"The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" to get the big screen treatment

[only1moore]

Yes folks, the controversy and everything else behind-the-scenes that was the 1967-69 CBS series is being made into a motion picture by George Clooney:

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-po...thers-brothers-movie-nph-tommy-smothers-33514

 

[landtuna]

It isn't clear to me whether this movie focuses upon the battles between the Smothers Brothers and the C(BS) censors or is a history of the program itself. In either case I can't see where it would be of interest to anyone under 55 today as they would have had to have lived during the 60's to understand what the environment was like.

 

[therealjm12]

I don't know about that. The Occupy movement has rekindled the "Revolution" spirit.

 

[flashback]

i think clooney is doing the wrong approach.a big screen documentary with footage from the show and interviews with people involved would be good but actors playing the parts acting out someones version does not sound like the way.

 

[wbhist]

i think clooney is doing the wrong approach.a big screen documentary with footage from the show and interviews with people involved would be good but actors playing the parts acting out someones version does not sound like the way.

Something tells me that, with Clooney at the helm, it may indeed turn out to be a "Son of Good Night, and Good Luck.". In other words, with actors playing the parts, and attempts to replicate the fonts actually used on TV cameras, etc.

 

[gregg75]

They've done it for Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn (among others). Look how popular those movies were. If George is the star, that would bring a lot of the younger crowd into it.

 

[landtuna]

They've done it for Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn (among others). Look how popular those movies were. If George is the star, that would bring a lot of the younger crowd into it.

Cash and Lynn were popular entertainers well past the late 60's when the Smothers Brothers were in their prime. Other than the very occasional interview I can't think of a single time I've seen them in the past 20-30 years.

I'm also wondering how much of a star Clooney is with the 20-30 year old set.

 

[landtuna]

I don't know about that. The Occupy movement has rekindled the "Revolution" spirit.

The 60's were far different than today in terms of popular unrest. Although there were many threads to the protests back then the major one was resistance to the war in Vietnam. I don't see such a unified purpose to the Occupy protests today and they are certainly less populous and less violent.

 

[gregg75]

They've done it for Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn (among others). Look how popular those movies were. If George is the star, that would bring a lot of the younger crowd into it.

Cash and Lynn were popular entertainers well past the late 60's when the Smothers Brothers were in their prime. Other than the very occasional interview I can't think of a single time I've seen them in the past 20-30 years.

I'm also wondering how much of a star Clooney is with the 20-30 year old set.

....but they DID make movies about them and both were very successful.

Clooney is very popular with women about 30 who are prime movie goers. But whose to argue
with you because you know everything about everything.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Clooney actually did a fairly good job I think with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the biopic based on the thoroughly whacked Chuck Barris autobiography which claimed that he moonlighted as a hitman for the CIA. He seemed to very accurately
capture the environment of 1960's television in that one.

I wonder who they have in mind to play Tom and Dick Smothers?

 

[landtuna]

Clooney is very popular with women about 30 who are prime movie goers. But whose to argue
with you because you know everything about everything.

No need to get chippy. I was merely expressing my opinion as you were yours.

But you DID make my point. A 30-year old today would have been born in 1981 - an entire decade after the Smothers were off TV. While a 30-year old female might like to see Clooney in a movie, how many of them would want to watch him in a movie about someone they knew nothing about?

As for some background.....I was a HUGE fan of the Smothers show way back when and, in fact, wrote the only protest letter of my life to C(BS) when they were cancelled. The Smothers and Laugh-In were my "must see TV" back in those days.

As for Clooney.....I've enjoyed his movies but he really doesn't stand out (yes, I'm a male).

 

[LKellerIII]

Clooney is very popular with women about 30 who are prime movie goers. But whose to argue
with you because you know everything about everything.

A 30-year old today would have been born in 1981 - an entire decade after the Smothers were off TV. While a 30-year old female might like to see Clooney in a movie, how many of them would want to watch him in a movie about someone they knew nothing about?

Perhaps 30 year olds these days don't care about history, but when I was growing up - or at age 30, I was definitely interested in events that happened a decade before my birth. Of course, those were mostly the momentous events of World War II - there was no TV to speak of in the early 40s.

 

[landtuna]

Perhaps 30 year olds these days don't care about history, but when I was growing up - or at age 30, I was definitely interested in events that happened a decade before my birth. Of course, those were mostly the momentous events of World War II - there was no TV to speak of in the early 40s.

We're two peas in the same pod regarding history but I can't say at age 30 I was all that interested in things that happened ten years before I was born. As the years went by I got interested but probably not enough in those early years where I would have gone to a movie about it. My favorite show growing up was "20th Century" and that's probably what got me interested in history of all types.

Even today I'm not sure I care all that much about entertainment subjects (Sullivan, Godfrey, etc.). The fact that I was really into the Smothers made it important to me.

 

[only1moore]

I wonder who they have in mind to play Tom and Dick Smothers?

Well, David Bianculli, the author of the book that the film will be based on, "Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'," wants to see Neil Patrick Harris play Tommy Smothers, and he does have the look and credentials for that part.

Speaking of Bianculli, here is his blog about seeing his book coming to the big screen...
http://www.tvworthwatching.com/blog/2011/12/clooney-smothers-brothers-movi.shtml

 

[mbayus]

Here's a question, How many people actually go to a movie for the sake of the movie? I do, but I'll bet that 80% of the audiance at any given showing of a movie couldn't tell you what the actual movie was about. I mean one event or incident that takes place in the movie. Just something to think about. BTW, I liked Good Night and Good Luck.

 

[LKellerIII]

I wonder who they have in mind to play Tom and Dick Smothers?

Well, David Bianculli, the author of the book that the film will be based on, "Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'," wants to see Neil Patrick Harris play Tommy Smothers, and he does have the look and credentials for that part.

Speaking of Bianculli, here is his blog about seeing his book coming to the big screen...
http://www.tvworthwatching.com/blog/2011/12/clooney-smothers-brothers-movi.shtml

I had forgotten about Bianculli's book. I heard him interviewed on NPR about it, and he did provide a lot of details that hadn't been wide public knowledge before. It was interesting, and I considered buying it, but ultimately decided that I didn't have that much interest in the subject - there are so many more compelling subjects that I don't have time to read about.

I was about 18 when the Smothers Brothers were taken off the air by CBS. I remember being upset about it at the time. But even then, there were so many more important issues taking up my mental energy - first year in college, the Vietnam War, etc.

Even though the Brothers were taken off the air in part for their political views, including their opposition to the Vietnam War, the actual fact of their cancellation - though smacking of censorship, was (IMO), not one of the more vital issues of the era when you compare it to young Americans and Vietnamese being slaughtered, napalm and Agent Orange, the students shot at Kent State, the lies coming from the Generals running the war at the time, etc.

 

[Silkie]

Might be interesting to see how he portrays them.

 

[landtuna]

Just for grins this morning I asked my 31-year old if he had ever heard of the Smothers Brothers.

"Nope" was his predictable answer.

 

[LKellerIII]

Just for grins this morning I asked my 31-year old if he had ever heard of the Smothers Brothers.

"Nope" was his predictable answer.

If you lived in Santa Rosa, CA - about 60 miles north of San Francisco, your son probably would have heard of Smothers Volvo, the brothers' car dealership. Tom and/or Dick also own a winery in that area.