Carol Burnett years 1-5 finally on DVD
Rights disputes have held release, but the comedy still shines
The Carol Burnett Show almost didn’t happen. It took the beloved performer’s backbone and ironclad language in an expiring contract to overcome the opposition of a CBS executive who said variety was a man’s game. He suggested the rising star try a sitcom.
“Can you picture that? ‘Heeere’s Agnes,’ Burnett says, drawing out the suggested series title in a deep, goofy voice and then imagining a silly series theme: “Deedle, deet-deet, deet-- deet-deet.
“I thought: ‘I don’t want to be the same character every week. Variety is what I know. I love doing the different characters and different sketches every week,’ ” Burnett says during an interview at SAG/AFTRA, the creative artists’ union that will honor Burnett for lifetime achievement at its awards ceremony in January.
Burnett, who grew up with hopes of a Broadway career, held firm and got her show, one that would run from 1967 to 1978, earn big ratings and 25 Emmys and establish itself as a variety classic. Now, after the resolution of rights disputes that kept the first five seasons shelved for more than 40 years, fans can see a sampling of 16 episodes (with guest interviews and a backstage tour with the stars) in a new six-disc DVD collection, The Carol Burnett Show: The Lost Episodes (available Tuesday in stores, $59.95). Two larger, pricier collections — 45 episodes and more bonus programming on 22 DVDs — are available at TimeLife.com.
The collection features the show’s first episode, in which Burnett introduces her ensemble cast, including talented veteran Harvey Korman, comedy ingénue Vicki Lawrence (a teen hired partly because of her resemblance to Burnett for the “Carol & Sis” sketches) and dreamboat announcer Lyle Waggoner. (Tim Conway, a frequent guest star famed for making Korman laugh during sketches, did not become a regular until Season 9.)
Burnett, 82, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, says younger viewers as well as older ones will be interested in the episodes, which also feature her signature audience Q&As
“Funny is funny. Because of YouTube, I’m getting fan mail from 10-year-olds and teenagers and college kids,” she says. “You look at the dentist sketch with Harvey and Tim. That’s over 40 years old. I dare anyone to look at that today and not crack up.”
The episodes show how various popular sketches got their start. “There was the first time we did the take-off on the soap opera, As the Stomach Turns. There was the first time Harvey and I did the old folks. There was the first time we did the takeoff on the backstage movie musicals.
“It’s going to be fun for an audience to see.”