I only have a fleeting memory of the week of February 14, 1972, when something so bizarre happened on American television, it seemed more like a satire than reality. That was the week John Lennon and Yoko Ono became co-hosts for five days on The Mike Douglas Show.
If you're not familiar with that talk program, it was fronted by one of the most straight and staid TV personalities in the business, a singer with a likeable blandness who rarely offended anyone. It was a syndicated show and it was on in almost every market in the U.S., including Buffalo's Channel 2.
So when the former Beatle and his wife came on for five straight afternoons, it was like nothing the show had ever seen before. And you can only wonder what the housewives watching it thought.
Those appearances have survived over the years and are now part of a brand new documentary called "Daytime Revolution" that traces this odd couple appearing on this odd show. In addition to footage from the program, it features guests who were on that week and vintage performances by the pair, relatively unseen for over 50 years.
"The week of shows featured guests invited by the couple, including activist Ralph Nader, comedian George Carlin, musician Chuck Berry and Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale. The movie features plenty of footage from the actual shows.
The film also gives fans a different look at the couple, who got more comfortable with the show and the format as the week went on. “I’ve never seen John Lennon so relaxed, so funny, so articulate,” [director Erik] Nelson says. “It was a great moment where the venue captured the artist at his peak.”
It hits theatres in December on what would have been Lennon's 84th birthday.
John Lennon & Yoko Ono take over daytime TV in new doc ‘Daytime Revolution’