nPostednon April 4, 2015
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ThenSmothers Brothers pushed the boundaries of TV, and they got canceled.
ThenSmothers Brothers pushed the boundaries of TV, and they got canceled.n
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nToday,nwe now can enjoy edgy political satire on television – and ofncourse on the internet – but back in the 1960s, it was hard to findnsuch content anywhere. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour wasnpretty much the only place I heard anti-war stuff in my own livingnroom. Criticism of the government and the President of the U.S. wasnrarely heard on TV, in those days, except on The SmothersnBrothers. n
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nThenCBS network decided that the Smothers Brothers would have to deliverntheir shows finished and ready to air TEN DAYS before air time so thencensors could edit controversial stuff out of the shows. The censorsncut out a song sung by Harry Belafonte against the backdrop ofnprotests and rioting during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.nThey took out lines of satire. They cut a satirical David Steinbergnsermon about Moses. They ran a re-run, rather than a show – Inguess, in that case, the censors had problems with the entire hour! n
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nSomenlocal station cut and edited and pruned, too.
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nInnMarch of 1969, the show was picked up for another season. But then,nsuddenly, just a few weeks later (on this date in 1969) the networknCEO canceled the show! The Smothers Brothers successfully sued fornbreach of contract – but that didn’t bring their show back on thenair. The Smothers Brothers won an Emmy Award for best writing – butnthat didn’t bring their show back on the air, either.
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nI was sondisappointed. It was my favorite show, at the time.
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nInnrecent years, of course, we have enjoyed almost-daily fake-news showsnbringing us very funny and biting political commentary and satire –nI’m speaking, of course, of The Daily Show with Jon Stewartnand The Colbert Report. I think that Stewart and Colbert havenbeen national treasures, and I am (or will be) sad to see theirnparticular shows end…but something new, something good, will surelynrise again! n
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nInnaddition to politics…
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nThenSmothers Brothers did their act, including much of their politicalncommentary, while making music and singing. But they also brought tontelevision audiences some of the music that other shows nevernfeatured – music young people like me (at the time!) loved. Musicnby everyone from Cream and The Doors to Joan Baez and Janis Ian,nSimon Garfunkel to Jefferson Airplane.
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Onentime, The Who was performing. As usual with The Who, at the end ofnthe song, the guitarist Pete Townshend destroyed his guitar and annamp. And there were mild explosives for pyrotechnics. Unfortunately,nthe small charge of explosives kept in the bass drum didn’t go offnduring rehearsals. Not knowing that, a stage hand added anothernbefore the taping of the actual show. And not knowing that the firstncharge hadn’t gone off OR that the stage hand had already restockednthe drum, drummer Keith Moon added another charge.
So…nownthere were THREE charges in the drum, instead of just one. Thenresulting explosion was so intense that a piece of shrapnel flew offninto Moon’s arm, and Townshend’s hair was singed and his hearing wasnpossibly partially impaired.
Onentime, The Who was performing. As usual with The Who, at the end ofnthe song, the guitarist Pete Townshend destroyed his guitar and annamp. And there were mild explosives for pyrotechnics. Unfortunately,nthe small charge of explosives kept in the bass drum didn’t go offnduring rehearsals. Not knowing that, a stage hand added anothernbefore the taping of the actual show. And not knowing that the firstncharge hadn’t gone off OR that the stage hand had already restockednthe drum, drummer Keith Moon added another charge.So…nownthere were THREE charges in the drum, instead of just one. Thenresulting explosion was so intense that a piece of shrapnel flew offninto Moon’s arm, and Townshend’s hair was singed and his hearing wasnpossibly partially impaired.
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The moral of the story is, alwaysncheck your pyrotechnics several times, rather than restockingnexplosives several times! n
The moral of the story is, alwaysncheck your pyrotechnics several times, rather than restockingnexplosives several times! n
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nIfnyou want to see this…uh…explosive performance, the magic ofnYouTube can grant that wish.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nInternationalnPillow Fight Day
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nWorld Rat Day
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nSonia Kovalevsky Mathematics High School Day
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nLock-and-keyninventor Linus Yale, Jr.
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nHolidayTimenin Taiwan
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nTomb-SweepingnDay
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nReformernDorothea Dix’s birthday
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nIndependencenDay in Senegal
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nAnniversarynof the knighthood of Francis Drake
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nApriln holidays
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nMayn holidays
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nMayn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in May
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