I agree with the other reviewer who noted the above dichotomy.
Recently, this iconic comedy series began a run on the Decades channel.
Occasionally, such as during the early part of the third season, I noticed an occasional flat episode or two. Otherwise, most of the humor and wit were sharp and/or amusing for almost all of the episodes of the first three seasons. The second half of season three was a special treat, with both Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin in attendance,the latter just beginning her time on the show. I was wondering why this show had not been so fondly remembered by yours truly. I opined that some of the humor might have been over my head. Well, that may have been the case for those early years...
When season four began, I noted not only the cast changes, but more importantly the weakness of the wit on presentation. Gone were Goldie Hawn, Jeremy Lloyd, Teresa Graves and Pamela Rodgers as performers (Judy Carne had also slowly phased herself out during the third season), but most notably, a number of writers had departed after the third season. Apparently their contributions did make a difference, as the laugh-out-loud moments became rare from that fourth season on. As there were some rough episodes even with those authors on board before, the situation seemed to become somewhat dire afterwards. Perhaps this is why we don't recall Laugh-In as the great comedy innovation it was at its outset.
For those incipient years, we had sly political commentary, reminiscent of the previous Tom Lehrer/That Was the Week that Was era, occasionally poking its way in through Rowan & Martin's dialogues; i.e. jibes at the NSA, the AMA, hopelessness of widespread implementation of alternative auto fuels, etc., through the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate and Whoopee award spots, as well as Rowan's military general character. In short, issues still on the table today were approached, which made the show seem less than fatuous. The humor often combined old jokes with new issues in a seamless fashion that made things funny, even if we knew the jokes were old. It was old but also cool, just as older guests and the younger cast seemed to blend well.
For the fourth season, all that seemed to fly the window. Instead, we had more obviously lame jokes and what felt like tired humor. Instead of crisp barbs we had Barbi Benton and such. There seemed to be more of a spirit of Tuning-Out and Turning-On on display than the more pertinent critiques blended with "flower power" humor that seemed to work in years previous. In short, whereas they had previously, finally made the social commentary of Lehrer and the like palatable to the general public, after years of aborted attempts that had been too caustic, now that area of the scripts was more-or-less scrapped. After season 4, Artie Johnson and Henry Gibson also left. One can see why. If the show had been what it once was, perhaps they would have remained. Some execs obviously told Rowan & Martin and co. to tone down on certain aspects and to fluff things up. This seemed to disembowel the show of its core, the reminders of the motives behind the protest movements, and leave it with the hollow shell of the lifestyle that remained. That resultant, shallow after-taste is what also seemed to happen with Benny Hill, the Carry On films and others, i.e. milking the product whilst also reducing to the LCD level of sophistication.
Laugh-In, we remember your early years, lest ye be judged on the later. It was the perfect recipe which was then tinkered with.
Recently, this iconic comedy series began a run on the Decades channel.
Occasionally, such as during the early part of the third season, I noticed an occasional flat episode or two. Otherwise, most of the humor and wit were sharp and/or amusing for almost all of the episodes of the first three seasons. The second half of season three was a special treat, with both Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin in attendance,the latter just beginning her time on the show. I was wondering why this show had not been so fondly remembered by yours truly. I opined that some of the humor might have been over my head. Well, that may have been the case for those early years...
When season four began, I noted not only the cast changes, but more importantly the weakness of the wit on presentation. Gone were Goldie Hawn, Jeremy Lloyd, Teresa Graves and Pamela Rodgers as performers (Judy Carne had also slowly phased herself out during the third season), but most notably, a number of writers had departed after the third season. Apparently their contributions did make a difference, as the laugh-out-loud moments became rare from that fourth season on. As there were some rough episodes even with those authors on board before, the situation seemed to become somewhat dire afterwards. Perhaps this is why we don't recall Laugh-In as the great comedy innovation it was at its outset.
For those incipient years, we had sly political commentary, reminiscent of the previous Tom Lehrer/That Was the Week that Was era, occasionally poking its way in through Rowan & Martin's dialogues; i.e. jibes at the NSA, the AMA, hopelessness of widespread implementation of alternative auto fuels, etc., through the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate and Whoopee award spots, as well as Rowan's military general character. In short, issues still on the table today were approached, which made the show seem less than fatuous. The humor often combined old jokes with new issues in a seamless fashion that made things funny, even if we knew the jokes were old. It was old but also cool, just as older guests and the younger cast seemed to blend well.
For the fourth season, all that seemed to fly the window. Instead, we had more obviously lame jokes and what felt like tired humor. Instead of crisp barbs we had Barbi Benton and such. There seemed to be more of a spirit of Tuning-Out and Turning-On on display than the more pertinent critiques blended with "flower power" humor that seemed to work in years previous. In short, whereas they had previously, finally made the social commentary of Lehrer and the like palatable to the general public, after years of aborted attempts that had been too caustic, now that area of the scripts was more-or-less scrapped. After season 4, Artie Johnson and Henry Gibson also left. One can see why. If the show had been what it once was, perhaps they would have remained. Some execs obviously told Rowan & Martin and co. to tone down on certain aspects and to fluff things up. This seemed to disembowel the show of its core, the reminders of the motives behind the protest movements, and leave it with the hollow shell of the lifestyle that remained. That resultant, shallow after-taste is what also seemed to happen with Benny Hill, the Carry On films and others, i.e. milking the product whilst also reducing to the LCD level of sophistication.
Laugh-In, we remember your early years, lest ye be judged on the later. It was the perfect recipe which was then tinkered with.