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The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

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TV Series

The Resume

Why The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour might be annoying:

    The show is probably better remembered for its battles with the censors than for any of its sketches.
    The censorship was often heavy-handed, leaving very noticeable jump cuts.
    It became the first show required to screen episodes in advance so the network affiliates could decide for themselves if they wanted to air them.
    Tom admitted that he put so much time and energy into producing the show that during tapings he was often reading off the cue cards without really interacting with the other performers.
    Dick eventually would show up only for taping: 'I wasn't really very important to the production aspect.'
    Tom got into a wrestling match with a boom mic operator over the staging of a scene from 'Hair' in which an American flag touched the ground.
    The ratings slid significantly during the third season, no doubt making it easier for CBS to cancel. (As the Brothers' manager later noted, if they had been pulling in huge ratings like Laugh-In at NBC, the network probably would have been a lot more flexible.)

Why The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour might not be annoying:

    Tom said about being scheduled in a 'death slot' opposite the #1 show, Bonanza, 'If we succeed, it will be a big deal. And if we fail, no one will blame us.'
    They booked musical guests that rarely appeared on variety shows, such as the Who, Cream, and Buffalo Springfield.
    The Brothers eventually won their most famous censorship battle: seven months after Pete Seeger's anti-Vietnam War allegory 'Waist Deep in the Big Muddy' was cut by the censors, he was a return guest and performed the song.
    They played a joke on the censors by getting the cast and crew to laugh uproariously during rehearsals whenever someone uttered the phrase 'rowing to Galveston.' The censors would inevitably order it cut, convinced it was some sort of subversive hippie slang.
    CBS announced the show would be renewed for a fourth season, then less than a month later announced the show was being cancelled, ostensibly because the Brothers had missed a Wednesday deadline for submitting an episode for review (April 4, 1969).
    The Smothers Brothers sued for breach of contract -- noting, among other issues, that the Wednesday deadline had never been agreed to in writing -- and won $776,300 (1973).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 12.50% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 52 Votes: 42.31% Annoying