The Carol Burnett Show: The Lost Episodes

A couple of Carol's fellow CBS stars pay a visit to the show. Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert, Nancy Wilson and Petula Clark. Skits: As The Stomach Turns, Folks That Live on the Hill and The Other Man's Grass is Always Greener.

Actress-dancer-singer Chita Rivera as the Black Widow Spider, Harvey Korman is taken to the cleaners by "Alice Portnoy,". In a "Carol and Sis" sketch, Bob Newhart, drops by with his wife. Everyone participates in salute to MGM Studios finale. Carol and Harvey take Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy to strange new heights, while Garbo's first laugh, articulated by Carol, is painful.

Fabray, Tormé and Rickles sounds like a law firm, one that specializes in entertainment. The whole gang takes part in The Tin Pan Alley Story set in New York in the early 1900s. Melvin Potts (Mel) and Phoebe Panz (Carol) seemingly have a bright song-writing future together as Potts and Panz. Life intervenes, hardships abound. Showbiz may not be pretty, but it's pretty darn hilarious.

Carol's good friend Jim Nabors holds the honor of being the first guest star in the CBS network debut of her long-running variety show. Cast members Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence help introduce the first "Carol and Sis" sketch. Lost in her own world, the Charwoman creates an instant dance-floor sensation when she activates Soul Finger by the Bar-Kays.

Bing Crosby and Paul Lynde join the regulars for an unusual evening of song and drama. In the melodramatic closer The Drunkard's Daughter, Carol fights to keep her dad (Bing) off the bottle so they won't lose their house and get tossed out into the snow. Evil bankers Harvey and Paul gleefully sharpen their talons. Will anyone take Paul Lynde to block? This is Hollywood, squares.

Eydie Gorme performs a fine version of A House Is Not a Home. Tim Conway refrains from singing. Instead, he and fellow cop Harvey Korman go undercover to nab a serial mugger.

Burt Reynolds as a stuntman get tested when he croons à la Dean Martin in As Time Goes By. Nanette Fabray is far less physical during the song-and-dance production of It's a Musical World. She and Carol later offer a rousing duet of She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain. Everyone lets it all hang out in The Lavender Pimpernel.

Lesley Ann Warren joins Don Adams, as Carol's special guests. Adams plays late-night show host Donny Bishop, whose striking technical crew has been replaced by inept TV execs. What could go wrong? At least Harvey as Bishop's cackling second banana, Regis McMahon, is having a wonderful time.

This episode was one of the most entertaining hours of TV Carol Burnett ever created, thanks to the talents of Lucille Ball and Tim Conway, Rising star Gloria Loring gets a two-fer with Goin' Out of My Head and Try to Remember. "Carol and Sis" (Vicki Lawrence) tackle the current Peter, Paul & Mary hit I Dig Rock and Roll Music in a groovy production number. Check out the go-go boots.

Tim Conway is such a wickedly funny man that he appeared in many episodes of the show before becoming a full-time cast member in 1975. Big laughs begin once he joins Carol in the audience question-and-answer session. Tim's stand-up routine is completely screwy. The ad libs fly and Tim trots out the fluid shuffle move he perfected in his recurring character "The Oldest Man."

Bobbie Gentry had no choice but to perform...Bugs, promptly followed by The Look of Love. Gwen Verdon keeps the hits coming with a song-and-dance routine Gorgeous Phyllis Diller, covers everything from fashion to bad driving. Phyllis, Gwen, Bobbie and Carol salute the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in full Pepper regalia with three songs from that landmark album.

Carol delivers a withering parody of Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond role in Sunset Boulevard. In one of Burnett's cleverest Charwoman sketches, she and Swanson return to the pre-talkies movie era. Cavorting on-screen as Charlie Chaplin in Silents Is Golden, Swanson beckons Carol to join the story-the adventures of two stars captured in a double fantasy.

Cass Elliot's performs solo. Bernadette Peters follows. Cass plays the heavy-fashion model Suzie Shrimpton-in As the Stomach Turns. Lyle Waggoner staggers into the booth for a Heartbreak Playhouse episode. The Carol, Cass and Bernadette trio performance of You've Got a Friend has a few surprises, but predictably strong vocals enriched by the Mamas & the Papas-styled harmonies.

Steve Lawrence and Carol Channing know how to pick a song. She's also the central figure in As the Stomach Turns, playing Jinx Vandenberg. In a send-up of Academy Award-winning films, Carol and Steve mock the Hepburn-Bogart chemistry in The African Queen. Oscar recipient Channing drones on in her deathless acceptance speech. Carol is Buster Keaton to Steve and Harvey's Laurel and Hardy.

Ruth Buzzi from Laugh-In visits Carol Burnett Show first-timer Jack Jones serves up a pair of winners with I Can't Get Started and 'Cause I Got So Much Lovin' in Me. The real treat is hearing Carol do her famous Tarzan yell in context as the snarling, wild-eyed girl from The Jungle Kook. Kisses tame her, but Jones and Lyle Waggoner quickly run out of pucker power.