Best of "McHale's Navy"

[oldiesfan6479]

...were there any B&W series for the 1966-67 season? I just cannot think of one right now.

'66-'67 was the first season where all ABC/CBS/NBC shows were "lensed in tint"
(other than some B&W movies).

 

[RadioJunkieMike]

Other short-lived military comedies:

"Broadside", about WACs (essentially a female "McHale").
"No Time For Sargeants", based on the old movie, which was supposed to be ABC's answer to "Gomer Pyle" (ironically Andy Griffith had starred in the film).
"Roll Out", billed as "the black M*A*S*H" (same producers), about the all-AfricanAmerican sqaudron the Red ball Express. Starred comedian Stu Gilliam and despite M*A*S*H as a lead-in, lasted a half a season.

 

[TexasTom]

Other short-lived military comedies:

Even shorter running was "The Six O'Clock Follies", which was set in an AFRTS newsroom during the Vietnam war. It ran irregularly for several months on NBC in the late spring and summer of 1980, and I doubt that more than a half dozen episodes ever aired.

 

[Hal Erickson]

The first-season McHALE'S NAVY episode in which the crew "misplaces" the PT-73 was intended as the opening episode....and it was written by Joseph Heller!
Re: Other military TV comedy shows: There was a pilot for a series based on CATCH-22, starring Richard Dreyfuss as Yossarian. There were also series based on MR. ROBERTS (with Roger Smith) and WACKIEST SHIP IN THE ARMY (changing the character names, the name of the ship, and the entire concept into a straight espionage drama).

 

[Hal Erickson]

BTW, 'Ensign O'Toole' was based on a book by William J. Lederer, who later co-wrote 'The Ugly American.' Another Lederer book, 'All the Ships at Sea', has been cited as the inspiration for the Borgnine-less 1965 feature film McHALE'S NAVY JOINS THE AIR FORCE, but the connection is barely existent.
Also, one of the reasons the TV version of NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS tanked was because ABC, in its infinite wisdom, scheduled it smack-dab opposite CBS's ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.