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November 5, 2003
Smothers Brothers to Replace Reagan Series on CBS Comedy Duo Set for Weekly Show about Presidential Campaign CBS Television announced last night that the Smothers Brothers comedy team will return to the network after a 36-year absence with a weekly prime time variety show named "Tom and Dick Do Campaign 2004." "They'll be wonderfully funny, irreverent about political sacred cows and presidential campaign shenanigans," said a network spokeswoman who, as usual, declined to be identified. "You can expect their witty blend of song, humor, parody and biting satire. It'll be fall down funny." The network announcement said that "Tom and Dick Do Campaign 2004" would debut with two back-to-back one-hour specials on November 16 and 18, the nights that a mini-series about President Ronald Reagan's administration was to have aired. Reached by telephone at Cedar Rapids, Iowa where the duo had just completed a benefit performance at the local Elks Lodge, Tom Smothers said he and his brother were already at work on the shows. "There's not much about presidential election campaigns that's funny, but we'll do our best to find something," he said in typical deadpan style, immediately following the remark with his trademark chortle. The Reagan series was abruptly pulled from the network on Tuesday after Republican party officials and members of Reagan's family excoriated the two-part series for being unfair to the former president, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and has been in seclusion for many years. It was just last Sunday night that CBS, which is owned by Viacom, celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala New York City party, whose guests included the Smothers Brothers. The comedy duo regaled party guests with their recollections about having their CBS variety show cancelled in 1967 because they were too critical of such things as President Johnson and the Vietnam War. Less than 24 hours later, CBS executives were scrambling to do damage control as the controversy over the Reagan mini-series escalated. The next day, the network announced the Reagan series would be moved to Show Time, a cable television outlet also owned by Viacom. Whatever programming CBS uses to fill the Reagan mini-series slot is important for the network because it comes during the November "sweeps" period when viewership is used to set advertising rates for the television networks. Landing the Smothers Brothers as replacement is a coup in that it will continue to focus viewer attention on the time slot. The network is gambling that aging members of the Baby Boom generation will tune in to see what an entertainment icon from the years when boomers were in their twenties will have to say. "CBS has guaranteed us complete creative control. We don't expect any problems," Tom Smothers said, punctuating the remark with another chortle. Sumner Redstone, the 79-year-old chairman of Viacom, confirmed last night that the Smothers Brothers would retain full creative control of the variety show. "We're with them all the way on this. They can count of us," Redstone said as he emerged from a $1,000 a plate benefit dinner for the Creative Freedom Foundation. The dinner honored several Iraqi artists who fled the regime of Saddam Hussein and lived abroad in order to follow their artistic visions. Copyright William Stockton & Smithtown Creek Productions |
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