That Was the Week That Was

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.

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.

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.

"That Was the Week That Was" first appeared in the US in a special edition that was a memorial to John F Kennedy after his assassination. I believe that was the original British cast, but the show stimulated an enormous amount of interest in what they were doing over there, so an American version appeared the next year.

It was topical. It didn't pull its punches. It was sly, most Americans' introduction to "British Humor," more than a step up from Jerry Lewis, and it moved quickly. Its was urbane, a style that David Frost came to symbolize, although the conspicuous consumption lifestyle he developed was really something else. Perhaps he became what he started out to mock.

It's surprising it's gotten so little attention, as it was widely regarded a direct inspiration for "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," and it is surely not chance that the decades old American comedy show's weekly announced name isn't "Saturday Night Live," but "Saturday Night." Surely a tip of the hat to TW3's original name.

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."