Daytime Revolution

Across an epic week beginning on February 14th, 1972, the Revolution WAS televised. That was the week that John Lennon and Yoko Ono descended on the Philadelphia studio broadcasting The Mike Douglas Show producing — and more amazingly, hosting — an entire week of Douglas’s iconic, incredibly popular and very mainstream talk show.

Minds exploded across America — and now, a new documentary, “Daytime Revolution” reconstructs and restores the music, the magic, and the behind-the-scenes madness that took place during that epic week  — taking the best of five 70-minute-long shows and presents them, along with potent newly restored archive and commentary by six of the original guests, as one seamless film.

According to director Erik Nelson; “There’s a lot of debate today as to the meaning of the word “woke” – but in 1972, these shows convincingly demonstrate that John and Yoko were wide awake – and they presented an astonishingly prescient menu of constructive social and political change. From the empowerment of women, and the deterioration of the environment, to issues revolving around police violence and the marginalization of Asian-Americans, even to what makes a healthy diet, they made their case on one of the largest stages in America — and they did so with grace, humour, charisma and a total commitment to getting their message across. It’s truly one of their greatest performances.”

John and Yoko not only hosted The Mike Douglas Show that week in early ‘72, they also personally booked some of the guests, some very controversial at the time, like Yippie founder Jerry Rubin and Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale, as well as groundbreaking political activist Ralph Nader (who, at 88, was interviewed for this documentary) and comic truth trafficker George Carlin. In addition, the five shows featured blazing musical performances including the epic, first-time-ever meeting of John Lennon and Chuck Berry and Lennon’s poignant rendition of the now classic “Imagine.” Conceptual art, macro-biotic cooking and bio-feedback healing are woven into classic daytime TV segment formats while, through it all, host Mike Douglas does his best to keep the shows on track — a truly heroic effort which, in and of itself, deserves celebration.

But John and Yoko would pay a heavy price for “wide awake” vision. These broadcasts attracted the attention of the most powerful man in America, Richard Nixon— and helped instigate the vendetta that would interfere with John and Yoko’s lives for most of the remaining decade, when the U.S government did everything they could to harass and deport them.

In the words of Yoko Ono from 1972, words that still resonate today; “Because this is a show that really communicates more with the older generation, we wanted to reach our hands out to them and say, “Don’t be afraid of us. And we shouldn’t be too hostile to you either. Let’s work it together because we have to work it together.”