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The ground rules of snippers v. snipers are subtle. The censors insisted that all coughing be deleted in a takeoff on cigarette commercials because it represented "a derogatory statement about people who support your business." In another bit, the censors objected to the terms "white slavery, pornography and narcotics." So they changed the line to something more genteel—"murder, blackmail and robbery." Recently, in a sketch set in the Garden of Eden, Tommy was deterred from biting the forbidden apple by a booming voice saying, "That's a no-no." The phrase, grumbled the censors' memo, "can only be interpreted as the voice of God and as such must be considered irreverent." Lest there be any doubt, the network actually enlisted a rabbi, a priest and a minister to pass judgment. Irreverence won, two to one.
The overriding problem, as far as the brothers are concerned, is that CBS, with its large commitment to the blandest sort of family shows, is out of tune with the times and with its audiences. "The whole country's in trouble," exclaims Tommy, "and we've started getting a kind of renaissance, in the arts, in living. Painters can reflect their society. And writers can. Why can't TV comedians?"