The Carol Burnett Show
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The Carol Burnett Show was a sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. It ran on CBS from 1967 to 1978, and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33.
The popular variety show made the stars household names with such hilarious sketches as "As the Stomach Turns", "Went with the Wind" (a parody of Gone with the Wind featuring a memorable scene with Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara in the dress made from a window curtain, complete with rod), "Carol & Sis", "Mrs. Wiggins", "The Family" (which would become Mama's Family), "Nora Desmond" (Burnett's send-up of Gloria Swanson's character in Sunset Boulevard), and "Stella Toddler." With such famous guest stars as Roddy McDowall, Cher, Vincent Price, Dinah Shore, the Jackson 5, Lucille Ball, Shirley MacLaine, Lily Tomlin (and many more) appearing weekly to bring entertainment into the living rooms of Americans all over the country, the long-running show was nominated for many Emmys and won quite a few.
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, didn't 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 travel 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 (the popular spin-off 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 doing comedy sketches of her own.
The show enjoyed success for many years in syndicated reruns (as Carol Burnett and Friends) and has recently been released on VHS and DVD.
In the fall of 2001, the cast of the Carol Burnett Show reunited for a special broadcast entitled , 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 the year of 2004 Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman and Lyle Waggoner made another reunion special featuring Carol's favorite thing, to bump up the lights and see if the audience had any questions.