Daytime Revolution

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Daytime Revolution

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1h 48m

Documentary

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93%

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14 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

For one extraordinary week beginning on February 14th, 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 the time the most popular show on daytime television with an audience of 40 million viewers a week. What followed was five unforgettable episodes of television, with Lennon and Ono at the helm and Douglas bravely keeping the show on track. Acting as both producers and hosts, Lennon and Ono handpicked their guests, including controversial choices like Yippie founder Jerry Rubin and Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale, as well as political activist Ralph Nader and comic truth teller George Carlin. Their version of daytime TV was a radical take on the traditional format, incorporating candid Q&A sessions with their transfixed audience, conversations about current issues like police violence and women's liberation, conceptual art events, and one-of-a-kind musical performances, including a unique duet with Lennon and Chuck Berry and a poignant rendition of Lennon's "Imagine". A document of the past that speaks to our turbulent present, Daytime Revolution captures the power that art can have when it reaches out to communicate, the prescience of that dialogue, and the bravery of two artists who never took the easy way out as they fought for their vision of a better world.

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Claudia Puig

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

It's a lovely portrait of an artist gone far too young.

Nov 4, 2024

Full Review

Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

The movie’s quiet star is Douglas himself... Douglas’s kindness and intellectual curiosity are more compelling than any political argument.

Oct 10, 2024

Full Review

David Rooney

The Hollywood Reporter

This recap of a unique and deeply sincere bid to demystify utopian ideals for the conservative masses using the platform of popular television offers a fascinating glimpse into a very different period in this country’s past.

Oct 8, 2024

Full Review

Laura Clifford

Reeling Reviews

Erik Nelson takes us back over fifty years, beginning with a montage of newsreel footage...to remind us that a divided America was once being led by a corrupt president, while outspoken political idealists offered a different perspective.

Rated: B+

Nov 16, 2024

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Lael Loewenstein

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

This was really fascinating... It really humanized John and Yoko.

Nov 4, 2024

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Christopher Rhine

Loud and Clear Reviews

Daytime Revolution promises to show us a radical week when Lennon and Yoko take over a talk show. But Gil Scott-Heron was right: the revolution will not be televised.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 23, 2024

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Tony

An astonishing experience to see the Lennons on this daytime show

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/10/24

Full Review

Julia

John Lennon is so tootie, my beloved forever and always

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/10/24

Full Review

Robin C

“Daytime Revolution” On 14 February 1972, daytime TV talk show host Mike Douglas gave over the reins of control, for a full week, as host to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. They had the stage and populated it with the likes of Jerry Rubin, Ralph Nader, Chuck Berry, Bobby Seale and George Carlin in a true “Daytime Revolution.” This was one of those television events from 50 years ago that everyone, around at the time, will swear that they saw it way back when. I will not make such a claim since I was gainfully employed at that time and hour. So, what I get here is a nostalgic return to a turbulent time that is less so than what we have now. One of the first impressions I had, from a historical standpoint, is I was watching John Lennon eight scant years before he was murdered, giving poignancy to his and Yoko’s “peace, love and understanding” theme to their hosting duties. This rendition of the Mike Douglas Show was shown on five consecutive nights, from 14 to 18 February 1972, but the taping process actually took five and a half weeks. This makes the “spontaneity” of the shows to be much more structured, a necessity at the time when things did not happen instantly, as they do today. Director Erik Nelson uses a commercial-break style bumper saying “Daytime Revolution” as the divider between the episodes (I would have loved to see the commercials they ran during those real-life breaks). This also helps keep the shows in order. Considering the band of radicals John and Yoko had on as guests, the format of the series was pure 70’s daytime TV talk show. Of course, we hear Jerry Rubin a Bobby Seale, the radicals of the left, talk their talk. 38-year old Ralph Nader puts his uber-intelligence on display and George Carlin does his comical schtick. I think my favorite guest was Chuck Berry, who Lennon idolized and met for the first time. Their rendition of Berry’s “Memphis Tennessee” is television magic. The most amusing things about “Daytime Revolution” is watching John and Yoko acting like daytime TV talk show hosts, participating in things like cooking demonstrations and trying the latest in brave wave technology to make music. Anyone interested in the Beatles, John and Yoko, daytime TV nostalgia and some very interesting guests will have a good time with “Daytime Revolution.” I did. B+

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/22/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Does this movie have all the times he said the N word hard R on TV?

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/15/24

Full Review

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Erik Nelson

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Yoko Ono

Self

Mike Douglas

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Chuck Berry

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Jerry Rubin

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Daytime Revolution: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

For one extraordinary week beginning on February 14th, 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 the time the most popular show on daytime television with an audience of 40 million viewers a week. What followed was five unforgettable episodes of television, with Lennon and Ono at the helm and Douglas bravely keeping the show on track. Acting as both producers and hosts, Lennon and Ono handpicked their guests, including controversial choices like Yippie founder Jerry Rubin and Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale, as well as political activist Ralph Nader and comic truth teller George Carlin. Their version of daytime TV was a radical take on the traditional format, incorporating candid Q&A sessions with their transfixed audience, conversations about current issues like police violence and women's liberation, conceptual art events, and one-of-a-kind musical performances, including a unique duet with Lennon and Chuck Berry and a poignant rendition of Lennon's "Imagine". A document of the past that speaks to our turbulent present, Daytime Revolution captures the power that art can have when it reaches out to communicate, the prescience of that dialogue, and the bravery of two artists who never took the easy way out as they fought for their vision of a better world.

Director: Erik Nelson
Producer: Amy Briamonte
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Shout! Studios, Creative Differences
Genre: Documentary, History, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 9, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 26, 2024
Box Office (Gross USA): $29.6K
Runtime: 1h 48m

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