TeleTales #60…The CBS Censors And The Smothers Brothers

On February 8, 2015 - TV History

TeleTales #60…The CBS Censors And The Smothers Brothers

Thanks to Randy West, here is a perfect example of the kind of censorship and restraint CBS applied to Tom and Dick Smothers. Can you say petty?

The bigger issue was politics and Tom and Dick discuss that at the link above. The best discussion on this topic is from the 2002 documentary from Maureen Muldaur called “Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”.
It’s online, but you have to sign up to see it, but it’s worth it.
Enjoy and share. -Bobby Ellerbee

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16 Comments

  1. Chris Clementson February 9, 2015

    Just 4 1/2 years after this memo was written, Match Game would be asking questions with “Boobs” and “tinkle” as the answers — right there in studio 33.

  2. Steve Diggins February 9, 2015

    A friend of mine Lillian Benson ACE edited Smothered, it is very interesting. I recommend it.

  3. Michael Scott Ferguson February 8, 2015

    In spite of this micro-management from CBS Standards and Practices, I always thought Smothers Bros. did many helpful things getting young and liberal points of view on the air. Bravo!

  4. Dave Allen February 8, 2015

    And they had a good show in spite of it.

  5. Jack Greenberg February 8, 2015

    Notice that he was too cheap to e-mail it.

  6. Peter TenHaagen February 8, 2015

    There must be a happy medium between this idiocy and Two Broke Girls.

  7. Alan Maretsky February 8, 2015

    How far we’ve come since 1969!

  8. Charles MacDonald February 8, 2015

    I assume the andy willams reference was because of the plug to another network?

  9. Don Newbury February 8, 2015

    I always thought the brothers were a couple of punks, especially Tommy.

  10. James Murphy Tinsley February 8, 2015

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPHdkxApd9E Check this out. See if one of the “censors” looks familiar.

  11. Skip Orem February 8, 2015

    Leigh French a name from the past

  12. Mike Chapman February 8, 2015

    It was a different time. Contrast this with the no-holds-barred approach of any given Fox show today.

  13. Kevin West February 8, 2015

    With a name like “Downer”…

  14. Val Ginter February 8, 2015

    They consolidated the east- and west-coast continuity departments around 1971 in Hollywood. The fellow who took my place in New York was let go around 1971. I took a tour of 51 W 52 in 1971 and it was a ghost town. The desks were all sitting on their sides (perhaps a security policy).

  15. Jay Rich February 8, 2015

    I wish CBS had censors today.

  16. Bruce McGee February 8, 2015

    I miss restraint on TV. The blatant sex and dirty jokes are just awful today.