The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

 Editorial in April 1969 issue of TV Guide:

This publication has in the past wholeheartedly defended the right of even the Smothers Brothers to have their say on the issues of the day.

We are in full accord, however, with the Columbia Broadcasting System in its wise, determined and wholly justified insistence on meeting its responsibilities by retaining the right to preview what it will telecast over its facilities.

CBS, however, found out that it could not carry out this duty because the Smothers Brothers, in their arrogance, made it impossible by delaying the delivery of their finished shows. This prevented the tapes from being previewed by the network’s Program Practices Department, the office that speaks for CBS in matters of taste. So CBS has dropped the program.

CBS justly holds that it should and must set its own criteria in matters of taste and that it is both its privilege and responsibility to do so. After all, the network is open to censure from the public for its telecasts; it therefore should have some control of what is said. And the Smothers Brothers have been saying plenty to arouse a substantial part of America.

Where does satire end—and sacrilege begin? Where does criticism end—and affront begin? Where does disagreement end—and national division begin?

To many good, sensible citizens of this Nation, the Smothers Brothers have been crossing these lines too often. Viewers said so, vehemently. By the thousands they have phoned, wired and written the network, stations and publications of the country.

Freedom of speech is not, the issue. The issue is taste. And responsibility. And honesty. And perspective. And a proper respect for the views of others. x

The issue is: Shall entertainers using a mass medium for all the people be allowed to amuse a few by satirizing religion while offending the substantial majority?

The issue is: Shall a network be required to provide time for a Joan Baez to pay tribute to her draft-evading husband while hundreds of thousands of viewers in the households of men fighting and dying in Vietnam look on in shocked resentment?

We can only agree unreservedly with a network policy that is determined not to insult the general mores of the country. For all the Smothers Brothers’ pseudo-intellectualism, it seems doubtful that they have ever encountered George Bernard Shaw’s statement that “Liberty means responsibility.”

At this writing, neither of the other two networks has said it will pick up the show. We applaud this judgment.

Tom Smothers has been quoted recently as saying, “We don’t want to offend anyone out there. But if you get offended, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.” The last person who made a social pronouncement in terms of pastry was Marie Antoinette. And look what happened to her.

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What a difference 50 years has made. The show's content looks mild compared to what is being aired today, 

Dick Smothers, now 86, commented in 2019:

“Don’t tell a comedian not to say a certain word. For sure they’ll do it,” Dick Smothers said. “The funny thing is, I look back at those things. They’re so benign, but at the time they were volatile.”

CBS abruptly yanked “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in April 1969 because of their persistent and humorous opposition to the Vietnam War, support of civil rights and tweaking authority. They welcomed controversial anti-war guests and resisted efforts to censor the show. The brothers weren’t allowed to use the phrase “sex education” or joke that someone was “a known heterosexual.”