The Carol Burnett Show

Carol Burnett had a 10-year contract with CBS that guaranteed her a variety show if she chose to 'push the button' within the first five years; when she did, network head Michael Dann initially tried to offer her a sitcom called Here's Agnes instead, calling variety a 'man's genre', but was contractually obliged to give her the variety show.

Harvey Korman was previously a semi-regular on The Danny Kaye Show, and Burnett, already an admirer of his sketch work there, insisted he be signed as soon as that series ended.

Lyle Waggoner had auditioned for the title role in ABC's Batman series but lost the part to Adam West; shortly afterward he auditioned for Burnett's show and was hired immediately.

Vicki Lawrence was a 17-year-old singer with The Young Americans who wrote Burnett a letter noting their physical resemblance, which led directly to her audition and casting as Burnett's kid sister.

Dick Van Dyke was brought in to replace Harvey Korman for season 11, but it was quickly agreed he wasn't a good fit and he left the show after only 10 episodes.

Each episode featured an unrehearsed audience question-and-answer segment at the start of the show, a concept Burnett borrowed from her mentor Garry Moore, though he never actually taped his version.

During the show's two Friday tapings, Tim Conway would play sketches straight in the first taping but improvise bizarre, unrehearsed bits—known on set as 'Conway's Capers'—during the second, often targeting Harvey Korman, who frequently broke character laughing.

Some of Conway's most outrageous ad-libs, such as a convoluted story about Siamese elephants joined at the trunk during a 1977 'Mama's Family' sketch, were too risqué for broadcast and only surfaced years later on CBS specials.

Costume designer Bob Mackie, who created an estimated 17,000 outfits for the show including the iconic curtain dress from the 'Went with the Wind!' sketch (now in the Smithsonian), also devised comedic touches like Mrs. Wiggins's tight skirt, which Burnett was told to fill by sticking her bottom out, creating the character's signature walk.

For 'older woman' costumes, such as Norma Desmond or Charo's mother, Mackie stuffed rice into the undergarments instead of cotton so the fake sagging breasts would have realistic weight and movement while the characters walked or danced.

At the end of every episode, Burnett tugged her ear as a silent message to her grandmother who raised her, a tradition she continued even after her grandmother's death.

The show's closing theme song was written by Burnett's husband and producer Joe Hamilton.

The November 1976 sketch 'Went with the Wind!', a parody of Gone with the Wind, aired the week after that film's television debut on NBC and became one of the show's most celebrated sketches, later ranked number 53 on TV Guide's list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.