''The Smothers Brothers Show'' is an American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

sitcom featuring the

Smothers Brothers The Smothers Brothers are Thomas ("Tom" – born February 2, 1937) and Richard ("Dick" – born November 20, 1938), American folk singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic gu ...

that aired on CBS on Friday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET from September 17, 1965, to April 22, 1966, co-sponsored by

Alberto-Culver Alberto-Culver was an American corporation with international sales whose principal business was manufacturing hair and skin beauty care products under such brands as Alberto VO5, Andrew Collnge, St. Ives (skin care products), TRESemmé, FDS, ...

's VO5 hairdressing products and

American Tobacco The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

's Tareyton cigarettes. It was the first television show to feature the Smothers Brothers as regulars, following a series of night club and guest appearances. It lasted one season, consisting of 32 episodes. It was the network's last situation comedy filmed in black-and-white; shortly after its final telecast, all CBS prime-time series were transmitted in color. In 1986, two decades after cancellation, reruns were seen on

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. ET/ PT, Friday nights fr ...

Synopsis

Dick Smothers played himself as a rising young executive at Pandora Publications, working for publisher Leonard J. Costello (

Roland Winters Roland Winters (born Roland Winternitz; November 22, 1904 – October 22, 1989)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 287. was an Ame ...

). Brother Tom had been lost at sea two years earlier and now shows up as an apprentice angel assigned to do good deeds on Earth to earn his wings and become a full-fledged angel. Of course, Tom's efforts to help people never seem to work as planned and Dick had to help him clean up the mess. Tom received his orders from Ralph, his unseen and unheard boss. The series also featured Harriet MacGibbon as Mrs. Costello, and on occasion,

Ann Elder Ann Elder (born Anna Velders; September 21, 1942) is an American actress, producer and screenwriter. Early life and education Ann Elder was born Anna Velders in Cleveland, Ohio. Career Elder won Emmy Awards for comedy writing, including o ...

as Dick's co-worker and girl friend Janet (Eileen O'Neill) also appeared in several episodes as another of Dick's girl friends, Wanda. As was typical of the Smothers Brothers in ''

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' was an American comedy and variety show television series hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969. The series was a major success, especially considering it was sc ...

'', Dick was typically the

straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the c ...

to Tom's humorous antics.

Creative control struggles

The series was produced by

Four Star Television Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, it was insp ...

in association with the brothers' Knave Productions (named for Tom's catchphrase " Curb Your Tongue, Knave!", and the title of their 1963 record album). This series may have inspired the Brothers' more successful later series ''

'' in that Tom Smothers had been critical of the series as not being compatible with the brothers' strengths (in fact, he fought with Four Star executives over more creative control of the series, earning an ulcer and irritating his marital relationship to the point of divorce at the end of the season). For instance, neither brother played their instruments on the show (with one exception, at the beginning of "'Twas The Week Before Christmas" episode), and it was not until halfway through the season that they sang the theme song.

Episodes

References

External links

*
Link to theme song
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smothers Brothers Show, The 1965 American television series debuts 1966 American television series endings 1960s American sitcoms American fantasy television series Angels in television Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming English-language television shows Fantasy comedy television series Television series about brothers Television series by Four Star Television Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series created by Aaron Spelling