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!
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!