If my siblings and I were good, my mother would allow us to stay up until 11pm to watch 'The Carol Burnett Show' each Saturday night in the 1970s.To say Carol, along with her co-stars Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Vicki Lawrence, were talented and funny would be an understatement. Each Saturday at 10pm, Carol and the aforementioned regulars, along with some 'special guest stars' (such as Steve Lawrence, Betty White, Roddy McDowall, and Julie Andrews, to mention a few) would sing, dance, and perform the absolute funniest skits ever seen on American television.Who could forget Carol's "Eunice" constantly being belittled and nagged by Vicki's "Momma"? Carol's "Mrs. Wh-Whiggins" was a riot, along with Tim's "Mr. Tudball", and perhaps the funniest segments were those with both Tim and Harvey. The audience never seemed to mind it when Harvey lost control and laughed out of character.Today's Hollywood elitist performers could learn a lot from this classic TV show: Carol Burnett and her co-stars entertained us for ten years without foul language, tasteless humor, sexual innuendo, or inserting politics. On the contrary, Tim, Harvey, Vicki, and Carol conducted themselves as professionals.This show is classic American comedy for all ages. I highly recommend this outstanding program.

The Carol Burnette Show was the last in a long line of variety shows that stretched back into radio and even vaudeville days. The focus was on skit comedy, but if the guest was a singer or musician, they would usually get a chance to show their chops doing what they were good at. I was 23 when Carol Burnette went off the air in 1978 and I was conscious that this was the sunset of a genre of entertainment that had been in my awareness from earliest memory. When Carol Burnette premiered in the fall of 1967, she shared the prime-time network schedule with programs such as Hollywood Palace, The Danny Thomas Hour, Red Skelton, Jerry Lewis, The Kraft Music Hall, Dean Martin, Lawrence Welk, Jackie Gleason, The Ed Sullivan Show and the Smothers Brothers. Some of these shows dated back to the earliest days of television with hosts and performers some of whom dated back to radio and even vaudeville days. When Carol Burnette ended in 1978, it was over. Prime-time entertainment was skewed to an 18-35 demographic (which was me!) and the schedule was dominated by vapid sitcoms and prime-time soaps. You can count the shows worth remembering on one hand. The thing thing about variety and skit comedy shows was that you did not need a long attention span. You could tune into the program at any point and something fresh would start within moments. NBC's Saturday Night Live is one such show that still survives, but it's on at late-night. It would be history if it were aired at any other time, and a short history at that. It's too bad, because variety TV was fun TV and everyone in the family could enjoy it.

The jewel in the crown on CBS's Saturday night comedies. In one night you saw All in the Family, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, bob Newhart, and Carol Burnett. There was never that much great comedy on one evening, before or after. Must-see TV years before NBC. Me and my family stayed glued to the set from 8 to 11. A great cast and consistently funny; I found out later that several Mad magazine writers were on the staff. I did get tired of Harvey Korman breaking up very week... but opposite Tim Conway, who could resist? I remember a sketch where Harvey was in a dentist chair; Tim was the dentist. All was going well... until Tim injected the Novocaine into himself and not his patient. Various parts of his body went numb. I remember him slapping his dangling right hand with his left--the numb hand swung back and forth like a half-filled water balloon. Then the left half of his face went slack. Then the right. The his right leg gave out and he had to sit on the chair with Harvey. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard, and poor Harvey almost slid out of his chair with laughter. A class act, all the way. It's a shame Harvey Korman never went on to comedy stardom, when marginally talented folks like Adam Sandler became millionaires.

"THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW",was an eleven year staple of CBS Television. During its run on the air,the show was the second-oldest prime-time series in the history of television,and the third longest-running musical-variety-comedy show on the air,which premiered on the network September 11,1967 and ending its astounding run on April 12,1978. It is in an era in which variety shows were rapidly disappearing from television,THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW,survived for more than a decade. The life span for other variety series in the 1970's rarely exceeded two or three seasons,and their total number had dwindled substantially from the heyday of variety shows in the 1950's and well into the 1960's. Only Carol Burnett managed to remain popular and successful which prove to be a solid ratings winner for CBS. The small nucleus of her regular cast remained constant for several years,with none of her original supporting troupes leaving until 1974(which consisted of actors Harvey Korman,Lyle Waggoner,and Vicki Lawrence). It was their chemistry that helped hold the show together. The binding force,however,was Carol Burnett herself,who was one of television's most versatile performers,who could sing,dance,act,clown,and mime with equal facility. Over the years,certain basic aspects of the show remained the same. There was in one point in each telecast,usually at the beginning,when Carol and the evening's guest star would answer questions from the studio audience,which was based from CBS Television City Studios in Hollywood. The comedy sketches to this day are considered "comedy classics" and let me explained way.From comedy sketches that spoof TV shows,I do mean shows from the decade of the 1970's,popular movies,or other forms of mass entertainment that made THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW one of the most loved variety shows of all time. One of the most loved comediennes performers to this day. Several sketches are consider classics including "As The Stomach Turns","Went With The Wind","Mr. Tudball and Mrs. Wiggins",and lets not forget the classic sketch of "Ed and Eunice"(which several years later ran as a series titled "Mama's Family" during the 1980's),which starred Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman as an uptight married couple constantly at odds with Eunice's mother,played brilliantly by Vicki Lawrence. Many more sketches were just as hilarious and were uplandishly funny.Speaking about the cast,only actors Vicki Lawrence and Carol Burnett remained throughout the show's entire 11-year run. Lyle Waggoner left the series in 1974 to pursue other interests,particularly starring opposite Lynda Carter in the "Wonder Woman" series of the 1970's. It was there that after Waggoner left the show in 1974,other frequent guests included Jim Nabors,one of Carol's closest friends,and also actor Ken Berry. However,during the show's 1975-1976 season,that guest star Tim Conway joined the regular cast in the fall of that year and would remained until the show's final season,ending in 1978. The heartbreak came during the show's final season(1977-1978)that actor Harvey Korman decided to leave the series,which was a loss that was felt deeply by the entire cast. He was replaced by long time guest star Dick Van Dyke,who left the show three months after he had arrived. He was replaced by semi-regular guest stars Ken Berry and Steve Lawrence,but the ratings were beginning to slip dramatically. By the fall of 1978,after eleven years on the air,the show was about to face an upcoming end. The series final episode was a two-hour finale that premiered on April 12,1978. However,repeats were aired during the summer of 1978,and during the summer of 1979,and later into syndication under the title,"CAROL BURNETT AND FRIENDS",which were edited into a series of half-hour shows from the original series to be repeated for local stations.