70's Television - The Carol Burnett Show - Essay Example

The Carol Burnett Show In the summer of 1966 the NBC Peacock was the first time the "all color" television was seen by the American public. Everyonewas excited because it was the first time that people could sit in front of their television and see more than the monochrome that was a part of everyday life. Those old television sets only had a few channels and if you lived in a small town they were designated as Channels 3,5 and 8. People were excited because they could watch many televisions shows starting with "Mission Impossible, " "The Green Hornet," "Batman" and the pilot for the very first "Star Trek." These were great programs and people could actually see them in color. This was a time when people were deeply involved with the Hippie movement, people wore bell bottom jeans and wore peace signs and the nation first heard the sounds of recording artists like David Bowie and The Beetles. (Mishkind). By this time the nation had also seen the assassination of Malcolm X, and had had all ready lost one of the most beloved presidents of all time to assassination, John F. Kennedy three years early. This was a time when people were protesting for their civil rights with Martin Luther King leading many marches in Selma Alabama and other southern states to bring equal rights to blacks in America. The Walk of Peace was created in New York City to protest the Vietnam War; it drew a small crowd of 10,000 people. These events shaped the culture of Baby Boomers as they donned their Hippie attire or corporate suits to show the world their individualism and to protest anything worth protesting at the time. Many young adults "tuned in and tuned out" with Timothy OLeary with the drug LSD that was becoming more popular than marijuana for some people. By 1967, television was seeing a variety of sitcoms and variety shows that attempted to entertain the American public. People were able to sit at home and watching fantasy shows like "Batman" and "Bewitched" and more. By 1967, "Batman" was the hottest television show with Burt Ward and Adam West heading the show with a host of criminals like "Catwoman," "The Joker, " and "The Riddler." It was silly, campy and funny with its weird camera angles and jocularity; and we cant forget "Rocky and Bullwinkle" (Ingram). Within all of this fun in September of 1967 audiences would be totally immersed in one of the most popular shows of all time: The Carol Burnett Show. Carol Burnett and her host of characters was joined by Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, Tim Conway, and Vickie Lawrence with one single goal: to make people laugh. The show is classified as a "musical comedy" and it was a variety show that was able to link "modern television age with Tin Pan Alley and the Golden Ages of motion pictures and television" (The Museum of Broadcast Communications par. 1). What seemed to make the program work was the fact that it was fun. Burnett came from a middle class background and the skits were based on situations that were probably ones that she knew well. Many skits showed office workers or common everyday situations. As an example, Vickey Lawrence often played "Mama" to the characters of Eunice and others who lived in a very middle class and very dysfunctional family. In fact, people liked this so much that "Mama" became a permanent fixture for television audiences in "Mamas Family" a spinoff of the Carol Burnett Show. What also worked was the fact that Carol Burnett was not a beautiful woman and but she always started her monologue in the beginning of the show in a Bob Mackie evening gown; she also pulled on her ear as her signal to her grandmother. She was portrayed as a down home, earthy woman who was funny with lots of energy. One of her classic skits was "Went With The Wind" in which she parodied the movie, "Gone With the Wind." In the skit she wears a dress that was made out of the curtains in the house, complete with a curtain rod: the dress was a Bob Mackie original. Mackie is most noted for his use of sequins and his sometimes outrageous costumes. He could design very simple outfits which he did for the rest of the show or he could design anything in between. Carol Burnett was a very fashionable lady of the times as she wore many clothes that were at the height of fashion. According to Paperpast Yearbook, Fashion in 1967 was a mixture of soft colors that spoke to romance and a "sentimental moodiness." There were influences from Prerevolutionary Russia which meant Cossack blouses that buttoned down on the shoulder and long Kremlin coats complete with fur and a hand muff. These styles were shown in many of the program sequences on the Carol Burnett show. She was often seen in the simple styles of this time period. Central to the shows success was her interaction with her studio audience. Long before Oprah and Ellen spoke to their audiences Burnett would do her monologue in the beginning and then end each show with a short question and answer period where she would allow audience members to ask her anything. Sometimes they would be invited on stage to give her a hug, a kiss on the cheek or flowers. This brought an earthiness to her that other shows did not show. Burnett was also quirky with her "Tarzan Yell" and often people requested to hear it during the show. This became one of her signatures like the ear tug. Her skits were also poignant because she would do things that were unexpected. One of her signature skits is the car woman who is seen in a building scrubbing the floors and then does a stripper routine when no one was looking. There were other variety shows that were watched during this time that were funny but different. The Smothers Brothers ran for three seasons and debuted in January of 1967. This show was created for two brothers where Tommy was quirky but the brothers sometimes had challenges with each other that were not always funny. They did not play to the audience the way that Carol Burnett did and consequently left the airways. The Ed Sullivan Show was another variety show but his was different. He was more interested in spotlighting new talent and bringing stars onto the show that were moving up. He also showcased new talent and introduced The Beatles which become an overnight sensation in America (The Museum of Broadcast Communications, "Sullivan"). There is no doubt that the Carol Burnett Show had glamour, glitz and just plain fun. It made fun of a lot of television shows and movies. Burnett enjoyed spoofing old movies more than those of her time. In addition to "Went With The Wind" she also created a series of skits with a Nora Desmond character that was a spoof of the movie, "Sunset Boulevard". The Carol Burnett Show ended in 1978 which was an 11 year run. This is important to note because the producers of the show originally gave her 12 weeks thinking that a woman could not carry a show for an hour. Over that span of time the show has won 22 Emmy Awards. Burnett has had several television specials over the years that were very well watched. She is still acting today at the age of 75 and recently had a voice roll in "Horton Hears a Who." (Ostrow 2007). Works Cited Goodman, Bonnie. "Timeline of the 1960s". 18 January 2009 . The Museum of Broadcast Communications. "The Carol Burnett Show: U.S. Comedy/Variety Show". 19 January 2009 < http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv /C/htmlC/carolburnett/carolburnett.htm. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. "The Ed Sullivan Show: U.S. Variety Show". 19 January 2009 < http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/ carolburnett/carolburnett.htm. Read More