Carol & Company

Carol & Company is an American comedy anthology television series starring Carol Burnett, Jeremy Piven, Meagen Fay, Terry Kiser, Anita Barone, Richard Kind and Peter Krause that aired for two seasons on NBC from March 31, 1990, to July 20, 1991.[1]

For the 1979 comedy-variety series, see Carol Burnett & Company.
Carol & Company
GenreComedy anthology
Developed byMatt Williams
David McFadzean
Written byMarilyn Anderson
Dana Coen
Directed byWill Mackenzie
Marian Deaton
Andrew D. Weyman
StarringCarol Burnett
Anita Barone
Meagen Fay
Richard Kind
Terry Kiser
Peter Krause
Jeremy Piven
Theme music composerDan Foliart
Howard Pearl
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes33 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesTouchstone Television
Wind Dancer Productions
Kalola Productions
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseMarch 31, 1990 (1990-03-31) –
May 4, 1991 (1991-05-04)

Overview

Carol & Company began as a mid-season replacement from March 31 to June 2, 1990, and was subsequently picked up for a full season that ran from September 22, 1990, until July 20, 1991.

Unlike Carol Burnett's previous variety shows, Carol & Company was an anthology series that applied an unusual repertory approach to television comedy. Every week, Burnett and her fellow players (Krause, Piven, Fay, Kiser, Barone and Kind) performed a different half-hour comedy playlet. Only the performers remained the same from week to week; there were no ongoing characters or plots, although there were guest stars from time to time including Betty White, Christopher Reeve, Swoosie Kurtz and Burnett's daughter Carrie Hamilton. In 1991, Burnett's cohort, Tim Conway, made a cameo appearance as an audience member in the episode, "That Little Extra Something."

Shortly after the series' cancellation, Burnett switched back to her former network CBS to star in a short-lived revival of The Carol Burnett Show that aired from November 1 to December 27, 1991. It featured a new ensemble cast, including two Carol & Company players (Meagen Fay and Richard Kind) along with Jessica Lundy, Rick Aviles, Chris Barnes, Roger Kabler and weekly guest stars such as Vicki Lawrence, Martin Short, B.B. King and Jim Nabors. However, the series failed to catch on with the public and only nine episodes of this revival were aired.[2]

Episodes

Season 1 (1990)
Nº Title Airdate
1"Bump in the Night"March 31, 1990 (1990-03-31)
Lois Carlyle (Burnett) is a wife fed up with her cold, sexist philandering husband (Kind) who hires a hit-man named Brian Beckworth (Kiser) out of the phone book to kill him.
2"Reunion"April 7, 1990 (1990-04-07)
Georgette (Burnett) is a trans woman attending the 30th reunion at her high school. Swoosie Kurtz guest stars as Georgette’s ex-girlfriend from school.
3"Mother from Hell"April 14, 1990 (1990-04-14)
A devoted mother (Burnett) is fed up with her two lazy, ungrateful adult offspring so she sues them for the money she spend on them throughout their adult lives.
4"In-Laws Should Be Outlawed"April 21, 1990 (1990-04-21)
Two practical jokers have to cool it when they meet their prospective in-laws, a deadly duo into munitions.
5"Battle of the Exes"April 28, 1990 (1990-04-28)
Dr. Elaine Daniels (Burnett) learns that her ex-husband/co-worker, Dr. Arthur Daniels (Alex Rocco), is dating a younger woman and to make him jealous, she flaunts a much younger man under Arthur's nose.
6"Soap Gets in Your Eyes"May 5, 1990 (1990-05-05)
Barbara (Burnett), a fading soap opera star who feels threatened by an up-and-coming actress, learns a painful truth from Sam (Robert Guillaume) the security guard.
7"Myna and the Messenger"May 12, 1990 (1990-05-12)
Myna Bouleray (Burnett), a small town resident, heeds advice from an angel (Howie Mandel) who suggests that she gamble her life's savings in Atlantic City to save her nearly bankrupt church.
8"The Fabulous Bicker Girls"May 26, 1990 (1990-05-26)
Babe and Baby Bicker (Burnett and daughter Carrie Hamilton), a mother/daughter singing duo, feel their act may be threatened when Bobby (Robert Urich) comes between them.
9"Kruber Alert"June 2, 1990 (1990-06-02)
Sally Trickleson (Burnett) is an irate, love-sick listener who storms into a radio station and confronts the pop psychologist announcer Dr. Doris Kruber (Glenda Jackson) during a live call-in program.

Season 2 (1990–91)
Nº Title Airdate
10"Grandma Gets It On"September 22, 1990 (1990-09-22)
Lillian Preskin (Burnett) is a frisky 82-year-old senior citizen who still has an eye for the gentlemen at her nursing home, much to the consternation of her daughter (Fay) who threatens to send her mother to a home run by nuns if she engages once more in sex with the residents.
11"Diary of a Really, Really Mad Housewife"September 29, 1990 (1990-09-29)
Dorothy Tibbit has quite a day filled with unexpected difficulties when she tries to prepare a special meal for her husband's boss. This is the first of Dorothy Tibbit's three appearances.
12"Goin' to the Chapel"October 6, 1990 (1990-10-06)
Evelyn Sweets (Burnett) is featured in two separate episodes about her "Chapel of Romance": Evelyn is approached by a woman with a ventriloquist's dummy who pleads with her to marry them in "Dummy Dearest"; Evelyn is approached by Chester Neff, who assumes that her ad's tag I'll marry anyone means that she will become his wife in "Being Out There".
13"Guns and Rosie"October 13, 1990 (1990-10-13)
Three pistol-packing mamas capture an unarmed burglar (Richard Kind) who believes that guns are dangerous.
14"Stiff Competition"October 20, 1990 (1990-10-20)
A woman (Carol Burnett) gets cold comfort from the death by freezing of her paramour's wife: the man's still in love with the woman.
15"Here's to You, Mrs. Baldwin"October 27, 1990 (1990-10-27)
Lisa Baldwin (Burnett), a successful single businesswoman, is enchanted but unnerved when her son's college roommate, Patrick (Krause), expresses his admiration for her.
16"Trisha Springs Eternal"November 3, 1990 (1990-11-03)
Trisha Durant (Betty White) is a college friend of Rosalind "Roz" Burke (Burnett) who comes to town and announces that she's taken the apartment next door to Roz – but Roz can't stand her.
17"Mom and Dad Day Afternoon"November 10, 1990 (1990-11-10)
Frank and Julia Miller (Kiser and Burnett) are a bickering couple applying for a loan who witness an unusual robbery – the bank is being held up by their son (Krause).
18"Driving Miss Crazy"November 17, 1990 (1990-11-17)
Dorothy Tibbit, a recovering stress victim, is put to the test of renewing her driver's license. This is the character's second appearance.
19"The Jingle Belles"November 24, 1990 (1990-11-24)
Arlene Harvey and Kate Benton (Burnett and Bernadette Peters) are songwriters who strike a sour note when Kate alone is offered an audition with a record producer.
20"Teacher, Teacher!"December 1, 1990 (1990-12-01)
Daisy Kornfeld (Burnett), a teacher, tries to talk her way out of a speeding ticket from a cop (Krause), her former student in whom she instilled a value system that doesn't bend the rules.
21"Spudnik"December 8, 1990 (1990-12-08)
Veta Mae Klybocker (Burnett) is a spaced-out woman who prepares to rendezvous with aliens at a fishing dock and confronts Dakota (Nell Carter), a fisherwoman who resents having her solitude disturbed.
22"No News Is Bad News"January 15, 1991 (1991-01-15)
A former game-show producer (Barone) turns a serious news program into a popular entertainment type show with an audience that decides on which stories to hear, and its once-respected anchor Christine Hayward (Burnett) into a self absorbed clown.
23"Turning Tables"January 19, 1991 (1991-01-19)
Virtually nothing goes as planned for three couples out for a romantic evening at an elegant restaurant.
24"That Little Extra Something"January 26, 1991 (1991-01-26)
A spoof of an old-fashioned murder mystery but complications ensue when Richard Kind's Aunt Wanda (Burnett) comes for a visit. Tim Conway makes a cameo appearance.
25"A Fall from Grace"February 2, 1991 (1991-02-02)
An unusual clothes dryer springs sour old Grace into a fantasy land of Lost Stuff to discover such long departed items as a sock.
26"Suture Self"February 9, 1991 (1991-02-09)
The eminent surgeon Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris in a spoof of his TV show Doogie Howser, M.D.) is called in for a splinter removal from the toe of a recovering patient Dorothy Tibbit, whose character also appeared in the episodes Diary of a Really Really Mad Housewife and Driving Miss Crazy. This is the character's third appearance.
27"High on Life"February 16, 1991 (1991-02-16)
A free-spirited man (Kiser) begs Margaret (Burnett) to live life on the edge – moments before her marriage to Herb (Kind).
28"Momma Needs a New Pair of Shoes"March 2, 1991 (1991-03-02)
29"Jewel of Denial"March 9, 1991 (1991-03-09)
A Sam Spade spoof has Carol Burnett playing a wisecracking private investigator.
30"Intimate Behavior"March 16, 1991 (1991-03-16)
Hal Linden guest stars in a series of vignettes that take a musical look at intimate behavior in a café, an elevator, a support-group meeting, a dentist's office and an alley.
31"Noah's Place"April 13, 1991 (1991-04-13)
A cafe is the setting for a reunion between lovers, and for negotiations between a talking head and an agent.
32"Overnight Male"April 27, 1991 (1991-04-27)
Myrna Fallows (Burnett), a postal worker, dreams that she gets to date her fantasy mailman (Christopher Reeve), but they are often interrupted by a co-worker (Kind).
33"For Love or Money"May 4, 1991 (1991-05-04)
In a sendup of 1940s gangster films, wealthy Agnes Pringle (Burnett) contemplates a lover's revenge while "Lefty" Malone (Kind) and "Dollface" (Barone) join in on the scheming on a cruise ship. A one-hour season finale.

Guest stars

Broadcast history
  • March 1990 – April 1990: NBC Saturday, 9:30–10:00 PM
  • April 1990 – June 1990: NBC Saturday, 10:00–10:30 PM
  • August 1990 – March 1991: NBC Saturday, 10:00–10:30 PM
  • March 1991 – May 1991: NBC Saturday, 10:00-11:00 PM
  • July 1991: NBC Saturday, 10:30–11:00 PM

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Name Result
1990
 Golden Globe Award Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Carol Burnett Nominated
1990
 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Swoosie Kurtz Won
1990
 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Main Title Theme Music Dan Foliart, Howard Pearl Nominated
1991
 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program Ret Turner, Bob Mackie Won
1991
 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program David Sackeroff, Portia Iversen Nominated

References
  1. Cotter, Bill (1997). The Wonderful World of Disney Television. Hyperion Books. pp. 374–378. ISBN 0-7868-6359-5.
  2. Cotter, Bill (1997). The Wonderful World of Disney Television. Hyperion Books. pp. 378–381. ISBN 0-7868-6359-5.
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