When we cats were kittens in 1969, CBS canceled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Yep, if you don't remember it, it really happened!
The situation was a little different — no one at the FCC threatened the network, that we know of — so it was more corporate- than state-sponsored censorship. CBS was unhappy that Tom and Dick Smothers — who supported the civil rights movement and opposed the Vietnam War, and had a habit of saying so — refused to submit their shows ahead of time for review. It was a sure road to an impasse. "Don't tell comedians not to say a certain word," Dick Smothers said. "For sure they'll do it."
CBS took the brothers off the air and replaced them with Hee Haw. Sometimes you really can't make these things up.
But here's something we didn't know: After Lyndon Johnson dropped out of the 1968 Presidential race, the Smothers Brothers wrote to him, basically saying, "Hey, sorry about all the jokes." Johnson wrote back (see above). That really happened, too. What a different world. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.
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