The Carol Channing Show

THE CAROL CHANNING SHOW was an unsuccessful sitcom pilot for for the Broadway legend, then at the height of her fame and just stepping out of the still-running smash HELLO, DOLLY! Carol is cast as a sweet but in-your-face rube from "Frisbee", wherever that is, who comes to New York in hopes of making it in show business. Quickly out of money, her friend Jane Dulo lets her move in with her and husband policeman Richard Deacon until Carol finds a job. In this pilot, Carol goes through two bad jobs, one in a restaurant, the other as a taxi dancer.

Carol is always fun to watch but the story isn't much despite a script by the famous I LOVE LUCY writers Bob Carroll Jr and Madelyn Davis and is produced by no less than Desi Arnaz. This episode looks like a bad THE LUCY SHOW episode, complete with Lucy's son from the show, Jimmy Garrett, making an appearance as a kid who won't share his candy. Richard Deacon plays the Gale Gordon role of a loud, overbearing supporting player who is always exasperated by the star, a stock character on 1960's sitcoms. A very delightful surprise is seeing Desi Arnaz Jr (all of thirteen!!!) with his hair slicked back and a fake mustache playing a nonspeaking cameo as a tango-loving customer of the ballroom, a character obviously much older than Desi Jr's years.

This show isn't good but it's not terrible so it is kind of surprising it wasn't picked up given the successful scorecards of those involved with the production. Certainly many a worse sitcom has been green-lighted. The pilot is a bonus feature on THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW DVD set, a subsequent Arnaz production that was picked up the following year.

Using the same writers as he used on "I Love Lucy", Desi Arnaz attempted to create another show much like it as well as "Here's Lucy" and "The Lucy Show"....but with Carol Channing in the lead instead. Considering that the networks passed on this pilot is indicative of the quality of the pilot.

The show begins with an opening monologue by Carol that is modestly humorous. What follows is a very broadly written and acted show where out of work Carol manages to annoy her poor friend's husband (played well by Richard Deacon) and get herself fired from her first job. Finally, Carol obtains a job working at a dance hall.

If you only listened to the audience reaction, you'd think this was the funniest show ever made. But it's canned laughter...probably the same canned laughter you heard a decade and a half earlier on "I Love Lucy". The problem is that the show just isn't often that funny...and it seems to try too hard to be kooky. Overall, a rather annoying program...and you can see why the networks passed.