MovieChat Forums > The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967) Discussion > DVDs a disappointment

DVDs a disappointment

posted 15 years ago by LCShackley
10 replies | jump to latest

We just finished watching the 4-DVD set from season three and it's a major disappointment.

First of all, there's no rhyme or reason to the shows included. One of the DVDs consists only of Pat Paulsen material, which is OK, but not what customers will buy this set for.

Second, the shows are chopped to smithereens. Supposedly, this has to do with the cost of getting rights to certain music, etc. But there are even COMEDY routines with huge edits (the David Frye monolog, the "Newspaper" number). And some guests are announced, but never appear on the show (Hedge & Donna, Leigh French, Teddy Neeley).

Third, these shows haven't worn well, and even Tommy admits it in his audio comments. But for me, one of the biggest reasons they get tiresome is Tom's constant harping about the censors, CBS, getting fired, apologizing for offending people, etc. They seem so proud of their "achievements," which boiled down to pushing as many hot buttons as possible (like bad boys in grade school) until their hands got slapped.

The best part of the show is when the brothers do their actual act, which is why they got the show in the first place. They are wondefully funny when performing their brother routine. But some of the other skits are lame, with two big exceptions: the Bonanza spoof with Harry Belafonte and Mama Cass, and the fairy tale featuring David Frye as several politicians.

Rent these if you want a dose of Smothers, but to pay big bucks for them will be a disappointment.

[–] zill_o_the_wisp 15 years ago

You're overreacting!..like all those on Amazon giving the DVD set (Season 3) 1 & 2 stars. It's generally first rate material, with nice bonus features, interviews, et alia.
By all means people should rent it, and it you like what you see...

As it turns out, I got mine for only $8 - brand new. I'd gladly have paid three times that, knowing how good it is.
Some people are mad for it not being complete. I say, so what: would you anal completists rather not have any DVD's?!?
These are pretty damn good ones, and there's no call for whining.

[–] LCShackley 15 years ago

It's definitely worth eight dollars.

And I'm glad that some of the material has become available.

But why not more systematic releases? Why not explain why the episodes were chopped up so badly?

If you think this is first-rate material, you must not be familiar with the SmoBro's recorded output. Their stage shows were far better than the skits featured here. And didn't you get the least bit tired of all their whining about being fired from CBS and how boldly they fought the censors? (ZZZZZZZ)

[–] Calvero 15 years ago

Part of the reason why the shows are chopped up the way they are is not so much the original censors, but that these are the edits that were done when they were re-aired on the E! network back in 1993. More things needed to be cut out for commercials because breaks were longer in the 90s than 60s (even more now :( ).

I had some of the E! airings taped and one thing I noticed with the DVDs was there was more talk about the episodes than what you see on the DVDs, such as the episode that was done in-the-round (the one with George Harrison, Donovan, The Committee, etc.). There were interviews with a writer or two, Pat Paulsen, and 1 or two others talking about how if any episode should have won an Emmy, it should have been that one. I was disappointed about things like that being cut out as well.

One thing about the Beatles performances, I remember on the E! airings, Tom & Dick said in their '93 intros said they could not show those because of Apple Records restrictions.

I am grateful for what has been released, but I do really wish they would release the complete seasons with complete episodes

Calvero (SmoBro fan for 20+ years)
Comedy Classics Forums & Podcast
http://www.ComedyClassics.org/

[–] afosawips 14 years ago

I am frustrated by the editing, selection of episodes and incompleteness of the 2 DVD sets issued for far. I have both. It's tempting to see how bad the complete set available at clickdvdmedia.com can be. But I've seen some bad reviews about playability and quality, and for that I'm not gambling $100.

Calvero...
Like you I have tapes of the E airings in 1993. I believe there is only one episode missing in fact. If the tapes still play o.k. (not the case with some I tried to play made in the 1980s), I might try and transfer the "missing" (from box sets) episodes on to DVD. The original E-airings (and thus this set) COULD have included more show and less of the occasionally inane banter between the brothers in discussing the episodes. Plenty of meaningful insights in their discussion but I don't need to hear repeatedly about "how things were in 1967". Even at that, the first disc of Seasons 2 the "complete" shows are generally under 40 minutes. Are you sure they were not further edited down from E-airings?

[–] mactach 14 years ago

I still can't see why they couldn't put the episodes as they aqctually aired in the 60's.

As dumb of a question this may sound, does the editing mean the actual broadcasts were ruined?

[–] LorraineinNJ 15 years ago

I've been looking for information about an odd bit that appeared on the show, probably toward the end of the last season. It was called something like "The Box" or "The Room". It was very serious, written by somebody else and announced as if it was added into the show. Did anything like that appear in this DVD set that you saw?

I'd written to Tommy's site and whoever manages it said he asked Tommy about it who didn't remember it. It's very frustrating when you remember something, can't get it out of your mind but can't remember the details to find it again.

[–] bellamae 15 years ago

I totally disagree w/ you. I borrowed this set from the library, but I'm thinking of buying it anyway. It's a real time capsule for what was going on then. I'm also talking it up to people I know.
First of all, there are some great bands that I never got to see live: the Doors, Ike and Tina Turner, Judy Collins. The cast from "Hair" was on one show and did 3 songs.
They had some great writers: Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Carl Gottleib, Mason Williams among them. They had The Committee on the show on a pretty regular basis. They had their own talents, but also had a talent for hiring real talent.
I find their commentaries interesting. Maybe the reason the shows seem so chopped up is, that was the work of the censors. I watched one episode last night, Jackie Mason (a stand-up comic) was one of the guests. As an episode extra they showed his bit again from the dress rehearsal. He went for about 20 mins., and was brilliant. Not all of it was aired.
Their singing is lovely, their voices harmonize beautifully.
They really stood up for what they believed in. About the Ike Turner Revue Tommy said, "Most shows won't put them on because they feel they are too sensual. We really like their energy so we wanted to put them on." And they did, more than once.
I find that talks about the censorship informative, and think it gives a deeper look into the show and what was going on behind the scenes.
They showed a letter they got from LBJ while he was president. It was warm and gracious and knocked my socks off.
These 2 men had talent, charm, integrity, chutzpah, and BACKBONES! They gave us a great gift. I think these DVD's are well worth exploring, I am watching every single thing on it. A few things were repeated, but this is one of the very few DVD's I would consider buying. There are probably about five, at best.

[–] grolaw 14 years ago

You nailed it.

Any person who wants to see the last political upheaval as covered by two wicked smart men - buy every season that you can!

I'm watching season 2 # 14 (Momma Cass & a dying T Bankhead) - magnificent. I'm in my mid 50's - I remember several shows. BUY these!

[–] forever_swirl 10 years ago

I'm a new fan of the Smothers Brothers (after randomly picking up their biography at the library) so I rented these two seasons on netflix a few months ago.

Where are all the other episodes? Half the time they're talking about who'll be on the next episode and they don't even have it on the DVD?! Why can't they just release all of the episodes, warts and all, like NBC/Universal/Whoever did with the first five seasons of "Saturday Night Live". Is it a music issue, cause "SNL" has all the music pieces intact.

I liked what I saw on the DVDs, I appreciated the special features and the commentary (and I'll prob be buying the two seasons eventually), but why couldn't they release the whole series? And what happened with season one? It sounds like it had even cooler guests (jack benny and george burns being the smothers brothers, etc) or even the glen cambell summer show?

I realize they did the same thing with "Laugh-in" and "the carol burnett show" and I hate it. For those of us who weren't around at the time of orginal airing, it would be great to see the entire show.

[–] revrvl 10 years ago

1. God bless you for knowing and mentioning Hedge & Donna.
2. Is there any DVD of the SBCH that has Hedge & Donna? I bought the album All the Friendly Colours after seeing them on the SBCH and would love to see that again especially as H&D have disappeared from public view