LUCILLE BALL, CAROL BURNETT & MARY TYLER MOORE

They all win and you are an asshole for trying to turn it into a contest.

I wouldn't rank them, its a silly exercise.

Lucy obviously is the queen. She invented the TV sitcom. Everyone else is a lady-in-waiting.

I agree with everyone that it makes no sense to pit these legends against each other. Their shows were also very different.

This question was asked on some tv game show several years ago. And they were ranked exactly as you have listed them in the title.

Lucille Ball is the grande dame of comediennes, partly I think because she was fearless. She would go to any length to get a laugh. Loving cup on her head, in a vat of grapes, hands in chocolate sauce, pizza dough on her head.

Carol Burnett is the princess of comediennes. Her versatility was remarkable. Eunice, Mrs. Wiggins, Scarlett O'Hara and the other old time movie stars, plus singing with Beverly Sills, Julie Andrews, etc

I never really got why Mary Tyler Moore was the third place choice. Yes, her show was decently funny, but she surrounded herself with better characters: Rhoda, Phyllis, Sue Anne, Ted were all funnier than Mary.

I think there are other comediennes who are just as good as MTM who are overlooked: Gracie Allen, Whoopi Goldberg, Roseanne

Lucille Ball hardly invented the TV sitcom. Actually the closet you have is the "Great Gildersleeve" from radio that first successfully established the sitcom format on radio. This as opposed to shows like "Burns and Allen," which were sitcom-like but still had interruptions for musical guest and comic routines.

That said, "I Love Lucy," was in more cases than not, a direct clone of "My Favorite Husband," in some instances the scripts were identical line for line. If that is the case then it was the writers of the show "My Favorite Husband" that deserve credit, not Miss Ball, who was simply starring in a show that was not brought about specifically for her, but which, once she was put into it, she excelled at it.

Carol Burnett was pretty much a product of her time and most younger people are not at all familiar with her and her humor is outdated.

And Mary Tyler Moore was basically a straight man for most of her career, playing off other much funnier second bananas

[quote]Lucille Ball hardly invented the TV sitcom.

While this is true, she and Desi had the foresight and invested the money to have their show filmed with one of Hollywood's best cinematographers. So it has lasted longer than the other sitcoms which were on Kinescope (or whatever that method was called).

Carol Burnett is the only one who is actually a comedienne. Ball admitted she wasn't one and basically was an actress who did comedy. She was very unfunny when she'd go on talk shows (she'd mostly complain about her movie career and being stuck with The Tree Stooges, to whom her sitcom stunts probably owe more than her costarring with Henry Fonda). MTM also was an actress who did comedy--she was the straight woman reacting to the craziness around her. Her role in "ordinary People" was the closet thing to her real personality.

ILL was a straight from radio sitcom. Its radio peers (as "My Favorite Husband") included Ozzie & Harriet and "Our Miss Brooks" which also transitioned to television. There were earlier tv sitcoms like "Life of Riley" and Burns & Allen; Burns & Allen was filmed (before ILL did this) and was a bit more innovative with Burns breaking the third wall. The Lucy fans are tiresome--she was not a great actress and anything other than a half hour with a decent ensemble with her was intolerable (just look at Mame or earlier non singing drek like "Critic's Choice") .

Umm..there are daily posts here about redneck men presenting their taints and the black male porn penises and THIS thread offends people? The mind boggles...

[quote]ILL was a straight from radio sitcom.

While My Favorite Husband was an influence on I Love Lucy, there was a lot that was changed. Some of MFH's comedy was based on the husband's boss played by Gale Gordon. The "boss" comedy was done away with in ILL because Ricky was a bandleader and was his own boss. So the comedy was more focused towards the husband-wife relationship. Also in MFH, the husband was American so there was no comedy about Cuban accents.

They recycled a lot of the radio material for ILL. Really, the show was not much of an innovation.

Take out MTM. She wasn't funny. Replace her with Vivian Vance or someone like that.

Ahem....where do I place...?

How about marry, date, kill.....

I know I should say Lucille Ball, but I've always had a soft spot for MTM. Maybe because I know her life has not been all that happy.

None of them is a comedienne-- all of them are comic actors. Comediennes usually do standup.

MTM was masturbating material.

Win - Lucille Ball

Place - MTM

Show - Carol Burnettt

MTM was obviously the subtlest of the three and was queen of milking laughs out of mishaps and awkward situations: the Dick Van Dyke Show episodes with her bleaching her hair blond, losing the ugly ring in the garbage disposal, and getting her toe stuck in the bathtub faucet. The MTM Show episodes with the Mr. Grant job interview, the Mr. Grant date, Chuckles' funeral, and the awards show before which she encounters an entire series of mishaps.

WIth the arguable exception of That Girl, hers was also the first successful TV show featuring a single career woman with "experience": “I’m an experienced woman. I’ve been around… Well, all right, I might not’ve been around, but I’ve been… nearby.” Plus MTM Productions spun off Rhoda, Phyllis and a slew of other groundbreakers. And which of the other two has a statue erected from the opening credits?

As dramatic actresses, it would go:

WIN: MTM (Ordinary People)

Place: Carol Burnett (Friendly Fire)

Show: Lucille Ball (Stone Pillow)

[quote] Burns & Allen was filmed (before ILL did this

The first shows of Burns and Allen were done live before a studio audience. When they were filmed, they were done on a closed set with no audience. The film was then shown before an audience and their reactions added to the soundtrack of the film. Eventually, they did away with that and simply added canned laughter to the film. I Love Lucy was filmed before a studio audience from day one.

Fourth walls are broken, not third walls. We assume rooms have four walls. In a three-camera sitcom, the cameras on set are where the fourth wall of the set's room would presumably be if it were a real room. Talking to the camera like George Burns, looking at the camera like Mr. Roper breaks the illusion of the fourth wall and lets the audience know that the characters know what's happening isn't real.

[quote]And which of the other two has a statue erected from the opening credits?

A statue of Lucille Ball was erected based on Vitavetavegamin, but it scared women and children.

IN the order you stated their names, OP.

Filmed plus audience, not that innovative. Face it, Lucy was a grating, annoying presence and no comedienne even 60 years ago. MTM was no comic either---"Oh R-r-rob-b" and "Mist-ter Grant!", basically the same schtick. The real comedy was what went on around her. Betty White as the happy homemaker was probably the funniest thing on the show and it was all in her delivery.

Lucy's friend Ann Sothern was a far better actress than Lucy--more subtle in comic parts, more range. She could even sing.

It's probably sacrilegious to say, but Burnett's show and brand of comedy has aged the worst. Ball's and Moore's remain timeless.

The fact that I Love Lucy is still playing all over the world 65 years later is evidence of who is the Queen of Comedy. Poor Carol still can't get her show released on dvd. And Mary's show came and went on dvd. But they're laughing at Lucy over in Japan right now and Singapore and just about every country in the world. Plus Lucy was in black and white, where the other ladies had the advantage of color.

[quote] Mary Tyler Moore was basically a straight man for most of her career, playing off other much funnier second bananas.

True, but like Bob Newhart, she had exquisite timing as the straight man, and her reactions and voice were used to great effect.

Yes, but Bob Newhart also was a standup comedian, MTM wasn't. ILL, being in b&w is cheap, it's also filled with slapstick and doesn't rely on verbal comedy. So it has survived, even though it's obviously filled with predictable, cliche ridden crap.

I think Carol is the funniest.She looks beautiful these days.it just goes to show,your mother was right about frowning and your face staying that way.Look at Lucy..Mary was surrounded by an excellent cast.

the apparent model for the Vegemeatavitamin statue...

Pardon, Vitameatavegamin--and in related news...

Why try to make one better than the other? All three were great at what they did, and their characters are timeless. I still laugh at all three. With each of them, I can think of a memorable show/skit that still cracks me up.

KERA is airing "Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration" this Tuesday (October 13), bitches.

Was this supposed to be a Kill Fuck Marry, OP? We're gay.

Mary Tyler Moore was the all-time best. Of course Lucy and Carol are undeniably at the top of the list as well, but for my tastes, Mary will always be number one.

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