Forgive me if I sound like Grandpa Simpson here, but back in the the old days of television – the 1970s – there were only anywhere between three and five television channels available to anyone, depending on what town you lived. You had the three major networks, possibly a public television station and, if you were in a larger metropolis, an independently owned and operated station. Competition between those stations could be fierce, so they tended to keep their programming as broadly appealing as possible, working to avoid alienating any demographic. The result would often be palatable, if a bit bland.
So it probably came as a shock to a number of Americans when it was announced that the guest co-hosts for an upcoming week on the afternoon talk-show The Mike Douglas Show, would be none other than John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. Douglas’s show was the most popular afternoon talk show in the country and was not really known for rocking the proverbial boat. Lennon was already on Richard Nixon’s enemies list for his opposition to the Vietnam War, so people questioned why someone who could come across as milquetoast as Douglas would have such a radical on his show for a full week, especially when Lennon’s invited guests included the Black Panther Party’s Bobby Seale, revolutionary Jerry Rubin, consumer advocate Ralph Nader (who at 34 looks to be the oldest guest that week) as well as various folk protest singers and avant garde artists. To some, it may have looked like the inmates had taken over the asylum. But for others, it was a unique glimpse into ideas and attitudes that they were normally not exposed to.
Daytime Revolution, a new documentary chronicling this unique moment in television history, will be screening around the country in special one-off screenings this evening to mark the occasion of John Lennon’s birthday, with special week long engagements continuing in selected cities. It will available on video on demand later next month.
Of the three on-screen principals involved in this week of shows – Douglas, Lennon and Ono – only Ono is still alive. Lennon was tragically murdered in December 1980 and Douglas passed away in 2006. Ono, however, does not participate in the documentary, whether by her own choice or the filmmakers is unclear. But this does allow the story of this week of television to be told from two specific viewpoints – production crew members on the show and the guests that Lennon and Ono invited on. The production staff of the show were used to the famous folks who would come and go from the Philadelphia studio where the show originated, but were still somewhat in awe of Lennon upon his arrival. For their part, many of the guests who were chosen by Lennon and Ono to appear were people who weren’t ever likely to otherwise be featured on television, especially on a show as widely seen as The Mike Douglas Show. They speak to the tenor of the times – this week of shows coincided with Nixon’s famed trip to China – as well as their surprise at being asked to appear by Lennon and Ono. But perhaps the best thing that communicates what a special moment their appearance on the show was to them doesn’t come from any one comment any of the make. It is from the look on their faces as the filmmakers replay those appearances for them on a monitor. There is a joy in their eyes as they reconnect to their younger selves in that moment that speaks volumes.
While I have always enjoyed the music of the Beatles, both as a group and their individual solo careers, I never have been motivated into doing a deep dive into their lives. So the view that we get of Lennon here is fascinating to me. In both his discussions with Douglas and his interactions with his guests, Lennon comes off as a positive person with a sense of humor and an understanding of his own rather unique place in the world at that moment. When Douglas suggests that the Beatles were bigger than Elvis, Lennon humbly disagrees. And the way he gets excited over the prospect of his own idol, rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, appearing on the show is endearing. While Lennon did have his problems over the course of his life, some of which he discusses with Douglas, he comes off as an affable and intelligent young man with a genuine concern and love for others. It makes me wonder how many conservative-leaning people who may have dismissed him based solely on appearance or what they thought his politics were reconsidered their opinions of Lennon after spending a week watching him on the show.
For his part, Douglas comes of as sincerely interested not just in Lennon and Ono, but with all the counter-culture guests that were brought onto the show. Although he may have had something of a reputation as a square, Douglas accorded all of the guests Lennon and Ono brought on with respect, engaging in the conversations in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. Granted, there were a few times where he seemed a bit unsure about what the guest was bringing to the show, like avant garde musician David Rosenboom, but he was always game to go along. While it is not discussed how much of a cultural shift this week of counterculture invasion into America’s living rooms may have triggered – and the film isn’t really interested in analyzing any ripple effects from the broadcasts – any shift that happened had to have been at least partially facilitated by Douglas’s willingness to allow Lennon and Ono the freedom to mold his show into something that had never really been seen on American television before.
