Carol Burnett is so glad we had this time together, as she sang in her signature song. Now, she's added a lot more time, and a lot more songs, to be glad about.
Since its original run from 1967 to 1978, most viewers have seen only heavily chopped versions of "The Carol Burnett Show," and many fans had no idea that singing and dancing were an essential part of a series that was actually more classic variety show than modern comedy sketch show.
"What we were doing in essence was kind of like a Broadway musical revue every week, kind of like vaudeville, with sketches and then musical numbers. And of course in television the "v" of vaudeville became the "v" of variety show," Burnett told the Associated Press this week. "The problem was, when we went into syndication all those years ago, they cut it down to a half-hour, and all the music was cut out."
But now, 65 episodes drawn from the show's 11 seasons on CBS, which brought it 25 Emmy Awards, have been revived and expanded, most to their original hour length under the title "The Best of The Carol Burnett Show," and can be seen streaming for the first time on services including Tubi and the Roku Channel.
The expanded shows also stand as a tribute to the members of the cast who have died, a couple very recently. Harvey Korman died in 2008, Tim Conway died last year, and Lyle Waggoner died in March.
"It's just me and Vicki [Lawrence] now," Burnett said with a sigh. "We miss our gang."
Associated Press
