THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR
getTV, 11:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s repeat of a classic Comedy Hour episode is from Season 3, when Tom and Dick Smothers were experimenting with thinking almost exclusively of the new generation. Gone, basically, were the days of cross-generational guest stars, with Bette Davis and The Who on the same bill. Instead, this 1968 installment features a young comic named George Carlin, a young improv group called The Committee (with Howard Hesseman, later of WKRP in Cincinnati), and a young rock group called The Doors. Well, there is one cross-generational treat on this particular telecast: Nelson Riddle and his orchestra, most prominently the horn and string sections, appear with Jim Morrison and The Doors as he sings “Touch Me.” And this was a full month before that song appeared on the pop charts. I’m telling you, at that point in time, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was squarely, or roundly, in the pop-culture bullseye.