That Was the Week That Was

A great ground breaking show (never got to see the UK version). It got pulled not be course of normal lost or ratings. But after it was preempted for too many weeks by a boring political rally for a party. They used a former hack actor who was rewarded for his work with future political support.

A very original, thought provoking show was 1964's was "That Was the Week that Was." It was also referred to as TW3 so as to shorten the title.

The show dealt with political and social commentary on the various news events of the week.

It had a great cast of comedians. Even veteran comedienne Doro Merande was a weekly regular on the shows.

I wonder what this excellent show would be like in today's political world. I guess it would have to kowtow to political correctness.

That Was the Week that Was, Kennedy and Khrushchev Twist. O what a week that was! That was the week that was (2). This would be an example of the opening theme of the show as the cast assembled on stage.

For sure, current events was never like this. Nancy Ames and others were just terrific on this show.

I'd love to see this show make a comeback today.

Some of the brightest minds ever in entertainment were gathered for this furiously funny look at the week's news highlights. "TW3" was a cut above SNL's Weekend Updates, racing ahead of "Not Necessarily The News," and nosing out "The Daily Show" as the best of its kind. Fueled by the players in a period of stunning global events, the players managed both biting commentary and lively entertainment. Bring on the re-runs.

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.

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!