Historical Comment

I guess this could've been labeled a Political Comment too, as it is prompted (as usual) by something going on in the current presidential campaign. Apparently, a number of commentators on the right are upset about the Obama campaign's purchase of a half-hour block of time on several networks this evening (see the story here). It reminds me of something that happened back during the 1964 election (that is, I remember learning about this while researching political humor, I don't actually have a first-hand recollection of the event).

That year, a somewhat popular new program was launched on, I believe, the NBC network called That Was the Week That Was. It was an early example of an Americanized version of a hit British show, and much like the current Daily Show, it's bread and butter was political satire. The British show was created by David Frost, and he was part of the US cast as well, along with a lot of folks associated with Second City (including Alan Alda) and other famous comedy figures (including many who would reach greater fame later). Tom Lehrer provided musical numbers in his inimitable fashion. Anyway, the show got a fair amount of hype, not least because it was launched in America in the midst of a presidential campaign, Johnson v. Goldwater. Apparently, as the election drew closer, and the Goldwater campaign was way behind, they decided to buy big blocks of time on NBC in the last couple of weeks, and coincidentally(?) asked for and were given TWTWTW's timeslot. At the time it raised a few eyebrows, suggesting to pundits that the Republicans were upset at their candidate being picked on during the program, and chose this as the best way to stifle that "criticism." It certainly did not end up helping Goldwater, but it did destroy the show's ratings, as viewers fell out of the habit of tuning in during its absence (some speculated they also were turned off by the Republican campaign ads in its place); even though it came back on after the election had passed, it was canceled by the end of the season.

I had the chance to view an episode of TWTWTW at the Museum of Radio and Television Broadcasting in Los Angeles a couple of years ago (part of that aforementioned research). It was an entertaining show, but by almost any measure much more benign than what candidates are subjected to today via the Daily Show, Colbert Report, and even David Letterman. I'm not entirely sure what this says about the evolution of our political discourse, but one can certainly make the case that it has become more integrated with show business in all its various permutations.