TV REVIEW : Smothers Brothers Try It Again in ‘Comedy Hour’--Without Writers

The Smothers Brothers, smothered by CBS 20 years ago, were all set to begin again with “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”

Then the Writers Guild went on strike.

The brothers nevertheless went ahead and patched together a show (debuting tonight at 8, Channels 2 and 8). It includes a statement of support for the goals of the striking writers. But it also includes some material that must have been written after the strike started.

For example, the opening number confronts the writers strike head on. It’s a goofy adaptation of the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” with new lyrics about the strike.

One of those lyrics notes that without the writers, “Tom and Dick were standing there with nothing new to say.” It’s too true. The brothers didn’t have anything new to say, so they returned to their old routines, now more comfortable than controversial.

The best features of tonight’s show are familiar hallmarks of Smothersland: Tom taking Dick’s rhetorical questions literally, Tom getting carried away with body English as he sings, and presidential candidate Pat Paulsen making rude remarks about his opponents.

Tom also displays an authentic mastery of the yo-yo, a talent of which I was unaware.

Elsewhere, Harry Belafonte and Jennifer Warnes sing in front of garish backdrops, Andrea Martin does a number with the brothers that offers not much more than one good sight gag, and Jack Lemmon authoritatively reads a mawkish poem about war.

The brothers deserve a series that’s well-written. CBS should give them a better chance to show their stuff after the strike is over.