CBS has revived Person to Person, the 1953-61 interview series hosted by newsman Edward R. Murrow. Charlie Rose and Lara Logan will host the modern-day program, which will air as a series of one-hour specials beginning tonight at 8pm ET/PT. The hosts will get a tour of George Clooney’s LA home, Warren Buffett’s Omaha office, and Jon Bon Jovi’s New Jersey mansion.
Director James Burrows appeared on the original Person to Person as a child, when the program came to do an interview at the house of his father, playwright/director Abe Burrows:
Learn more about the original Person to Person at our show page and watch a preview of the new series here.
Even if you haven’t heard of Imero Fiorentino, chances are you’re familiar with his work. He was the lighting designer on may of ABC’s earliest programs, including U.S. Steel Hour,Omnibus, Paul Whiteman’s Goodyear Revue, and Tales of Tomorrow. He lit the scene for Telstar I’s first live transatlantic transmission on July 10, 1962, and he designed the lighting for the World Showcase Pavilions at Disney’s Epcot Center.
Perhaps the most famous broadcasts with which Fiorentino was involved: he lit the second, third and fourth Kennedy-Nixon debates after Nixon looked so undesirable in the first debate:
Tom and Dick. Tea with Goldie. Pete Seeger. These are just a few associations one makes at the mention of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Some others: controversy, cancellation, law suit.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour first premiered on CBS on February 5, 1967 with brothers Tom and Dick Smothers as hosts. The variety show lasted three seasons and seventy-two episodes and attracted a young, anti-establishment audience. The program featured hip, up and coming musicians like Seeger, who in 1967 famously performed “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”on the show. The song told the story of a Louisiana platoon on a practice patrol in 1942 and was a not-so-subtle satire of President Johnson’s views on the Vietnam War. CBS executives found the song to be too political and Standards and Practices censored the performance from the broadcast. The Who, known for destroying their instruments at the end of a set, had a particularly explosive finish to their performance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour - pyrotechnics overloaded by the band resulted in drummer Keith Moon getting hit by cymbal shrapnel and guitarist Pete Townshend’s hair getting singed. The music on the program was not exactly standard Ed Sullivan or Lawrence Welk fare.
In addition to lively musical acts, the program consisted of a stand-up routine with the brothers (during which goofy Tommy would often utter his signature line, “Mom liked you best” to straight man Dick), and sketches that regularly tested the censors’ boundaries. Leigh French played the recurring character “Goldie O’Keefe” whose “Share a Little Tea with Goldie” parodied a typical advice show for ladies. Standards and Practices was unaware that tea was slang for marijuana, so Goldie often got away with dialogue like “Hi(gh)–and glad of it!”
The young brothers’ frequent anti-war and pro-Civil Rights guests, and overall counter-culture sensibilities conflicted with those of CBS and the program was abruptly cancelled on April 4, 1969, after CBS President Bob Wood stated the Smothers Brothers had failed to submit the upcoming episode for review at the scheduled time. The brothers were fired and in turn sued CBS.
We sat down with Tom and Dick Smothers in 2000 and they discussed the cancellation of the show:
CBS Executive Mike Dann brought The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour to CBS, and believes the show’s cancellation was a travesty:
Despite the cancellation, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour won the 1969 Emmy for Best Comedy Writing, thanks to staff writers like Rob Reiner, Steve Martin, Bob Einstein (“Super Dave”), and Pat Paulsen. Reiner recalled his time on the program fondly, stating that he learned much about the art of comedy from the brothers:
Though the program aired for only three seasons, it garnered a loyal following and many see it as the forerunner of current programs like The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report. The brothers recently entered the headlines again as George Clooney’s production company, Smokehouse Pictures, announced it will develop a movie about The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in an adaptation of David Bianculli’s book, Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. A dedicated fan base, clear convictions to which they remain true, and a movie based on their TV show? Mom’s got lots of reasons to be plenty proud of both her sons.
It’s Superbowl Sunday! Time for junk food, expensive commercials, a halftime spectacular, and of course, football! Today the AFC’s New England Patriots take on the NFC’s New York Giants at Lucas Oil Stadium at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The game will also be streamed online for the first time ever.
The Archive is honored to have interviewed several people who have made significant contributions to how television viewers experience the Superbowl. Don Mischer produced the first of the big halftime spectaculars – featuring Michael Jackson at Superbowl XXVII:
And director Tony Verna is the man who brought instant replay to television, forever changing the way football and other sports were viewed:
This week Executive Producer Dean Lorey announced that the full cast of Arrested Development is back for season four! Creator Mitch Hurwitz, writer Jim Valley, and Lorey are hard at work writing the episodes now. The series enjoyed three seasons on FOX before it was cancelled in 2006, but next year Netflix will stream season four online to subscribers.
In his 2006 Archive interview, Executive Producer (and narrator) Ron Howard discussed how Arrested Development arose from attempting to do a sitcom that would utilize the visual language of reality television and internet programming – fitting considering the program’s new home:
The new season is set to stream sometime in 2013.
Visit our Arrested Development show page for behind-the-scenes stories of the sitcom.
For more on the current season in production, click here.
After 30 years of not speaking, Three’s Company actresses Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt reunited on Somers’ web series, “Suzanne Somers Breaking Through.” The two had not spoken since Somers left the sitcom after a salary dispute, but one of Somers’ web series producers approached DeWitt about coming on the program and she agreed. According to Somers, it was a tearful reunion that brought back memories of co-star John Ritter, who passed away in 2003.
In her 2009 Archive interview, Somers describes her Three’s Company contract dispute:
And recalls her fall out with Joyce DeWitt and her other Three’s Company castmates:
You can watch the Three’s Company reunion with Chrissy and Janet here.
Tonight David Letterman marks 30 years in late night television. His first late night talk show, Late Night with David Letterman, premiered February 2, 1982 on NBC, replacing Tomorrow with Tom Snyder. On August 30, 1993, Letterman moved to CBS with the program Late Show with David Letterman, which he’s hosted ever since.
Paul Shaffer on getting the gig as bandleader on Late Night with David Letterman:
In celebration of entering his fourth decade on late night, Letterman will have Howard Stern as the guest on his show this evening. It will be Stern’s 21st appearance on the program, and musical guests will be the Airborne Toxic Event. You can catch The Late Show with Dave Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
She played one of America’s all-time favorite neighbors. As “Trixie Norton” on The Honeymooners, Joyce Randolph was that pal that you wished lived upstairs. She was friend to Audrey Meadows’ “Alice Kramden,” other half to Art Carney’s “Ed Norton,” and along with Jackie Gleason, made up one of the funniest foursomes in television history. In her Archive of American Television interview from 1999, Randolph speaks in detail about her time as “Trixie,” sharing what it was like to do the show with very little rehearsal, since Jackie Gleason preferred it that way, and recalling her memories of the “Classic 39″ episodes.
She shares how she won the role:
Describes her co-star Audrey Meadows:
And gushes about the talents of her on-screen husband, Art Carney:
Learn more about Randolph’s time on The Honeymooners, and about her early stage and television work by watching her full Archive interview.
About this interview:
In her two hour Archive Interview, Joyce Randolph discusses her early years as an actress on the stage and speaks of her first appearance on television in 1946 — on experimental station WRGB in Scenectady, NY. She outlines her roles in early television on the Dumont network, on shows Martin Kane, Private Eye; The Plainclothesman; and The Famous Jury Trials. She describes her first appearance on The Cavalcade of Stars in a dramatic role, before landing the part of “Trixie Norton” in the show’s “Honeymooners” sketches, opposite Art Carney’s “Ed Norton.” Randolph then details her appearances in the “Classic 39” episodes of TheHoneymooners, when the sketches were launched as a 30-minute sitcom series for the 1955-56 season, and shares what it was like to work with Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows. She chronicles her continued appearances as “Trixie” on The Jackie Gleason Show (which ran through 1959) and her return to the role for an episode of the 1991 television series, Hi Honey, I’m Home. Michael Rosen conducted the interview on October 27, 1999 in New York, NY.
The Archive is sad to report that director John Rich passed away yesterday at the age of 86. Rich was one of the most respected and prolific directors in all of television, directing numerous episodes of The Colgate Comedy Hour, Our Miss Brooks, Gunsmoke, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gilligan’s Island, and All in the Family (including the “Sammy’s Visit” episode), and was instrumental in merging the Screen Directors Guild with the Radio and Television Directors Guild to create the current Directors Guild of America. Here are some selections from Rich’s seven hour interview:
On how he became the main director for The Dick Van Dyke Show:
It came about because of my service to the Guild, oddly enough. I had been doing westerns – I did five years of westerns and that was the hot stuff. But I had been on the Director’s Guild Board of Directors all that time. Sheldon Leonard was on the Board. He walked by me one day, he said, “hey, how would you like to come in out of all the dust?” I said, “and do what?” He said, “I got a new show with an actor named Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner.” I said, “Carl Reiner?” That got my attention. Van Dyke I had never heard of. I said, “oh, I don’t know, what do you think?” He said, “I think you can do a nice job. I’d like you to come in and meet Carl Reiner and Van Dyke and see if you get along.” Fine. So I was asked to come to Carl Reiner’s house and it very pleasant, and I loved his work on Sid Ceasar’s show. I told him so. And when I met him, I was introduced to Van Dyke and I said, “I thought you were wonderful in ‘Vintage ‘60.’” And he said, “no, that was Dick –” some other actor. My introduction to Dick Van Dyke was to compliment him on a play he was not in. First faux pas, you know. Then I was going to do the show and I did it and God, it was wonderful.
On directing the opening sequence of The Dick Van Dyke Show:
On being asked to direct new series All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show on the same day:
It was a curious thing, one of those rare days in the life of a freelance director. I had a call from Mary Tyler Moore saying she’s doing a new show, would I read her script. Jim Brooks and Alan Bergman had written it. The same day Norman Lear sent me All In the Family. I read both of them. I thought, God, and I called Mary– as a matter of fact, I met with Jim Brooks and Alan. I said, “you know, having worked with Mary on Dick Van Dyke, I thought this would be a very good show, but it kind of had some overtones of reminiscence. It just feels okay, like another comedy that might be good, but this other thing is outrageous.” It was 1970, and the dialogue that was written then, just blew me away. I called Norman, I said, “you aren’t going to make this, are you?” He said, “yeah.” I said, “is anybody going to put it on?” He said, “they say they will.” Well, I told Mary, I said, “you know, I really got to do that show even if it’s an exercise.” I don’t know if it’s going to get on, but I was committed to the first 6 shows, whatever it was.
On directing the Emmy-winning “Sammy’s Visit” episode of All in the Family:
CBS has revived Person to Person, the 1953-61 interview series hosted by newsman Edward R. Murrow. Charlie Rose and Lara Logan will host the modern-day program, which will air as a series of one-hour specials beginning tonight at 8pm ET/PT. The hosts will get a tour of George Clooney’s LA home, Warren Buffett’s Omaha office, and Jon Bon Jovi’s New Jersey mansion.
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