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Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
This is a super interview with the brilliant Carol Burnett and includes an overview of her career.
I grew up watching the Carol Burnett Show and it's still available on various streaming platforms and in bits and pieces on YouTube. Carol coming down the stairs wearing a curtain rod and green drapes in their spoof of "Gone With the Wind" and Harvey and Tim and the dentist sketch are as iconic as anything Monty Python ever created and have aged as gracefully as Ms. Burnett has.
I've read her memoir and it's terrific.
The celebration airs tonight on NBC.
Happy Birthday Carol. I'm so glad we had this time together.
- RadioActive
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
The histories of the Carol Burnett Show, from TV Guide. The first, from 1967, from the Fall Preview Issue, long before anyone knew the show would become a classic. It's remembered for being on Saturday, but it started out on CBS on Monday at 10 PM.
Fast forward to March 1978 and the final Carol Burnett Show after more than a decade was a big deal on CBS.
To Wednesday night on NBC:
- mace
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
You are correct RA. It spent its first four seasons on Mobday night. How could it lose following Gunsmoke/Lucy/Griffith/Mayberry RFD/Family Affair. All top 5 shows. It was a top 30 show for 9 of its 11 seasons peaking at #13 in 1969-70. It was the Love Boat/Fantasy Island combo that sank Carol's show. It also didn't help that Mary was gone, Archie had vacated Saturday night and Bob no longer had a top 30 show.
- mace
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
Carol Burnett finished 44th and 66th in its final two seasons.
- RadioActive
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
I don't normally comment on or even take much notice of people's overall appearance but my God, Carol Burnett does not look anywhere near 90. It's either plastic surgery, great make-up or incredible genes, but man, she looks terrific for someone that age. It was unbelievable.
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
RadioActive wrote:
I don't normally comment on or even take much notice of people's overall appearance but my God, Carol Burnett does not look anywhere near 90. It's either plastic surgery, great make-up or incredible genes, but man, she looks terrific for someone that age. It was unbelievable.
Vicki Lawrence looked good too. She is 74 and it was nice to see her and Carol sitting together. I didn't realize that Julie Andrews was such a good friend. Carol and Julie have been best friends for about six decades. Julie is 87 and as charming and elegant as ever. Nobody picked up the show in Canada, so it will be interesting to see how it did in the overnight ratings for NBC.
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
I PVRed it and am watching it now. It's as sappy as any of these tribute things.
One question, though: Why was it on NBC and not CBS, where the show ran and even made the connection during the opening credits between CBS and the Carol Burnett Show?
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
I'm sure CBS wishes they had it because it did very well in the Nielsens, becoming the most watched show of the night and one of NBC's highest rated specials in three years.
Ratings: NBC’s Carol Burnett 90th Birthday Special Scores Primetime Win With 7.6 Million Viewers
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
She'll be on Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? tonight on CNN at 10pm.
- g121
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
Just watched it. It's a good show but i enjoyed the old clips much more than the fawning & tributes. Carol, Tim, Vicki & Harvey are comic geniuses !! ..
- turkeytop
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
A true comic from the golden ege of TV comedy. A time when lines didn't need sexual inuendo to be funny.
Last edited by turkeytop (April 28, 2023 10:59 pm)
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
Nice interview this evening with Who's Talking To Chris Wallace on CNN. Chris seemed to be a real fan of Carol. Her first special with Julie Andrews in 1962 almost ended up on NBC since CBS wasn't really interested in producing a special with two relatively unknowns. NBC is rerunning the two hour 90th birthday special this Sunday evening at 7pm.
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
I PVRed it and am watching it now. It's as sappy as any of these tribute things.
One question, though: Why was it on NBC and not CBS, where the show ran and even made the connection during the opening credits between CBS and the Carol Burnett Show?
And now we know the answer - the special was offered to CBS, but they declined to buy it.
Carol Burnett Special Scores Huge Ratings for Wrong Network: Why Was It On NBC and Not CBS?
- betaylored
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
Wonder if they'll put it on DVD eventually for Carol's fans "of a certain age", they'd probably sell a whack of them.
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: Comedy Legend Carol Burnett Turns 90 & NBC Throws A Party
According to Showbuzz Daily, the Burnett special easily won the night in total viewers 7.6M. However, the majority of eyeballs fell into the 50+ category at a 14.6 share. The 18-49 share came in at 4.0 for women and 2.7 for men.