{"id":163813,"date":"2025-09-23T12:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T12:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/163813\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T12:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T12:52:07","slug":"when-cbs-canceled-the-smothers-brothers-comedy-hour-for-criticizing-the-american-establishment-and-the-vietnam-war-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/163813\/","title":{"rendered":"When CBS Canceled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for Criticizing the American Establishment and the Vietnam War (1969)"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Rig\u00ador\u00adous\u00adly clean-cut, com\u00adpe\u00adtent on the acoustic gui\u00adtar and dou\u00adble bass, and sel\u00addom dressed in any\u00adthing more dar\u00ading than cher\u00adry-red blaz\u00aders, Tom and Dick Smoth\u00aders looked like the antithe\u00adsis of nine\u00adteen-six\u00adties rebel\u00adlion. When they first gained nation\u00adal recog\u00adni\u00adtion with their vari\u00adety show The Smoth\u00aders Broth\u00aders Com\u00ade\u00addy Hour<\/a>, they must have come off to many young view\u00aders as the kind of act of which their moth\u00ader \u2014 or even grand\u00admoth\u00ader \u2014 would approve. But the broth\u00aders\u2019 cul\u00adti\u00advat\u00aded\u00adly square, neo-vaude\u00advil\u00adlian appear\u00adance was deceiv\u00ading, as CBS would soon find out when the two took every chance to turn their pro\u00adgram into a satir\u00adi\u00adcal, relent\u00adless\u00adly author\u00adi\u00adty-chal\u00adleng\u00ading, yet some\u00adhow whole\u00adsome show\u00adcase of the coun\u00adter\u00adcul\u00adture.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Smoth\u00aders Broth\u00aders Com\u00ade\u00addy Hour\u00a0pre\u00admiered in Feb\u00adru\u00adary of 1967, and its first sea\u00adson \u201cfea\u00adtured min\u00adi\u00admal con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsial con\u00adtent,\u201d writes Sarah King at U.S. His\u00adto\u00adry Scene<\/a>. There\u00adafter, \u201cthe show became increas\u00ading\u00adly polit\u00adi\u00adcal. The broth\u00aders invit\u00aded activist celebri\u00adties onto their show, includ\u00ading folk singers Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and singer-actor Har\u00adry Bela\u00adfonte.<\/p>\n

The show also pro\u00adduced its own polit\u00adi\u00adcal mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal crit\u00adi\u00adciz\u00ading the Viet\u00adnam War and the politi\u00adcians who sup\u00adport\u00aded it,\u201d not least Pres\u00adi\u00addent Lyn\u00addon John\u00adson. Bring\u00ading on Seeger<\/a> was a dar\u00ading move, giv\u00aden that he\u2019d been black\u00adlist\u00aded from net\u00adwork tele\u00advi\u00adsion for the bet\u00adter part of two decades, though CBS\u2019s cen\u00adsors made sure to cut out the most polit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly sen\u00adsi\u00adtive parts of his act.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Even more so was the broth\u00aders\u2019 own per\u00adfor\u00admance, with George Segal, of Phil Ochs\u2019s \u201cDraft Dodger Rag,\u201d<\/a> which they end\u00aded by urg\u00ading their audi\u00adence to \u201cmake love, not war.\u201d\u00a0All this can look fair\u00adly tame by today\u2019s stan\u00addards, but it locked the show \u2014 which had become top-rat\u00aded, hold\u00ading its own in a time slot against the cul\u00adtur\u00adal phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adnon that was Bonan\u00adza \u2014 into a grudge match with its own net\u00adwork. Before the third sea\u00adson, CBS\u2019 high\u00ader-ups demand\u00aded that each show be turned in ten days in advance, osten\u00adsi\u00adbly in order to under\u00adgo review for sen\u00adsi\u00adtive mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal. In one instance, they claimed that the dead\u00adline had\u00adn\u2019t been met and aired a re-run instead, though it may not have been entire\u00adly irrel\u00ade\u00advant that the intend\u00aded pro\u00adgram con\u00adtained a trib\u00adute by Baez to her then-hus\u00adband, who was being sent to prison for refus\u00ading to serve in the mil\u00adi\u00adtary.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

CBS did broad\u00adcast Baez\u2019s per\u00adfor\u00admance on a lat\u00ader date, after clip\u00adping out the ref\u00ader\u00adence to the spe\u00adcif\u00adic nature of her hus\u00adband\u2019s offense. A sim\u00adi\u00adlar strug\u00adgle took place around the \u201cser\u00admon\u00adettes\u201d deliv\u00adered by David Stein\u00adberg, one of which you can see in the video above<\/a>. The irrev\u00ader\u00adence toward U.S. for\u00adeign pol\u00adi\u00adcy, reli\u00adgion, and much else besides in these and oth\u00ader seg\u00adments even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly proved too much for the net\u00adwork, which fired the broth\u00aders after it had already giv\u00aden the green light to a fourth sea\u00adson of the Com\u00ade\u00addy Hour. Though they suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly sued CBS for breach of con\u00adtract there\u00adafter, they nev\u00ader did regain the same lev\u00adel of tele\u00advi\u00adsu\u00adal promi\u00adnence they\u2019d once enjoyed, if enjoy be the word. At any rate, the fall\u00adout of all this con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsy firm\u00adly installed the Smoth\u00aders Broth\u00aders in the pan\u00adtheon of twen\u00adti\u00adeth-cen\u00adtu\u00adry free-speech war\u00adriors, and their expe\u00adri\u00adence reminds us still today that, with\u00adout the free\u00addom to give offense, there can be no com\u00ade\u00addy wor\u00adthy of the name.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

Watch Steve Mar\u00adtin Make His First TV Appear\u00adance: The Smoth\u00aders Broth\u00aders Com\u00ade\u00addy Hour (1968)<\/a><\/p>\n

When The Who (Lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly) Blew Up The Smoth\u00aders Broth\u00aders Com\u00ade\u00addy Hour in 1967<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch 3000 Years of Art, a 1968 Exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adtal Film That Takes You on a Visu\u00adal Jour\u00adney Through 3,000 Years of Fine Art<\/a><\/p>\n

Revis\u00adit Turn-On, the Inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive TV Show That Got Can\u00adceled Right in the Mid\u00addle of Its First Episode (1969)<\/a><\/p>\n

Pink Lady and Jeff: Japan\u2019s Biggest Pop Musi\u00adcians Star in One of America\u2019s Worst-Reviewed TV Shows (1980)<\/a><\/p>\n

Based in Seoul, Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. His projects include the Sub\u00adstack newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the book\u00a0The State\u00adless City: a Walk through 21st-Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Los Ange\u00adles.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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