That Was the Week That Was

This weekly half-hour was the spiritual predecessor of Weekend Update. The English version had the reputation of being daringly topical and incisive. The American version was, in the well chosen word from the review by cmndrnineveh, smug. Maybe it was simply impossible, in the year after JFK's death, to make fun of the dominant ideology of the time, carried forward by JFK's then-overwhelmingly popular successor and associated with the martyred president. Of course, the sting of satire is most needed when smug assumptions rule political and social discourse. This program, however, often seemed intent on comforting the comfortable. Could a prime time network program slip daggers into the New Frontier and the Great Society in 1964? Not bloody likely.

One saving grace: The great Tom Lehrer wrote some songs for the show which were as keen and merciless as an Hattori Hanzo sword. They were collected in an album called "That Was the Year That Was," which is, I think, still available. Although topically tied to 1964/1965, the songs still cut. If you enjoy satire and you don't know Mr. Lehrer, do yourself a favor.

Oh, I also had a thing for Nancy Ames.

TWTWTW, or TW3, had an astounding and brilliant list of regular, semi-regular, and guest performers who did brief comedic commentary on political topics and current events. But it is best remembered for three performers: its impossibly sophisticated "special correspondent," David Frost, who was introduced to American audiences by this show; the beautiful blonde folk singer, Nancy Ames; and puppeteer Burr Tillstrom, previously known almost solely for the children's show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, whose innovative "hand ballets" have never been duplicated. For two short seasons, this was real "must-see TV."

Political Satire has been a staple of comedy spoofing and sketches as far back as the old Vaudevillians and British Music Hall days. So how come both the Original Series, the BBC version and our own NBC Program lasted only one season each? The show used tons of talented people, both in front of Camera and in the support,behind the scenes-you know the Technical Boys. The Political Slant ran in all different directions, as they kidded anyone and everyone, Dems, Reps, Libs, Conservatives all were fair game.

The show made use of song rather than sketch as the main instrument. That meant writing new, fresh songs weekly, one of which would be hours old before air time! To keep up on the current events and fashion songs to spoof these news stories and at same time, be at least a little humorous to an audience would present a nearly impossible task.

Me thinks that is the reason there was no staying power for this format on either side of the Atlantic. Like a Shooting Star, it burned itself out in a brief moment of History. Oh, but what a moment it was!

NOTE:As far as we can tell, there is no VHS or DVD available that has any of the programs available, neither BBC nor NBC. However one of the writers, former M.I.T. Math Professor, Tom Lehrer, did cut a 33 1/3 rpm Record Album of several of his songs from the series. Titled THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS, it dated back to 1964 and came out the next year. It is now available on both cassette and CD on either Warner Brothers or Reprise Labels. Check it out!

This show was groundbreaking to the point of undeniably honest presentation of the parodies it performed, allowing the audience an understanding of the set and the presence of makeup and stage hands. Also, memorable for one episode completely lacking humor dedicated to the assassination of JFK. So much of this early experiment in TV Comedy can be interpreted as a framework for more modern shows like SNL, Colbert Report, and the like. The talent was diverse and intelligent. Tom Lehrer and David Frost contributed much to the format. As far as any criticism that may fall on this show, I don't care much for Country Music and my wife can stare at Monty Python for hours without cracking a smile, but that doesn't mean there isn't brilliant talent and huge entertainment value in both of those. TW3 emerged during a time when TV was experimenting with lots techniques and presentation style as well as cutting edge political humor.

Balderdash! This show was a complete humbug and was nowhere NEAR as funny as some of you guys remember it! What I remember was a pretentious show with lame, nerdy takes on what was going on around the world, with a very SMUG attitude exhibited by all the players! Especially Nancy Ames, (who hated hippies,) who you say was a FOLK singer??? Heh...I bet she didn't work the coffeehouse circuit much after comments she made on a daytime talk show, (it was either Merv Griffin, Steve Allen or Dick Cavett,) about "those smelly beatniks!" All in all, you're being WAAAYYY too kind to this turkey, which only lasted one year, and rightfully so.