DanWilbur
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Jul 18, 2025 2:10 PM
DanWilbur
12896
529
3
LawFiveGuy
CBS settled a lawsuit filed by Trump, because they aired an edited interview that made him look bad. Doesn't he do that himself, every time he opens his mouth?
GeorgeCostabaplaps
I FUCKING LOVE THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS
smallteam
How the Smothers Brothers Embraced the Counterculture, Defeated the Censors and Set the Stage for 'Saturday Night Live'
The oral historian of the groundbreaking comedy duo recalls his conversation with the late Tommy Smothers about his bitter battles with CBS: "I became extra stubborn. I can laugh about it now because all my tears are gone."
(2023)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/tom-smothers-tribute-cbs-censor-battles-snl-1235776628/
Donfolstar
Cancel Paramount+ if you have it for some weird reason.
ApothecaryGrant
CBS is owned by Paramount, which is run by Shari Redstone. She's a huge zionist and right-winger. Been running around cracking skulls, firing journalists, and pulling news pieces critical of Israel. I doubt the negotiations between her and Trump lasted longer than a minute.
jeejeejerrycotton
It's telling that Colbert was never all that good, never particularly insightful, witty, or plain funny, but the state of culture in the USA is such that he was easily among the best that was available there.
newsguycraigevans
pvtsquirel
I like Colbert, I like the daily show much more, but he's still charming. And we've ran culture as far as movies and TV and music go for decades, so I don't know what you're going on about. Like our main exports are media and death
mksu
I don't understand the reference.
SteveMND
/gallery/8MT2ujU/comment/2467251551
smallteam
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smothers_Brothers#Controversies_and_cancellation
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/tom-smothers-tribute-cbs-censor-battles-snl-1235776628/
DoctorFriendly
Colbert can always return to Comedy Central and fire up the Colbert Report again. The material they'd have to work with would be endless.
wadatahmydamie
They’re the same company, and he will never do the Colbert Report again - he’s explicitly said as much. It was goofy fun 20 years ago, but unconscionable now
Asadsadsadclown
Pretending to be conservative for laughs only works when the conservatives aren't loud and proud Nazis.
ThailandExpress
“ Comedy Central is an American cable channel owned by Paramount Global ”
B3N15
The Colbert Report wouldn't work. The whole point is that the character was a parody of righ-wing uber-patriotic TV pundits. They're so far beyond parody.
Youhavinagiraffe
While I think it's very reasonable to believe this cancellation was politically motivated, I don't think going back 60 years for another supporting example really helps to make the case. Companies aren't people and every single person at CBS involved in cancelling this show are either dead or retired so it's relevance is hardly any better than just a very general observation about how money-hungry executives respond to pressure from tyrants
BlindGardener
Honestly, Colbert was too realistic for me to read him as parody.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s probably a brilliant comedian. But I was always left out of the joke because I heard what he said, went ‘yup, that scans. He’s an average republican’ and moved on.
enderite
Are you referring to the Colbert Report on Comedy Central? That was a parody of Bill O’Reilly.
BlindGardener
Yes. This is something else?
lemdarel
Yes, Colbert took over The Late Show in 2015 after Letterman retired. It’s getting cancelled, potentially as part of a settlement with Trump
dcjunkee
Meanwhile, NPR and PBS just got gutted. Get ready for Trump TV to be the only TV.
ItispronouncedGIFwithahardG
Hopefully NPR supporters will just up their donations. I certainly will be increasing my yearly contribution.
Shmoaker
CBS
Corporate Bull Shit
quietwalker
For those wondering, I think this is the Smothers Brothers and CBS loved censoring them for perceived faults such as an anti-war sentiment and so on. CBS demanded they give them the shows well in advance (like 10 episodes forward) so they could edit them to their liking, and then cancelled them.
DVSBSTrD
"All you boys in Vietnam, come on home!"
smallteam
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smothers_Brothers#Controversies_and_cancellation
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/tom-smothers-tribute-cbs-censor-battles-snl-1235776628/
scoutMoonDiver
“Mom always liked you best!”
custardandfishfingers24
You are correct. It is very difficult to find this show on dvd, even though it had great ratings and wonderful guests.ect
wadatahmydamie
CBS would have loved the Brothers Brothers
TheJurc
But only Fox had them.
ps238principal
What's really annoying is that there's no legal way to get full episodes of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour legally as they featured a lot of these new and alternative music groups, like the Doors, Cream, The Who, etc. which means paying for the music rights would make releasing the shows really expensive.
SmashySashimi
spattr
The system in the UK for licensing music for TV is one we should adopt in the US. UK shows like "The Royal" are full of great needle drops.
Kyzyl
CBS also canceled the Star Trek series Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, both of which were popular and full of good stuff.
ItispronouncedGIFwithahardG
SNW is just beginning S3 of a planned five seasons. And Lower Decks was canceled bc studios don't want to do more than five seasons of any show now as a result of the SAG strike.
OregonComputerGuy
Deja Vu for some Smothers Bros fans, but corpos are going to be corpos
Goldensands
Don't normalize shitty behaviour. Least of all corporate shitty behaviour. Don't.
svga
NO AVERAGE USER on this platform even read the words or seen the faces of Smothers Brothers at any time in their life. So please don't let confirmation bias into the equation. Smothers Bros actually sued and won, moved their show to another network later and it didn't really blast off, the show that replaced them on initial cancellation went on with wild success for 20 plus some seasons. This is not apples & apples
FUN FACT, Steve Martin was a writer for the Smothers Bros & performed there first
trigonman3
So I'm above average at last. Good ol' 13" B&W TV wheeled into the kitchen so Mom could listen to the show while cooking.
svga
we are old my friend
SOLARvsFACISM
Reminding me that this has happened in the past actually makes me feel a little better, since we got through those days of censorship and came out better than before (for a while).
bippityboppitybuttsex
It was probably part of the extortion deal with trump
ARrocks
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlaTc0NGtoZ2E2c2p4ZDdhbnN1ZjMyZ2lsZnk3M2J5czlwenF4Z2I0MiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/fV2maQ4MAyUxrZWHEi/giphy.mp4
bippityboppitybuttsex
Not probably... https://newrepublic.com/article/198120/stephen-colbert-cancellation-ellison-trump ... actually.
Lugh314159
"probably"? Whether explicitly laid out or not, it was CLEARLY part of the deal.
bippityboppitybuttsex
Jon Stewart said the Daily Show is probably next.
Lugh314159
Comedy Central is owned by Paramount so... yeah, that tracks. You know, all these right-wing guys that get booted off their networks for being pieces of shit just start their own stuff.... I have to imagine that someone like John and/or Stephen could, if they really wanted to, start their own network (or site or whatever) of all the progressive comedians and commentators shunned by 'liberal' corporate media.
(One that doesn't turn right, like TYT did.)
bippityboppitybuttsex
They could also just go to Netflix.
Lugh314159
That's just another corp. John tried going to Apple TV... didn't work out. No, there are no corporations that are going to go to bat for anyone, especially against the current administration. Not unless their continued existence depends on it.
Asadsadsadclown
They just settled his lawsuit against them. The show getting canceled was unlikely part of the deal but absolutely was a preventative measure against another lawsuit. This is part of a wave of lawsuits against law firms and media companies across the country. A massive campaign of vengeance and political intimidation. Each lawsuit carrying the explicit threat that the government will come after anyone that doesn't rollover and settle the case.
bippityboppitybuttsex
They are trying to get a massive merger approved by the trump administration... of course they did it to appease the terrorists in the administration.
Asadsadsadclown
Didn't know about the merger, just add it to the pile of obvious reasons why they did it. We are basically in "no wrong answers" territory.
bippityboppitybuttsex
Paramount is merging with Skydance and it is pending FTC approval.
enderite
I’ve been dropping so much American tv. Most is procedural cop self wanking. Netflix kinda blows now. I refuse to give Bezos money. And Disney is on my shit list.
Basically all I watch is Dropout.tv, taskmaster on YouTube.
But YouTube blows. So I’ve been looking at britbox. Not that the UK is innocent mind you, but as far as I can tell, at least the BBC isn’t deepthroating an obvious fascist.
M4UsedRollout
Except Netanyahu
brainkandle1
I sail the 7 seas matey
enderite
Ya, I’ve been thinking about that too. I’m just not as technically inclined as I used to be.
brainkandle1
Check out r/addonsforkodi
HashMaster9k
It's not super difficult anymore, and as long as you protect yourself and invest a little bit in some hardware, it'll save you tons of stress and money in the long run. Jus' sayin'. ☺️
DWolf
I never was and would likely get caught.
StewedTomaters
I got dinged for, of all things, an episode of The Colbert Report the last time I was using TPB, the demon-based one, etc. There are a lot of alternate ways that don't involve joining that seeding cloud now. All depends on the quality you want at the time. I don't need a 4k version of Murderbot a pilot episode of Murderbot to see if I like it, and I don't need it on my storage, so I don't download shit like that. Streaming sites + ad block
DWolf
I've been going with Pluto tv and Tubi, as well as checking out DVDS and books and CDs from the library.
enderite
Younger person I worked with made fun of me for how large my DVD and Blu Ray collection was.
I just wish them luck when their ability to watch the same things goes away.
enderite
For movies and shows I like? Hell ya. I always buy physical copies. No ones gonna tell me I “rent them” eventually. It’s ridiculous.