Smothered - The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
by Maureen Muldaur
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Allan Blye, David Bianculli, George Burns, Jack Benny, Joan BaezDirector: Maureen Muldaur
Producer: Maureen Muldaur
Writer: Maureen Muldaur
Editor: Lillian Benson
Producer: Charles Derbyshire
Producer: Shannon Gee
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-01-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Video Group
Movie Reviews of Smothered - The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Movie Review: The Best Social Comedy--ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this last night on Public TV, and today I'm buying it. It brought me back! When the SmoBro came to TV in 1967 I'd been a Naval officer for 10 years. When they were cancelled, I'd already resigned and was with the VVAW to "protest U.S. foreign policy, specifically the war in Vietnam," in the words of my March 1968 resignation letter. Along with everyone else in the service, I got locked into active duty till the end of 1968--as officer in charge of all non-Nurse Corps women's recruiting for one of the largest Naval Districts. Tommy Smothers could have made a hilarious skit out of my moral dilemma.
The Brothers had nothing to do with my change in attitude, which was already firm by 1967, caused by analysis of history and current events, and shared by many military people. The mass military resignations and refusals to fight in the field, from the air or from seagoing gun turrets were what brought the war to a close. (See "SIR! NO SIR!") But I surely did admire the SmoBros' kind of comedy--America's closest approach to Britain's brilliant non-commercial BBC comedy like "Monty Python"--and sat on the edge of the chair waiting for the next puncture of hypocrisy and all other oppressions of genuine American ideals. What a show it was. Hip! hip! hurrah! for Tommy and Dickie. And booooos and hisses for all Bottom Line censors.
After the intelligently satirical "Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "Laugh-In", "The Prisoner" and, best of all, "The Smothers Brothers" I turned off commercial TV until "Star Trek--The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine" and "Max Headroom," which were all thought-provoking. After TNG ended I've stopped watching again. There've been a few rare exceptions, but since the 70s nearly everything on the commercial channels hasn't been worth wasting time on. Some channels are unspeakable for the lies and slanders of their paid talking heads, and I refuse to watch so-called "documentaries" on cable. Give me our three local Public TV channels--plus magazines, YouTube, a few books a week, and lots of good conversation.
Summary of Smothered - The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
An incredible slice of America?s media and pop-culture history, SMOTHERED tells the story of the censorship struggles of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the Emmy Award winning television program, broadcast on CBS from 1967 until it was prematurely struThe tribulations of Tommy and Dick Smothers and their popular late-'60s television show are detailed in Maureen Muldaur's interesting 92-minute documentary. Viewing the clips from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, one might find it hard to imagine that they were considered controversial at the time; indeed, the jabs at censorship, gun ownership, the Vietnam war, and more seem mild by today's raunchy standards. But controversial they were, especially to CBS, who aired (and eventually canceled) the Smothers' show. Turns out that Tommy, the "dumb" one, was in fact a gadfly who turned the program into a cause célèbre somewhat beyond its actual significance; and in the end, as one of the talking heads featured here points out, it was the Smothers' decreasing sense of fun that really doomed it. Both brothers are interviewed, as are writers Rob Reiner and Steve Martin and others. DVD extra features include bios and an excerpt from a book on the subject. --Sam Graham
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