Beginning with the final season (or maybe for a few eps in the next-to-final season), in the small print underneath "HOGAN'S HEROES" in the first panel, there's a change from "Bing Crosby Productions", to "Hogan's Horde". Was that a reference to the show being released for foreign airing? Wasn't it a "BCP" production, for the entire run? Just curious.
shareAccording to Wikipedia, Bob Crane Enterprises was a producer in 70-71. IMDB's entry states that Bob Crane Enterprises was a production company for episodes 6.11 through the end, along with BCP.
I found other folks commenting on some fan sites that perhaps Crane took a share of the production load because he was in financial trouble and (presumably?) would get a better return if he owned at least part of the show. But given that it was done only in the last season and apparently only about a dozen episodes, that seems unlikely, as I would think the residuals on those few episodes wouldn't bring in a great deal of money. All involved probably knew that was the last season, as CBS was taking their image in a new direction, and the old style sitcoms (fantasy, rural, etc) were giving way to more realistic situations (MTM, All in the Family, etc)
yes, "all in the family" was incredibly realistic.
shareAnd the Mary Tyler Moore show really taught us how a local TV station produces the news: A news "writer" who simply re-words stories off the AP wire, no reporters who go around town to get stories, a 6 o'clock broadcast in the Central Time Zone and nothing later (in those years, they would have 5 and 10 p.m. broadcasts, just like those in the Eastern time zone had 6 and 11 o'clock news), and an "assistant producer" who really was little different than a secretary to the producer. Yep, that was how the did it.
It was about as realistic as anything the Three Stooges did.
Why don't we just shoot 'em down and be through with it?
actually Most people assumed it would get a 7th and Official Final season
CBS enacted the 'Rural Purge' without warning and canceled "everything with a Tree" (according to one story) that spring after the Season Finales had aired...
(Green acres, Beverly hillbillies, Hogan's Heroes and several others)
Today it is a Common Practice for one (if not Both) lead actors to get a Producer credit, and this gives them a back end bonus... so it's entirely possible 'Bob Crane Enterprises' was a framework company to give him the Producer Credit, w/o appearing on the books as a direct payment to Mr. Crane (not sure when it became common Practice)