I am an American who lives in China, so obviously, I do not get to see all the American television most of you watch. There are so many box sets that I want! There used to be a lot of DVD stores and sometimes one would get lucky there with some things (I own MASH and all the Star Trek series) but most of the older shows are not available.

I found a site where I can watch a lot of older programming. About 90%. The only show they really do not have that I wish they did is the Mary Tyler Moore show. There are others, but this site takes care of me. There is also another website I use to watch current TV shows. I do not know if it is OK to advertise these sites here, also, I want to keep them semi-quiet so they do not get shut down. You Tube is blocked in China and I cannot get a lot of the media back home because they block it for broadcast outside the USA.

Ernest Borgnine recently died and a lot of the obits talked about him in McHale's Navy. I have never seen this program. I grew up watching 1960's reruns of shows, but I watched mostly Leave it to Beaver, The Munsters, Addams Family, Andy Griffith Show, Dick Van Dyke, Hogans Heroes and Gomer Pyle USMC (among others).

I went to the website and by and large I enjoyed the McHale show. It is funny show and Borgnine is really endearing in this show. Out of four stars, I give it a three. It loses a star for being formulatic and not that different from other military sitcoms. The CO is a nincompoop, the lead is a wise (speaks and writes Japanese, also speaks Italian in the last season) but is a rule bending/breaking guy. McHale wasn't beyond ordering his men when they slacked and/or pissed him off either.

There are those who follow the regulations and those who flaunt them to a limit. Usually in an episode, a general or admiral comes around, gets mad and throgh the sneakiness of the characters, somehow sees the light, either on purpose or accidentally.

All the characters and actors in this are very good. I have only watched the first season and it is a funny show. The thing of it is, I have never seen this show before until now. My local stations never showed it. The cable stations in the 1980's and 1990's also never had it on either. I have never seen this show until now because of the internet. I think it is a lot funnier than Gomer Pyle USMC or any other military show out there (never seen Sgt. Bilko except for a You Tube when Bilko got a literal chimpanzee through the medical, which was funny as sh**t.).

This show was never in rotation like the other 1960's shows above. I never watched this program until now. I never knew that Tim Conway and Gavin McLeod were ever in other series. Tim (his name is actually Thomas but changed it to Tim to avoid having the same name as the cowboy actor, Tom Conway) is realy good in this. Mr. Conway probably has a 150 IQ, but the man looks like a moron, and especially as a young man, someone afflicted with Down's Syndrome. I did see the episode where Parker had to go out alone in the PT boat as commander and was very scared and felt guilty for it, with McHale giving the fatherly advice that everyone gets scared. Conway and Borginine were friends after that show for the rest of Ernest's life and Conway basically said that with Borgnine, what you see is on Tv is basically him. Loud, gregarious, and fun loving. Carl Ballentine is awesome too. They all are.

I never saw this show before, although I have watched American TV for over 40 years and I have never seen this show. Why? This was an ABC show, but a lot of series I have seen were CBS programs (because CBS basically kicked everyone's asses in the 1960's in the ratings.). Pretty cool seeing a 50 year old show for the first time.

Im a few years older than you and lived in the United States all my life, yet i've never seen the show either. I heard about it and started to buy season one a few weeks ago but decided against it at the last minute. Since you think its better than Gomer Pyle USMC, and I love that show, I may go a head and buy MN season one and check it out.

Gavin McCloud who played Happy Hines in McHale's Navy goes on to have a successful tv career on Mary Tyler Moore as Murray and then as Capt Stubing on The Love Boat.

I liked Gomer Pyle USMC as a kid and liked Jim Nabors a lot. As an adult with that show, there is a lot of suspension from reality, because the military does not run like it does in the show. Neither did McHale's Navy.

My question is that why didn't this show get in syndication? I was a child of the 1970's when there were only three channels and then cable and what we have now, and I have never, ever seen this show. Not on TV Land, TBS, anywhere that does or did rely a lot of programming on reruns. McHale had a famous actor in Borgnine, Tim Conway (who became famous on the Carol Burnett Show), Carl Ballentine, Gavin McLeod (really, he was a background character. Joe Flynn was a riot. I would have loved this show as a kid.

So why did McHale's Navy get so lost in the shuffle?

I liked Gomer Pyle USMC as a kid and liked Jim Nabors a lot. As an adult with that show, there is a lot of suspension from reality, because the military does not run like it does in the show. Neither did McHale's Navy.

My question is that why didn't this show get in syndication? I was a child of the 1970's when there were only three channels and then cable and what we have now, and I have never, ever seen this show. Not on TV Land, TBS, anywhere that does or did rely a lot of programming on reruns. McHale had a famous actor in Borgnine, Tim Conway (who became famous on the Carol Burnett Show), Carl Ballentine, Gavin McLeod (really, he was a background character. Joe Flynn was a riot. I would have loved this show as a kid.

So why did McHale's Navy get so lost in the shuffle? My only guess was that CBS was such a dominant juggernaut in the ratings that ABC and NBC shows were second rate in syndication. Most of the older 1950's/60's shows I did see as a child were CBS shows. Andy Griffith, The Munsters, Leave It to Beaver, the various Lucy shows, Gomer Pyle, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, etc.

Batman and Bewitched saved ABC in the 1960's. Brady Bunch was another ABC show that never reached the Top 30, but I have watched all those shows growing up. The worst show of the old era was Gilligan's Island. McHale's Navy is a hell of a lot better than freaking Gilligans Island!

Off-topic, but to the OP: If you live in China, how come your location still says otherwise?

Also, no offense, but your profile says you're 47.

I liked Gomer Pyle USMC as a kid and liked Jim Nabors a lot. As an adult with that show, there is a lot of suspension from reality, because the military does not run like it does in the show. Neither did McHale's Navy.

My question is that why didn't this show get in syndication? I was a child of the 1970's when there were only three channels and then cable and what we have now, and I have never, ever seen this show. Not on TV Land, TBS, anywhere that does or did rely a lot of programming on reruns. McHale had a famous actor in Borgnine, Tim Conway (who became famous on the Carol Burnett Show), Carl Ballentine, Gavin McLeod (really, he was a background character. Joe Flynn was a riot. I would have loved this show as a kid.

So why did McHale's Navy get so lost in the shuffle?


I used to see Mchale's Navy it here in local syndication in Philadelphia in the early 80's but the show was never on cable.

I don't know why my location is different.

I used my wife's birthday instead of my own. She's 47.

My question is that why didn't this show get in syndication? I was a child of the 1970's when there were only three channels and then cable and what we have now, and I have never, ever seen this show. Not on TV Land, TBS, anywhere that does or did rely a lot of programming on reruns.

I'm not sure how you missed it. I remember seeing McHale's Navy in syndicated reruns in the early or mid 1970s. I think it may have aired on TBS at one point because the series was colorized. I'm not sure, but I think Ted Turner may have had something to do with that. Then, in 1990, it aired on the comedy cable channel, Ha! (which later merged with The Comedy Channel to become Comedy Central). Ha! aired the colorized version. So yes, it does have a history in reruns.

I remember watching McHale's Navy in the 1970's. I hadn't seen it since then until Antenna TV started showing it.

I remember watching McHale's Navy in the 1970's. I hadn't seen it since then until Antenna TV started showing it.


1979 to be exact for me

I used to see Mchale's Navy it here in local syndication in Philadelphia in the early 80's but the show was never on cable.
yes it was, Sol. I remember TV LAND aired a few episodes back in 2002, 2003, around there.

yes it was, Sol. I remember TV LAND aired a few episodes back in 2002, 2003, around there.


Treky I;m confident TV Land has not aired Mchale's Navy since I been living in this apartment which was 2000. That's why I was shocked to see it on Antenna TV because it made me think of channel 48


And if they did air the show it had to be during 6am to 3pm

no Sol, I DISTINCLY remember them showing it a couple times on Saturday afternoon as part of a block of 4 sitcoms they would call a "box set" and once or twice they showed a couple episodes on a Sunday night as a part of some other block of sitcoms-I forget what they called it, but it was on around 11 or 11:30

no Sol, I DISTINCLY remember them showing it a couple times on Saturday afternoon as part of a block of 4 sitcoms they would call a "box set" and once or twice they showed a couple episodes on a Sunday night as a part of some other block of sitcoms-I forget what they called it, but it was on around 11 or 11:30


Well maybe it was early 2002 because I didn't join this site August of 2002. And before I joined this site I didnt know what was on because I didn't have a TV Guide. So It was probably before I joined SitcomsOnline

no Sol, I DISTINCLY remember them showing it a couple times on Saturday afternoon as part of a block of 4 sitcoms they would call a "box set" and once or twice they showed a couple episodes on a Sunday night as a part of some other block of sitcoms-I forget what they called it, but it was on around 11 or 11:30


Just noticed you joined the site 6 months before I did so I;m guessing MN aired around the time you joined

yea, that's probably it because now that I think about it, it was soon after 9/11

yea, that's probably it because now that I think about it, it was soon after 9/11


Yup that explains it.

McHale's Navy was a very popular show in the 60's, I think it cracked the top 30 once or twice on ABC. I watched it regularly.

McHale's Navy was a very popular show in the 60's, I think it cracked the top 30 once or twice on ABC. I watched it regularly.


It cracked the top 30 twice, In season 2, ranked #22 and season 3, ranked #29

I'm 47 and I'm watching McHale's Navy for the first time having checked out season one from the library.

There are quite a few shows from the '60's that I've never seen, or have had very little exposure to, that I've gotten to know on DVD, and now absolutely love! Hazel, Dennis The Menace and Car 54, Where Are You,? are some examples. I've been meaning to start collecting McHale's Navy dvd sets. Its on my list!

I remember watching McHale's Navy in the 1970's. I hadn't seen it since then until Antenna TV started showing it.

It has been long enough that the show seems preety fresh again... in the 1970s my area reran them almost endlessly.

I am 45 and have never seen this show until now!


I am 42 and never even heard of this show until just now. :)

I am 42 and never even heard of this show until just now. :)


It's never really been a show that was seen on cable. Just local stations

no Sol, it was on TV LAND for a short time back around 2001 0r 2002.

no Sol, it was on TV LAND for a short time back around 2001 0r 2002.


it's been that long, damm

no Sol, it was on TV LAND for a short time back around 2001 0r 2002.


I have a couple blocks from that time with the show, I think I even have a marathon from tvland.