highlights of this Christmas edition include: guest Sid Caesar demonstrating self-defense; Carol and Sid as a couple who quarrel on Christmas night; Sid, Carol and Harvey in a sketch that takes place in ancient Rome; guest Ella Fitzgerald sings "A Foggy Day" and "Always True to You in My Fashion"; Carol performs "Bare Necessities", and as the Charwoman sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; and a cameo by Jonathan Winters.
A sketch about a tourist couple at an airport; Carol and Vicki duetting on "Puppy Love"; Mike singing "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" and "Born Free"; and a Shakespeare production number
Carol's guest Lana Turner sings "Heavenly Music" while dancing with the Lester Flatt troop. Frank Gorshin does impressions then becomes Bluebeard with Carol his 13th wife. Carol and Harvey are a bickering couple on a game show.
Highlights include: "The Swinging 6 O'Clock News"; a "V.I.P." interview with the wife of the Jolly Green Giant; and musical numbers from guests Trini López ("Sally Was a Good Old Girl" and "Sonny") and Ken Berry ("Mack the Knife"); and a takeoff of "Show Boat".
In a hospital sketch, Nurse Carol gives the heave-ho (again out a window) to her idol, entitled "international sex symbol" Harvey. Oscar winners Shirley Jones and George Chakiris offer classy musical interludes -- Shirley with a Broadway medley of "When Did I Fall in Love" and "Somebody Somewhere", and sleek George performing a smoldering Greek love dance.
Winters and Carol play television fans who talk like TV commercials. Recording star Dionne Warwick sings the theme from "Valley of the Dolls" and "This Little Light of Mine". A "Carol and Sis" sketch spoofs women's current hair-dos. In a hospital sketch, Korman interviews a medical administrator, looks in on a doctor-nurse romance and gets a report from a rare maternity case. In other musical numbers, Miss Warwick joins Miss Burnett in a duet, "T'morra, T'morra" and Miss Burnett solos "Come Rain or Come Shine".
In a musical sketch, Jack Palance plays a Svengali turning Trilby (Carol) into a star; in another skit, Jack presides over a Mafia meeting with Carol as his secretary; Liza Minnelli is co-featured in clown costume with Carol, singing and dancing to "Big Beautiful Ball"; in the "Carol and Sis" skit, Carol and Harvey Korman cope with a hippie caller.
Harvey interviews Queen Elizabeth (Carol) in another "V.I.P." segment; Betty performs "Hello, Dolly!" with the dancers in a barn dance motif; in the first episode of recurring "As the Stomach Turns" sketches, Betty plays an amnesiac and Martha is a widow about to marry the town athlete (Lyle); five finalists compete for the First Annual Beautiful Legs contest; "Carol and Sis" get a visit from Uncle Burt and Aunt Molly; Carol and Martha duet on "Just One of Those Things", and for the close they and Betty perform a musical number as members of the "Mobsters' Molls Society", with "That Old Gang of Mine" as the centerpiece and the dancers as policemen.
Carney plays a garbage collector who has a jealous wife (Burnett), with Nanette rounding out the triangle in one skit. In another, Carney and Carol play stunned parents when son Harvey Korman brings a mermaid home to meet the folks. In a musical number Burnett, Fabray and Carney scoot about on roller skates. Also, Carol and Nanette mimic child movie stars at the Academy Awards, Carol interviews Korman for a change, and Vicki Lawrence does a song and dance.
Gary sings "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"; in "Science Fiction Playhouse," two Martians come to Earth to learn about the new "secret weapon" of television; in "That Wonderful Year", a reenactment of key moments from the year 1937; Gary sings "The Night is Young and You're So Beautiful"; the Broadway musical "Golden Boy" is parodied, featuring a powerful boxer with very poor aim; a parody of South-Sea island melodramas in which Burnett is a captured island native set to be sacrificed.
Carol and guest Imogene join together to portray Congressional wives, astronauts in space still dealing with earthly romances and Olympic athletes with different approaches concerning men. Korman is the neglectful husband Dracula. Mel solos "That's All"
Jack Jones and Lyle Waggoner try to subdue a couple of Amazons (Carol and Ruth Buzzi) with kisses. Jack sings "I Can't Get Started With You" and "Cause I Got So Much Lovin' In Me". Tim Conway and Carol play a computer-matched couple. The finale has Jones and Burnett in a bouncy production number titled "Hoe-down Time". This episode is noted as Show #016 in the Lost Episodes DVD set.
Newlywed sketch; Miss Loring sings "Little Girl Blue" and "Don’t Tie Me Down." Soupy Sales is featured in a musical comedy production number, built around "Real Live Girl".
In "Carol and Sis", the girls are panic-stricken after watching a horror movie late at night; Carol and Minnie play two country women visiting Paris; a spoof of "Bonnie and Clyde"; Carol plays a Mary Poppin's style mail order bride for an Amazon plantation owner; and a medley of songs from MGM musicals.
Conway plays an Apache chief, the first Indian president of the United States; Shani Wallis and Miss Burnett appear as bloomer girls in song-and-dance production "Good Enough for Grandma's Fancy"; Miss Wallis sings "It Had To Be You"; Miss Burnett sings "Meantime"; Burnett and Korman play a 90-year-old couple taking an after-dinner breather on their patio.
A feminine spoof of "I Spy"; Sid, Carol and Harvey play gypsies attempting to untangle various personal complications; Harvey interviews silent movie stars Pico and Rivera; Carol and Harvey play soap opera stars plagued by a drunken sound effects man; and musical numbers including Carol as the charwoman singing "If I Ruled the World", and Barbara performing "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" and "The Second Time Around".
Carol plays a housewife driven mad by TV commercials; Carol and Harvey carry on as the 90-year-old couple; Harvey plays an elegant bachelor in a musical comedy; a satire of a Rock 'n Roll band named the Banana Wristwatch.
Cast
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