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TeleTales #60…The CBS Censors And The Smothers Brothers

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

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 responses to “TeleTales #60…The CBS Censors And The Smothers Brothers”

  1. Chris Clementson

    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

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

  3. Michael Scott Ferguson

    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

    And they had a good show in spite of it.

  5. Jack Greenberg

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

  6. Peter TenHaagen

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

  7. Alan Maretsky

    How far we’ve come since 1969!

  8. Charles MacDonald

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

  9. Don Newbury

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

  10. James Murphy Tinsley

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

  11. Skip Orem

    Leigh French a name from the past

  12. Mike Chapman

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

  13. Kevin West

    With a name like “Downer”…

  14. Val Ginter

    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

    I wish CBS had censors today.

  16. Bruce McGee

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

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