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Show Smothers Bros, back to fight TV censors "The war's still on, the country's still divided, and we're still here," went the song, and sure enough, the Smothers Brothers were back for their third season. Same time, same channel, but not the same Smothers Brothers, and not quite their same comedy hour. Tom and Dick now sport mustaches and sideburns, and their show seems a bit more free of CBS censors' bluepenciling. "Oftentimes we have trouble giving out thoughts because sometimes it makes people think," Tommy quipped. He looks less innocent with his mustache, and is no less serious about network meddling with his material. The firm stands he and his brother have taken, along with the growing candor in all the mass media, have been responsible for CBS's new liberality. A classic example is Pete Seeger's return to television after being blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer. First time around the CBS people cut his "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" because of its obvious slam at "Old fool" President Lyndon B. Johnson and his war. They let him sing it on his next Smothers Brothers appearance. Network officials used to get weak knees whenever the boys touched on touchy subjects. The bosses banned some, required changes in wording on others so that fewer people would be offended, whatever that means. While there was at least one phrase edited out, the season's opener Sunday was laced with innuendos and direct references to such subjects once verboten on prime time TV as interracial marriage, homosexuality, race, lingerie and seduction. Pat Paulsen was there, getting in some low punches at his fellow candidates for the Presidency. He said he now has "so many supporters that Major (sic) Daley couldn't beat them all off with a stick." Jokes about touchy subjects pervaded the hour, and were all tied together in a skit spoofing NBC's "Bonanza" - the Brother's competition in the Sunday, 9 p.m. EDT time slot. Mama Cass Elliott played "Hass" of the "Cartwrong" family, inspiring the line, "You're real smart, Hass." And giant pro footballer Rosy Greer appeared as the long-lost Mrs. Cartwrong. Her son Little Jerk (Harry Belafonte), seeing her for the first time, said, "You're a big mother." Suggestive spice like that is rare, even on the Tonight Show. "The Smut Brothers," played by guess-who, showed up in bad-guy black with bandannas saying "censored" across the mouths. They had kidnapped the Nielsen family. The Cartwrongs were upset about losing their neighbors the "Nielsens" -audience ratings, that is. With the black Greer "married" to white Ben (Paulsen), the Cartwrong brothers lammented, "Now we'll never get the Nielsens back." That line was an excellent slam at the American viewing public. If the Smothers Brothers lost the rating game because of their subject matter, it will be the viewers' fault, not the programs. |