TJ
08-27-2012, 01:17 AM
Carol Burnett is back on DVD, and bigger than ever! Time-Life brings their first release of the classic comedy series, The Carol Burnett Show, to DVD in style with a 22 disc set containing 50 episodes and over 20 hours of special features! For those unfamiliar with the series, The Carol Burnett Show began in 1967 on CBS. Carol wasn't the first person to have a variety series on the air. In fact, she had plenty of company in the genre... but she was one of the first females to have her own variety series. Along with a cast including Lyle Waggoner, Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and others, the series went on to air through 1978, long after the other variety series had already left the airwaves.
Many of the other variety series focused a lot on performances by special guest stars, but The Carol Burnett Show was a little different. The series used the core cast along with a guest star or two (or sometimes none at all) to create a sketch comedy series, with each sketch lasting up to 20 minutes or more at times. That isn't to say that there weren't performances by guest stars, but they never dominated the series and typically would have their performance, along with the opportunity to act in some of the sketches. Every sketch was pure comedy gold, from the movie parodies, commercial parodies, and of course, the regular characters established in the series such as Mrs. Wiggins and The Family. The series has had little (if any) airplay in reruns aside from edited half hour episodes entitled Carol Burnett and Friends, where some of the best clips were excised from episodes to create a syndication package. There were a few DVD "clubs" offering DVDs for $20, but those have since ceased operations... so now, we are left with Time-Life, which gives us fifty episodes, a majority (though not all) of which are uncut, of the series in one nice collection!
Read our review here:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/thecarolburnettshowtheultimatecollectiondvdreview.html
Please post any questions or comments about the set.
Many of the other variety series focused a lot on performances by special guest stars, but The Carol Burnett Show was a little different. The series used the core cast along with a guest star or two (or sometimes none at all) to create a sketch comedy series, with each sketch lasting up to 20 minutes or more at times. That isn't to say that there weren't performances by guest stars, but they never dominated the series and typically would have their performance, along with the opportunity to act in some of the sketches. Every sketch was pure comedy gold, from the movie parodies, commercial parodies, and of course, the regular characters established in the series such as Mrs. Wiggins and The Family. The series has had little (if any) airplay in reruns aside from edited half hour episodes entitled Carol Burnett and Friends, where some of the best clips were excised from episodes to create a syndication package. There were a few DVD "clubs" offering DVDs for $20, but those have since ceased operations... so now, we are left with Time-Life, which gives us fifty episodes, a majority (though not all) of which are uncut, of the series in one nice collection!
Read our review here:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/thecarolburnettshowtheultimatecollectiondvdreview.html
Please post any questions or comments about the set.