That Was the Week That Was 

An Americanized version of the famous hit British TV show, retaining David Frost from the British cast.

Stars:

David Frost, Phyllis Newman, Nancy Ames

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 5 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
David Frost	...	Himself 5 episodes, 1964
Phyllis Newman	...	Herself 4 episodes, 1964
Nancy Ames	...	Herself / ... 4 episodes, 1964
Pat Englund	...	Herself 3 episodes, 1964
Buck Henry	...	Himself 2 episodes, 1964
Bob Dishy	...	Himself 2 episodes, 1964
Elliott Reid	...	Himself - Host 2 episodes, 1964
Paul Sand	...	Himself 2 episodes, 1964

Storyline

Topical political satire program that poked fun at the events of the week. A series of musical numbers, skits, and irreverent humor. It prided itself on being controversial.

---

Plot Keywords:

satire | british comedy | topical humor | tv news | stand up comedian | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

That Was the Week That Was

Filming Locations:

NBC Studios - 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Leland Hayward Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Comedy Connections: Keeping Up Appearances (2004)

---

Soundtracks

Weeks Review
Performed by Millicent Martin

User Reviews

Like Mark Twain and Will Rogers, THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS (TW3 for Short), Kidded Everybody!

Political Satire has been a staple of comedy spoofing and sketches as far back as the old Vaudevillians and British Music Hall days. So how come both the Original Series, the BBC version and our own NBC Program lasted only one season each? The show used tons of talented people, both in front of Camera and in the support,behind the scenes-you know the Technical Boys. The Political Slant ran in all different directions, as they kidded anyone and everyone, Dems, Reps, Libs, Conservatives all were fair game.

The show made use of song rather than sketch as the main instrument. That meant writing new, fresh songs weekly, one of which would be hours old before air time! To keep up on the current events and fashion songs to spoof these news stories and at same time, be at least a little humorous to an audience would present a nearly impossible task.

Me thinks that is the reason there was no staying power for this format on either side of the Atlantic. Like a Shooting Star, it burned itself out in a brief moment of History. Oh, but what a moment it was!

NOTE:As far as we can tell, there is no VHS or DVD available that has any of the programs available, neither BBC nor NBC. However one of the writers, former M.I.T. Math Professor, Tom Lehrer, did cut a 33 1/3 rpm Record Album of several of his songs from the series. Titled THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS, it dated back to 1964 and came out the next year. It is now available on both cassette and CD on either Warner Brothers or Reprise Labels. Check it out!