Smothers and Lear nudged TV into new era

It seems logical that we celebrate these two great lives in the same month.
Norman Lear died Dec. 5 at 101; Tommy Smothers died Dec. 26 at 86. Together, they nudged TV into the modern era.
Both were on CBS, the leading network. Both created shows that were younger and sharper. Both battled censors; Smothers (shown here, right, with his brother Dick) lost, Lear won, viewers won.
There’s more to it than that, though. These guys did much more than fight censors and tip windmills; they made shows that were innovative and funny. If you had stripped out every controversial moment, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and “All in the Family” would still have been TV gems.
The Smothers show arrived in February of 1967, in a no-win timeslot. That was 9 p.m. Sundays, colliding with NBC’s “Bonanza,” the top show in the Nielsen ratings.
It succeeded quickly. “Bonanza” stayed in the top three for years, but the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” was No. 16 its first season, 18 its second, 27 its third … when the show was canceled on April 4, 1969.
TV then seemed to be in full retreat, with CBS sticking to its safest shows. That fall, the line-up included “Beverly Hillbillies,” “Green Acres,” “Petticoat Junction,” “My Three Sons,” “Family Affair,” “Mayberry R.F.D.,” and “Lassie,” plus the Doris Day, Jim Nabors and Glen Campbell shows.
But then came the surprise. “All in the Family” – twice rejected by ABC — debuted on CBS on Jan. 12, 1971, less than two years after Smothers was dropped.
Like Smothers, Lear battled the CBS censors. Unlike him, he compromised … and found a huge audience. In its first full year, “All in the Family” was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings; by its fourth, it was joined by four other Lear comedies in the top nine.
The censorschip battles give Smothers and Lear a big place in comedy history. But even if we forgot all of that, these guys were comedy masters and sharp producers.
Smothers had a young writers’ room, with Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Bob Einstein (who later became Super Dave Osborne) and more. These were funny people, with or without satire; one of the funniest bits had Pat Paulsen simply mumbling incoherently.
The show had fresh ideas. One song was accompanied by “topless dancers” – the bare legs of a talented chorus line. Another was recorded with Mason Williams playing every instrument; the camera darted between an orchestrta of Williams cut-outs.
“The Smolhers Brothers Comedy Hour” was fresh, funny and then gone. But it pointed toward Lear and the first golden age of comedy.