Brooks on Books: In Such Good Company by Carol Burnett

I remember The Carol Burnett Show as a fixture in syndication...for a few years. Then, when I got older, the show disappeared from my area. I was never a big fan, and I think my dislike of the Mama character and the subsequent Mama's Family spinoff soured me on the whole program.

It's still difficult to see the program in its original form; the syndication package trimmed the hourlong program to a half-hour, deleting most of the musical segments and focusing on the sketches. Time Life helped initiate a mini-revival of the series in recent years by issuing some DVD releases. Unfortunately, it created dozens of different packages, making collecting the show on disc a confusing task and maybe making a  lot of people just throw their hands up and forget about it. You can still see the show on Me-TV, though, and many, many sketches are available online. Maybe that's the best way to enjoy it, cherry-picking individual segments, but it's a shame the original version is mostly gone.

In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Fun, and Mayhem in the Sandbox, a warm and enjoyable account of the show's production, rekindled my interest in the long-running classic and inspired me to seek out some of its memorable moments. The book is a must for folks who do love and remember the show. You may know a lot of the stories behind its creation, but Burnett adds a lot of details, and her love of the experience and affection for her coworkers--not just the cast, but everyone involved--is palpable. It began almost as an afterthought as her contract required CBS to give her a series if she requested it, but it lasted 11 seasons and is the obvious centerpiece of the legendary comedienne's legacy.

After a brief look at her early days in showbiz, Burnett takes us through the origins of her show and then discusses individual co-stars, guests, and specific segments. We get a strong sense of what it was actually like to put the variety show together, with rundowns of the rehearsal and shooting schedule and glimpses into facets such as costuming (Bob Mackie plays a big role in the book, just as he did in creating famous outfits like the curtain rod ensemble in "Went with the Wind"). Burnett takes us inside her head as she and her team developed segments like the audience Q&As. Along the way, there are many humorous anecdotes and quality insights about the routine of working in television.

A nice touch is the appendix listing show and guest details. In fact, I am impressed by the work Burnett put into this. She went back and watched the episodes, which means she provides many details (maybe too many for some) in recounting some of the sketches. The entire book sounds like her. It's very conversational and anecdotal, but it feels genuine. If Carol Burnett didn't actually do the writing, someone did a heck of a job talking with her and shaping this book.

In Such Good Company is a fun read and very, very positive. Don't expect dirt, as Burnett takes the high road, and besides, she doesn't seem to have too many negative memories, anyway. It's disappointing but understandable that she relates one involving a guest as a "blind item." She talks about an issue with Harvey Korman, but the way she sets it up and explains it makes clear she is taking pains not to denigrate him in any way. In short, the book may leave hardcore fans hoping for a third-party effort with a more critical view, but what Burnett herself has written is as classy as we presume she is.