Review of That Was the Week That Was

It's a test of a good sketch comedy show when you have such vivid memories of so many of the sketches. I was only 11, but I remember so much. I recall Doro Merande very fondly, as an aged Rockefeller voter who switches to LBJ when she finds out about Medicare, and as a high fashion maven who tells us the hostess pajamas she's wearing were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (they looked it) and that she made the mistake of wearing The Robin Hood Look out of the shop "and two women made passes at me." I remember a commentary on the opening of Arthur Miller's controversial play "After the Fall" in the form of Nancy Ames singing new lyrics to "After the Ball." I recall the British Prime Minister Alec Douglas- Home being asked by a reporter about a possible visit of the Queen to the Soviet Union: "Oh yes, we've worked out a wonderful deal with the Russians! We send her there... and they'll send her back." I recall Chiang Kai-Shek telling us about his terrible home life, in which Madame Chiang Kai-Shek nags him every day to invade Red China: "Sometimes I come home and tell her I have invaded Red China... just to get a night's sleep. But the next morning, when she doesn't read anything about it in the newspapers...l" The show was a treasure, and my father was furious when it was canceled. In those days there were only three TV networks (apart from educational TV) and we were so dependent on them for decent programming. When a show like this was canceled, there was nothing like it anyplace else, and it felt like a true tragedy. Dad felt the same way about "The Rogues," the caper series with David Niven, Charles Boyer, Gig Young, Gladys Cooper, and Robert Coote. That was unique too.