Carol Burnett will play Verla Grubbs one last time days before All My Children says good bye. A huge fan of the show, she made her first appearance on the show in 1983 as the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford. She reprised her role a year later and did a quick scene with the late Elizabeth Taylor. She returned again in 1995 to celebrate the 25th anniversary and 2005 for the 35th. Now she will be back again for a few episodes in September, but this time will be her last because that is the month the show that has been on the show for over 40 years will sign off.
I am sad to see All My Children end, but this news brought a smile to my face.
It is another slow day in Hollywood (which is a good thing, I guess) so to fill the space I am posting this funny gag reel from The Carol Burnett Show. The show was funny without the bloopers, and now after watching them the show is even more hysterical.
I wish someone would air this classic show because no matter how hard they try to do a show like it today they can’t even come close to the pure brilliance and chemistry that they had with The Carol Burnett Show a$$hole. (The last word makes sense when you watch the bloopers!)
Carol Burnett is suing Family Guy for $2 million for using her image and name without her permission according to Reuters. Burnett says the show committed copyright infringement by using her cartoon likeness from her variety show, The Carol Burnett Show. Burnett says she has exclusive rights to her name and image and the show did ask her to use either. She asked the show to edit her out of the scene and they have declined which is probably why she went ahead with the lawsuit?
A spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television, which produces “Family Guy,” said on Friday the suit was without merit and that references to Burnett and her show in an 18-second sequence of the cartoon amounted to parody. “‘Family Guy,’ like the ‘Carol Burnett Show,’ is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities,” the studio said in a statement. “We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue ‘Family Guy’ for a simple bit of comedy.”
As a fan of both shows I think I am going to side with Family Guy on this one. You know that expression “what comes around, goes around” well as the spokesperson said she did the same thing all the time 40 years ago so what is the difference now?
BTW you can read the lawsuit at The Smoking Gun for more details.
