Sunday, August 09, 2015

A Smothers Brothers Review

I saw this Press- Democrat piece billed as a review of a new book about them. Fellow Smothers Brothers fans might enjoy it, although it's more just a look back at what they did and where they are now.

I was a fan of theirs back in the '60s as was the whole family. We'd watch their show every chance we got. I thought it funny and entertaining. I'm not sure I felt that way about them when they made their attempt at a comeback. The writer of the review makes it sound like it was their choice. I didn't get that impression:

"While they still performed and packed smaller venues, the act never regained its prime-time platform. Tommy, uncomfortable about the pitying looks from his peers in Hollywood, fled to Sonoma Valley in 1971 and started making wine."

Seems to me they did end up back in prime time briefly. Anybody else remember that? 

They went off the air for about four years, jokingly blaming it on Nixon. There might well be some truth to that, but they did come back, for maybe three or four shows. I watched those shows. I wasn't impressed. They tried to do the same show they had before, but it didn't work anymore. I'm guessing most others felt the same way. Times had changed. That's why they fizzled.

8 Comments:

At 12:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the show, but hardly ever laughed at the insult jokes. It set a precedent for future insults though, numerous ly found in every liberal media outlet there is. Insultive=savvy. Savvy=groupie. Groupie=belonging. They've found their niche & feel smarter & nicer than everyone else in the world. Like Dick did to Tommy. Cher did to Sonny. Too bad more didn't tune in to George Carlin.

 
At 1:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Set a precident for insults? It was the first TV show to question the war in Vietnam or make a stand against a presidential action.

To an authoritarian, any dissenting opinion should be squashed like a bug. God forbid someone sound smarter or nicer or different from the ruling kings. Is that your version of conservative vs liberal? Liberals question (insult) and conservatives censor? I'm not so sure it's thst clear and dry

 
At 1:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon 1:04,

Didn't you get the word? Donald Trump is a liberal plant in the conservative world. Even so, the conservative universe is just luvin' his smug wit and insulting charms. He is still way ahead of the rest of the respectful conservative pack for some unfathomable reason known only to respectful conservatives.

 
At 2:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are conservatives loving him? He's been told to tone things down by party heads and has now been kicked out of further debates.

The people loving him are the same type of people who love Taylor Swift, Kanye West and other mediocre entertainers. Huffington post puts all of trumps stories in the entertainment section. They seem to agree with my assessment.

 
At 2:37 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Reason magazine had a short article the other day on the polls. The writer pointed out polls don't mean anything this early in the game. She went on to point to complete reversals in polls and end results in recent elections.

She went on to say pretty much the way I feel and have wrote before: Most people don't pay much attention to politics most of the time. What attention they do pay is to just headlines, if that. Trump is the big news maker right now, has best name recognition, thus will obviously come out best in early polls.

I'm sure there are some that like his brash manner and not being one to mind offending people. I'll admit I like that myself, but that's about all I like. Was speaking to a guy- aka Johnny Maniac- at Winco today about that. He kinda likes it, too.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people would vote him up in the polls just because of that. Then there are those that might see him as the anti- establishment outsider. Whether they would ultimately vote for him is unclear.

 
At 4:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon 2:21,
"Are conservatives loving him? He's been told to tone things down by party heads and has now been kicked out of further debates."

Where do you get your info? What "party heads" have told him to tone it down and what "further debates" has he been kicked out of?

1. Nobody tells Trump what to do and as mentioned above by Fred, people of, I assume, conservative values, like that about him.
2. He's definitely in the next repo debate at CNN since he's still leading all the polls. It's automatic.
3. You might be referring to his being "uninvited" to an appearance on Red State by that sniveling little toady, Eric Erickson because of Trumps' disrespect for FOX supermodel Megyn Whatever. Erickson, as CNN has pointed out, has a few problems with misogynist statements about other women his own self.
4. Trump stated, to same Megyn at the debate, that if he is NOT selected as the Repo candidate he will run on his own, pulling a Ross Perot.
5. THIS is the state of your Republican Party, sport, and I doubt that it will improve anytime soon. Gee, if they can only unite their forces for good and attack Hillary all day long, unfortunately, they are handing her a cornucopia of presidential attack ads

I'm stocking up on popcorn

 
At 5:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was not Tommy that opened the Smothers Winery in Kenwood, Sonoma County but Dick along with Pat Paulson who opened a winery in Asti in the old Asti store which was located at the Asti exit of 101 and between the freeway and old highway. Although Paulson Winery is gone, the old store remains.

 
At 5:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another Smothers fact is that Dick's exwife operated Linda's Enlightened Sole, a women's shoe store in Aptos, California in the 80s.

 

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