For one extraordinary week in February 1972, the Revolution WAS televised. Daytime Revolution takes us back in time to the week that John Lennon and Yoko Ono descended upon a Philadelphia broadcasting studio to co-host the iconic Mike Douglas Show, at that time the most popular show on daytime television, with a national audience of 40 million viewers each week. What followed was five unforgettable episodes of television, with Lennon and Ono at the helm and Douglas gamely keeping the show on track.
Acting as both producers and hosts, Lennon and Ono handpicked their guests, ranging from iconic musicians like Chuck Berry, to comic truth teller George Carlin, to radical activists like Yippie founder Jerry Rubin, Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale, and nascent consumer protection guru Ralph Nader. John and Yoko’s version of daytime TV was a radical take on the traditional format, incorporating candid Q&A sessions with their transfixed audience, frank conversations about hot-button issues like police violence and women’s liberation, impromptu conceptual art events, and of course, one-of-a-kind musical performances.
A document of the past that speaks to our turbulent present, Daytime Revolution is a time capsule reminding us of art’s power to break down barriers, and the bravery of two artists who never took the easy way out as they fought for their vision of a better world.
What is remarkable, and kind of awesome, is that these confabs were beamed directly into the living rooms of some 40 million Americans via a rather unlikely platform. -Chicago Sun-Times
The movie’s quiet star is Douglas himself… Douglas’s kindness and intellectual curiosity are more compelling than any political argument. -New York Times
There was a charming ordinariness to it, no big woo that a Beatle had landed, a vibe he orchestrated. enjoyable, a time capsule, a portrait of a beloved artist. The Richard Nixon White House went to war with the couple two weeks after the broadcasts. -What She Said
This was really fascinating… It really humanized John and Yoko. -FilmWeek
‘NR’ 108min
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