The confrontation between CBS censors and the Smothers Brothers was bound to reach the showdown stage, especially after Tommy Smothers proclaimed that he and Brother Dick were not about to mend their ways. They refused to cut out such things as an antiwar song by Pete Seeger and an off-color Romeo and Juliet skit. "We feel it's important," said Tommy, "to stay and continue to push for new standards of broadcast content." That same week, CBS-TV President Robert Wood wired the brothers: "You are not free to use the show as a device to 'push for new standards.' " The response, CBS claimed, was a refusal to provide tapes of new shows in time to meet contractual deadlines. As a result, CBS announced the termination of the show this month, at the end of its third season. The CBS charges, retorted Tommy, were all "manufactured," and so was the rationale for the cancellation. "They waited until just now so it would be impossible for us to get on another network next year because their programs are already filled."

During his year in Viet Nam, he compiled a solid record as a loadmaster aboard C-123 transports, and even won a Distinguished Flying Cross for his competence under fire. Now, with only about 10 days left of his active-duty tour as an Airman First Class, Patrick Nugent landed in Austin, Texas, to an enthusiastic greeting from Wife Luci and about 100 friends and relatives, including Lyndon Baines Johnson. "Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous," the proud father-in-law repeated, and occasionally prompted Grandson Lyn, almost 2, into a snappy salute. Said Lynda Bird: "I'm just so glad we have one of our boys home." Her boy, Marine Major Charles Robb, is due back late this month.

What a way for a U.S. Senator to treat his family. For one week, all that Michigan Democrat Philip Hart gave his wife to feed the two of them and four of their children was $33.86. Skinflint? Not at all. The Harts were simply learning what it is like to be a family receiving an Aid to Families with Dependent Children allowance (about 25-c- per person per meal). Mrs. Hart discovered that the family fare ran heavily to beans, cheap vegetables and bread, with an occasional tough old rooster for the stew pot. "I can see how people would just take the entire amount," said she, "and buy a bottle and blot the whole thing out."

Astronauts have never been known to send their compliments to the chef who dreams up the dehydrated and otherwise denaturalized chow that they take along in space. So it came as quite a surprise last Christmas Day when Apollo 8's Jim Lovell suddenly began radioing lavish thanks for his dinner. It was all a private joke, Command Pilot Frank Borman explained last week. What Lovell was giving thanks for were three 1-oz. bottles of brandy that had been smuggled aboard for the boys. Sad to say, Borman vetoed the libation, and it was locked up for the duration of the flight.

The costume was a dilly: blonde, pageboy-style wig, black satin sheath slit up the right thigh, six loops of pearls on each arm, and a 15-ft.-long feather boa draped around the neck. But it fitted the role: a U.S. espionage agent with a homosexual bent, assigned to seduce a top Russian spy with similar leanings. Neither costume nor role, however, seemed to fit George Sanders, 62, filming his 84th movie, The Kremlin Letter, on location in Rome. "I feel rather silly," Sanders admitted, "but acting queer seems to be the trend these days, so why fight it?" Besides, he added, "I have remarkable legs and I want to show them."

He may be the President's brother, but more than nepotism got Edward Nixon, 38, his job. Named chairman of the Federal Field Committee for Development Planning in Alaska, he brings sound credentials to the $30,000-a-year post: a bachelor's degree in geology from Duke University, a master's degree in geological engineering from North Carolina State College, a commission as a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve, and experience as a helicopter pilot to boot. Perhaps most important of all, he shares his big brother's deliberateness and caution. "I don't want to comment yet on what may be accomplished," said Chairman-to-be Nixon, "until I see firsthand what has been done already."

Jackie Onassis is running into a little competition these days as the hat fancier in the family. The Onassis yacht Christina had no sooner docked in Nassau last week when young John Kennedy came bouncing ashore for a little Bay Street browsing, all decked out in a natty straw snap brim resplendent with a puffy pompon and a plaid headband. And Jackie? She made the scene with a peasant-style scarf around her head and set off for a reunion and some shopping with another visitor, Rose Kennedy. Those who saw them thought Jackie looked as svelte as ever, thereby putting a damper, as Women's Wear Daily reported, "to all those rumors about her being pregnant."

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