"Both Sides Now" meltdown KCOP-TV Los Angeles (1975)
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- In 1975, Los Angeles independent TV station KCOP produced and aired the short-lived weekday program "Both Sides Now" featuring conservative newsman and commentator George Putnam and liberal comedian and satirist Mort Sahl. In this episode, Putnam and Sahl have un uncomfortable confrontation. The taping was cut short and the incomplete episode never aired.
Excellent illustration of how ephemeral most punditry and "discourse" is. Thirty years from now most of the things people spend their time arguing about now will be completely forgotten.
Good thing you kept a 3/4” deck around all these years so you could still play this back, digitize it and post it online.
Why couldn't Mort simply debate? Talk issues?? He was totally ATTACK mode towards Putnam. Bad move.
Mort was a nasty little man.
@@20alphabet Mort was my dear friend for over 37 years. He was one of the most giving and nicest people I knew. He would always go out of his way to talk to a fan and be cordial. I never saw him once get angry or upset with anyone in public.
Just wanted to set the record straight.
Thanks for posting. The show aired from Jan. 6, 1975 to May 2, 1975. George Putnam quit the program at the end of February 1975 (this clip is from a Jan. 15, 1975 taping - the day of Gerald Ford's State of the Union address).
LOL the shot of the host with his leg on that box and his hand on his face made me bust out laughing
This is the way debates are SUPPOSED to be. Heartfelt... real. Bring this back, it allows people to hear and feel both sides.. not like today when it's all pablum, censored, etc.
The groovy set and stance belie the hard-drinking greatest generation brand of hardass talkin'.
Wow the Morton Downey Jr. Show Years earlier! Love it!!!
Morton Downey Jr. stole his act from Wally George
Wow! How did you get this? Can we look forward to any more of this show being uploaded?
I worked at KCOP inn 1975 and was the videotape engineer who recorded the program. I made a copy for myself and hung onto it all these years. There is no more. They didn't continue the taping after this meltdown. And the show was immediately cancelled after only 7 episodes because Putnam and Sahl hated each other...as you can see.
@@Volterrific Wow, how cool! Got any stories of Mort Sahl?
@@LoyalOpposition no sorry
Sad it had to go down that way. Could have been a wonderful program.
This was 25 years ahead of its time.
By 2000, this vicious, disrespectful, grandstanding, personal attack style of "debating" would start becoming the norm.
Today, we're stuck with it.
I have waited for this for decades.. I wish the President would advise everyone to upload Mort Sahl. Thank you so much, Kris!
Can anyone give some insight into what exactly is the beef between these two? It sounds more personal than political but it feels like there's more going on here based on Sahl's apologies to various people and groups.
Read Mort Sahl's autobiography and biography.
Gotta have something to do with the government & industry cowards trying to suppress Mort Sahl.
Mort was always a weasel, and resented the success of others.
Doesn’t matter whose side you take, they were both being unprofessional
Normally I might agree with you, but the issue was always related one way or another with Mort's absolutely stunning & heroic stand he took against the entire world government & all of show biz for his friend JFK.
Lol, hardly.
George Putnam was also the face of KTLA Ch 5 as the host of his news program "The George Putnam Report"
great stuff mate, what a gem - don't let the hip hop producers get hold of this tho haha, about 8 quotes nailed on for madlib interludes
This is so far above the grasp of any 'hip hop' producer.
?
Some info about this show's history is incorrect. There were a LOT more than 7 episodes produced. This show went on for a few months and ran from late 1974 into '75. It was on five nights a week at 8pm. I remember this vividly because I was a freshman at Mater Dei High School and my History teacher, Mr. Lewis assigned this show for extra credit if anyone wanted to watch it and write an essay on the opposing issues presented on BSN. One night it was not an option but was required that the entire class watch the episode about JFK's assassination. They opened that show with the first part of Don McLean's "American Pie." Mort opened the show in an emotional way that night. This was late '74 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of The Warren Report. Someone else here left a comment that following this meltdown, the show was scrapped. This is contrary to information that I heard on KCOP in the '90's when Channel 13 did a 50th Anniversary special. They ran this clip and cut it right after the lady stood up to protest. They then played an interview with 3 or 4 producer's of the show who were there when this happened. I recorded it on VHS and listened to it a few times. I distinctly remembered one of the producers saying that "right after that taping, George just stopped coming in and Mort ended up doing the show alone. It would never be the same and eventually it was cancelled." Anyway, I loved this show and watched it every night. I remember it going on for 3 or 4 months, at least.
Thanks for the input. I modified the description.
Wow you recorded them? Any plans to upload them onto UA-cam? Please?
@@LoyalOpposition
Guess not.
Good god, that's a bizarre LA TV moment!
Love the background music in the beginning. I wish knew where to find it in the clear.
Mort Sahl always worked clean, unlike his friend Lenny Bruce, so Mort dropping the F bomb is a pretty big deal. Putnam was a big man physically, and would have clobbered Sahl in a brawl. Ted Knight said he based his pompous Ted Baxter character on Putnam. I miss both Sahl and Putnam!!
Sahl was furious and keeping calm. had they fought at this time Sahl would have torn him up. Putnam was not as angry as Sahl, nor as controlled.
@@gilbertgiles
Lol, there's no way Mort the weasel could stand toe to toe with George Putnam. George was a strapping 6'2" former Marine, whereas Mort was a half foot shorter and gave up nearly 50 lbs.
Imagine thinking someone behaving like Mort Sahl is controlled 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Do think Saul Dropping the F bomb caused the immediate cancellation?
The show was cancelled because Putnam and Sahl hated each other so much, they refused to work together.
@@Volterrific
Hard not to hate Mort. He was always a weasel.
Untrue, George Putnam is my grandfather and he never cared who hated him, he’d still debate with them. That’s on Mort Sahl and his repeated temper tantrums.
Fuck it, we'll do it live
Mort an unpleasant personality
I know. And this is not a one-time thing. Borrish and narcissistic. And NOT funny. At all.
@@milart12
Agreed
Mort was always a weasel.
George kiev 870 . USMC. Making a million a year in the 50s. Big house in the Bel Aire hills above rock Hudson home
George Carlin was the real deal.
So unfortunate. Both great in their own right. Sad they both took themselves so seriously.
Mort was never "great". He was a weasel.
3:49 nice
Mort was so fast... I have a ton of interviews I've uploaded in recent times, and it's amazing how funny he could be.
Wow.
Freespeech, who cares.
Sahl will be remembered as the Socrates of history post Socrates.
He's remembered as a foul-mouthed little weasel.
George Putnam was the real deal. Mort was always a weasel.
lol conservatives still striking out almost 50 years later
well yeah, there are no liberals, so de facto, you're right.
Striking out? Lol, you cannot be that stupid.
I bet everyone here was from that subreddit.
what are you talking about?
gotta love it .
George Putnam doesn’t know how to shut up, does he?
Putnam seems drunk
I’m guessing he had a cocktail or two before the taping.
Audio only.
?
@@Volterrific I'm not seeing video...only hear the audio
@@chriscampbell5544 no idea why you're having a problem. Many others have seen and heard it. I double checked and it's working fine.
@@Volterrific I'm sure its just me. Im on a cell in hospital wifi. Covid, but going to make it. Love the posts anyway...
@@chriscampbell5544 I hope all goes well for you
could it get anymore obviously scripted? god, just their makeup tells you before the rest happens.
It definitely was not scripted. They were wearing makeup as usual to tape a full 30 minute episode. They cancelled the taping after the meltdown. This never aired. I know because I was the videotape engineer who recorded it in 1975.
Why would it be scripted if this were just some random guys videotape that never got shown for 45 years?
@@davidgjam7600 it definitely was not scripted. The producers knew there was tension between Putnam and Sahl before the taping started, but hoped they could get through it which they didn't. The taping stopped and the show was immediately cancelled. This segment was never shown on TV and there were no future episodes.
@@Volterrific you dont think the reactions were completely fake looking? i understand there was beef, but this is not 100% real by any stretch.
@@albertfish69 believe what you wish. Putnam is dead so you can't ask him. I was there and I know what happened. It was not faked and it was 100% real. As I said, this was never seen on TV. Before the tape was erased, I made a copy for myself which I have kept to myself since 1975 until now. KCOP realized the show could not go forward so it was cancelled because the Putnam and Sahl could not have a working on air relationship.
This is wild! Thanks for posting this! It most definitely is real. Some of the folks making comments below do not realize that performers and commentators actually had good speaking voices and more vocabulary command than is used by TV performers these days.
Do you have any more KCOP video you might be able to upload?
I was there and it definitely was real and not faked. I was the videotape engineer who recorded it on an Ampex VR-2000 quadruplex videotape recorder. I made a copy for myself at the time in 1975 and never looked at it again until April 2021. The only other KCOP tape I saved was the silly Fred May commercial "13 to Win!"
@@Volterrific How wonderful. Thank you for saving this piece of history, I do wish I knew more about the underlying issues between the two and the things mentioned though.