i thought the 4th season was vary funny
with the con men Col. Douglas Harrigan
and Mayor Mario Lugatto is was vary funny
My guess is that the star, Ernest Borgnine wanted to return to the big screen again (in which he did with "The Dirty Dozen" and "Ice Station Zebra").
shareBecause otherwise the show would have lasted longer than the actual war?
by JEFJR (Fri Apr 3 2009 21:56:38) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
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Because otherwise the show would have lasted longer than the actual war?
Ummmm.......never saw MASH, did you?
And I thought MASH should have packed it in and not lasted nearly as long as it did.
shareCompetition was fierce back then, there was alot more competition with shows back then than there is today. Great shows like The Munsters, Addams Family, Gomer Pyle USMC, The Dick Van Dyke Show and other great shows only last 2-5 seasons.
It was a terrible decision by the show's producers to move the show from the Pacific theater of Operations to the European Theater of Operations. (What was there for Fuji to do in sunny Italy anyway?)
I thought that Col. Harrigan was an insufferable bore, and the show sorely missed Nurse Molly Turner's unrequited amorous advances towards Lt. Commander McHale.
Totally agree that the move to the European Theater was a terrible idea. They could have moved the show's setting from the Solomon Islands to the Phillipine Islands which actually happened in the Pacific Theater during WWII. It would have been funny seeing them try to set up a new McHale's Island and their subsequent operations.
share4 seasons is a pretty good run for a comedy. Not too many still hold up after 5, as you have pretty much mined all of the comedy out of the premise. MASH was brilliant up to season 5, then things start to become mixed and pretty worn out by the end. Carl Reiner was smart enough to call a halt at 5 for the Dick Van Dyke Show, and both Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch had packed it in relatively early. Too many sitcoms these days greatly outstay their welcome. Even the Simpsons should have probaby packed it in by season 10. It's gotten to be like Gunsmoke these days, just staying on the air to keep the machine rolling.
"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"
The move from the Pacific to Italy wasn't well received by viewers and the audience fell off. That, and all the networks were beginning to film in color and wanted fresh new comedies for that role.
Also a factor but probably not a big one was that American PT boats had no role in the European War.
Personally, I thought the first season was by far and away their best. The stories got repetitive and not so funny afterward and the last year was junk.
Take a look at this - some of the cast remembering the making of the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJO5QxE-iRc
Go to: 8:14
Tim remembers the reason as because it was in b/w and they didn't think it would go onto syndication.