Censorship.

Tom and Dick Smothers, two clean-cut, conservative-looking comedians, became the causes celebres for civil libertarians in April 1969 when their television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was canceled by CBS, ostensibly because the Smotherses had failed to fulfill their contract obligations to provide entertainment that met the standards set by CBS. The reason put forth by the Smotherses and most independent observers was censorship.

Risque and Political.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour premiered on CBS on 5 February 1967 as a midseason replacement. A Sunday-night show competing against the powerful Western Bonanza, the Smothers Brothers produced a pleasant surprise by placing often among the top thirty shows in weekly ratings. But the network censors were never happy with the brothers. Their humor was sometimes risque and always political. The favorite target was President Johnson, and there were also drug references (which the censors at CBS...