Vicki Lawrence’s helmet-haired signature sitcom role grew out of a sketch that originated on "The Carol Burnett Show"; the series ran from 1983-1984 on NBC before getting picked up for first-run syndication, where it continued for four more seasons.

“Betty White and Rue McClanahan were both on the first season,” Lawrence notes, “but before we got picked up in first-run syndication, I lost both of them to The Golden Girls.”

She adds that, at the time, White said that she thought her new series could be a giant success. “She said, ‘I think this could be the one,'” Lawrence recalls. “She was right.”

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