{"id":28802,"date":"2025-01-24T05:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T10:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28802"},"modified":"2024-12-17T12:30:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:30:03","slug":"film-review-daytime-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/24\/film-review-daytime-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: Daytime Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"New documentary chronicles John and Yoko\u2019s groundbreaking week on daytime TV<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1972, most Americans had a limited set of choices when it came to television viewing. Most markets \u2013 even massive ones like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles \u2013 had only three VHF stations, one each for the three major networks: ABC, CBS and NBC. In addition to programs created by and for those \u201cbig three,\u201d outside production companies created TV shows that they sold (syndicated) to the networks\u2019 local affiliates. Those syndicated programs filled much of the airtime on weekdays in the spaces between morning news, soap operas and evening news.<\/p>\n

The Mike Douglas Show<\/i> was among the most popular weekday programs of its type. By its very nature, Douglas\u2019 talk and variety show was unabashedly mainstream; it was also that way because it had to be. A defining quality of syndicated programming was accessibility; wide appeal was necessary to ensure that the largest number of viewers \u2013 predominately housewives \u2013 would tune in on a daily basis. And they did: In 1972 The Mike Douglas Show<\/i> was broadcast five days a week on more than 170 stations nationwide, and it drew a daily audience of over six million viewers.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, the prospect of Mike Douglas inviting a guest who courted controversy was somewhat unlikely. With very few notable exceptions, Douglas\u2019 guests and co-hosts tended toward the middle of the road both culturally and politically. So it was a shock of seismic proportions when Douglas invited John Lennon and Yoko Ono to co-host his show for an entire five-day run.<\/p>\n

In 1972, Lennon and Ono were often in the news for their increasing association with counterculture, left-wing figures like Jerry Rubin of the Chicago 8, Black Panthers leader Bobby Seale, and the like. Their music had taken a gritty, politically-oriented turn on the album Sometime in New York City<\/i>, a record full of songs about women\u2019s liberation (Ono\u2019s \u201cSisters O Sisters\u201d) and lethal quelling of prison riots (\u201cAttica State\u201d). And they were outspoken in their opposition to both the Vietnam War and then-president Richard Nixon.<\/p>\n

But it happened: the couple co-hosted five consecutive hour-long episodes of the program. Moreover, Douglas gave free rein to his co-hosts; Lennon and Ono chose their guests. So it was that American housewives were treated to intelligent discussions featuring Rubin, Seale, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, George Carlin, folk-protest singers, a macrobiotic cook, a biofeedback authority\u2026 and Chuck Berry.<\/p>\n

Lennon and Ono proved themselves remarkably good co-hosts. And Douglas deserves copious praise for bringing reasoned discussion of anti-war activism, racism, and corporate greed to daytime viewers on his show. It\u2019s safe to say that precious few of those who tuned in to watch John, Yoko and Mike chat with Rubin, Seale and the others had ever seen those individuals presented in such an even-handed, forthright and (believe it or not) entertaining manner.<\/p>\n

While the episodes featuring John and Yoko have long circulated among collectors \u2013 and now and then as high-priced official releases on DVD \u2013 it\u2019s only now, more than half a century after the broadcasts \u2013 that a documentary filmmaker has tackled the subject. Drawing extensively upon the footage from those five episodes and adding current-day retrospective interviews with many of the surviving production staff and guests, director Erik Nelson has created a worthy documentary that underscores the cultural significance of the historic week.<\/p>\n

Nelson is not at all heavy handed in his approach, eschewing a narrator and instead allowing the archival footage to make its own points. Contemporary commentary from the guests and staff adds weight, and makes clear that even in 1972, everyone involved appreciated that something important was happening.<\/p>\n

Daytime Revolution<\/i> looks to have been produced on a shoestring budget. But because of its nature, that does not detract from its impact. For anyone who hasn\u2019t seen the original broadcasts \u2013 and in fact even for those who have \u2013 Daytime Revolution<\/i> is essential viewing. It\u2019s a reminder of a brief time in which the counterculture and the mainstream met and \u2013 if only for five days \u2013 peacefully coexisted.<\/p>\n

Daytime Revolution<\/i> premiered October 9 in select theaters nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New documentary chronicles John and Yoko\u2019s groundbreaking week on daytime TV In 1972, most Americans had a limited set of choices when it came to television viewing. Most markets \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,49,65],"tags":[5600,1183,5601,2417],"class_list":["post-28802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-new-release","category-review","tag-daytime-revolution","tag-john-lennon","tag-mike-douglas","tag-yoko-ono","cat-29-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28802"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28805,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28802\/revisions\/28805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}