The Morgue 2023

[MalcolmReynolds]

They were truly ahead of their time!

“Mom always liked you best!”

Controversies and cancellation

With its focus having evolved toward a more youth-oriented one, the show became both popular and controversial. Three specific targets of satire – racism, the President of the United States, and the – wound up defining the show’s content for the remainder of its run, eventually leading to its demise.

The brothers soon found themselves in regular conflict with CBS network censors. At the start of the 1968–69 season, the network ordered that the Smothers Brothers deliver their shows finished and ready to air 10 days before air date so that the censors could edit the shows as necessary. In the season premiere, CBS deleted the entire segment of Belafonte singing “Lord, Don’t Stop the Carnival” against a backdrop of the havoc during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with two lines from a satire of their main competitor, Bonanza. As the year progressed, battles over content continued, including a David Steinberg sermon about Moses and the Burning Bush.

With some local stations making their own deletions of controversial skits or comments, the continuing problems over the show came to a head after CBS broadcast a rerun on March 9, 1969. The network explained the decision by stating that, because that week’s episode did not arrive in time to be previewed, it would not be shown. In that program, Joan Baez paid tribute to her then-husband, David Harris, who was entering prison after refusing military service, while comedian Jackie Mason made a joke about children “playing doctor”. When the show finally did air, two months later, the network allowed Baez to state that her husband was in prison, but edited out the reason.

Despite the conflict, the show was picked up for the 1969-70 season on March 14, seemingly ending the debate over its status. However, network CEO and President William S. Paley abruptly cancelled the show on April 4, 1969. The reason given by CBS was the brothers’ refusal to meet the pre-air delivery dates as specified by the network in order to accommodate review by the censors. This cancellation led the brothers to file a successful breach of contract suit against the network, although the suit failed to see the brothers or their show returned to the air. Despite this cancellation, the show went on to win the Emmy Award that year for best writing. The saga of the cancellation of the show is the subject of a 2002 documentary film, Smothered.

The Smothers Brothers On Getting Fired By CBS | Letterman

Tom Smothers Last Emotional Video Before Death | Try Not To Cry

[DrewC]

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/30/entertainment/tom-wilkinson-death/index.html

Article isn’t thumbnailing, but Tom Wilkinson has passed. Gave great performances in ‘In the Bedroom,’ and ‘Michael Clayton.’

[Steve4nLanguage]

I saw this posted today and it made me think, “I completely forgot that X isn’t with us anymore.”

Of course, not everyone could be included–Offhand I’m thinking of Sinéad O’Connor, Piper Laurie, and Suzanne Somers.

[ChewDawg]

Meka Leka Hi Meka Hiney Ho (youtube.com)

[MikeN1]

Great in The Full Monty