I Can't Hold Back Any Longer

[tv star collector]

... and the New York police force wasn't too happy with CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? ... nor were the Marines with GOMER PYLE! And, although it isn't
documented, NASA probably wasn't exactly thrilled with I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
But I loved all those shows and accepted them for what they are: comedy,
not reality (as I'm sure most viewers did). The early sixties were especially
characterized as a period when escapism was popular (particularly 1964, as
documented in THE TELEVISION YEARS by Arthur Shulman & Roger Youman).
We had just been through the assassination of President Kennedy and were
yearning for escape in 1964, and TV provided it in a number of different ways
(THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE MUNSTERS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, BEWITCHED, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, GOMER PYLE, etc.). Of course, 1964 was also
the year The Beatles conquered America. The following year, 1965, the TV
trend continued with more far-fetched comedies in the form of HOGAN'S
HEROES, F-TROOP, GET SMART, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, etc. By the end of
the decade, we also had such escapist fare as BATMAN, STAR TREK, THE
MONKEES, IT'S ABOUT TIME, THE FLYING NUN, and THE GHOST AND MRS.
MUIR. None of these shows reflected reality, but what they were was
inventive and imaginative programming (something we rarely see today).

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...'tv star collector'- NASA was VERY HAPPY with the publicity "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" gave them every week! They gave Sidney Sheldon their full cooperation (and their California air base to film "location sequences" during the first two seasons) in filming the series....Hayden Rorke once stated that "Dr. Bellows" was never made to look like "a complete idiot" in any of his scenes [at least, in the earlier seasons and the scripts written by Sheldon himself]....and once in a while, Barbara and some of the cast would participate in a special NASA function.....so how could they object??

"CAR 54" got full cooperation from the New York Police Department as well.
Nat Hiken and his writers knew the difference between farce and "total unbelievablity"....nothing that Toody & Muldoon ever did as cops was "unbelievable"...exaggerated, yes, but NOT "unbelievable".

[Zebra 3]

Bob Crane (Col. Hogan) did promos for the US military. video

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Burford Lives!!

The show was a light-hearted look at a German POW camp. As was stated above, the real life stories of some of these actors are more grim. Both Banner and Klemperer were Jews who had escaped the Nazis by coming to the U.S. Banner, an Austrian Jew, had his entire family wiped out by the Nazis. Robert Clary (LeBeau) had actually been interned in a Nazi concentration camp when he was child.

Klemperer only agreed to play Col. Klink after he was assured that Klink would never succeed and would always look foolish.

These were individuals that were DIRECTLY affected by WWII and the Nazi's and the concentration camps, and they felt it was okay to be IN the show.

That's good enough for me.

[MickeyMac]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

... and the New York police force wasn't too happy with CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? ... nor were the Marines with GOMER PYLE! And, although it isn't
documented, NASA probably wasn't exactly thrilled with I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
But I loved all those shows and accepted them for what they are: comedy,
not reality (as I'm sure most viewers did). The early sixties were especially
characterized as a period when escapism was popular (particularly 1964, as
documented in THE TELEVISION YEARS by Arthur Shulman & Roger Youman).
We had just been through the assassination of President Kennedy and were
yearning for escape in 1964, and TV provided it in a number of different ways
(THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE MUNSTERS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, BEWITCHED, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, GOMER PYLE, etc.). Of course, 1964 was also
the year The Beatles conquered America. The following year, 1965, the TV
trend continued with more far-fetched comedies in the form of HOGAN'S
HEROES, F-TROOP, GET SMART, I DREAM OF JEANNIE, etc. By the end of
the decade, we also had such escapist fare as BATMAN, STAR TREK, THE
MONKEES, IT'S ABOUT TIME, THE FLYING NUN, and THE GHOST AND MRS.
MUIR. None of these shows reflected reality, but what they were was
inventive and imaginative programming (something we rarely see today).

WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


About the 1964 part of your post. Lets not forget that LBJ signed the civil rights bill, Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize, and you throw in all the great TV show and the great music 1964 was a kick ass year

[Lee G]

Originally Posted by FanMan

Well, I knew there would be people telling me to lighten up, and perhaps they are right in saying so. It just seems odd to me that, with all the "creative" minds in the television industry, that someone would have to stoop to making a comedy out of Allied POW's in German camps. I wish the folks who tell me to lighten up would read a few pages of history and learn about the horrible conditions which existed in those prison camps. I just feel someone needs to stand up for the Allied troops that had to endure starvation and deprivation beyond belief, sometimes for years on end. Many of those men died with Nazi bullets in them. Just because it's 50 years later doesn't mean it's somehow become "funny". Well, I just hope someone shares my views, if not, so be it.

I generally don't like military sitcoms either, but I do like Gomer Pyle and I find F Troop mildly amusing. It's all a matter of taste, what one person finds humor in, the next person may think is not funny at all.

[Zoneboy]

I have very little doubt that the inspiration for Hogan's Heroes came from Bernard Fein's appearance in the Twilight Zone episode "He's Alive" which starred Dennis Hopper as the leader of a neo-nazi organization who is constantly heckled by Fein's character and others. Fein's costar in this episode was Howard Caine who played Major Hochstetter on Hogan's Heroes

[MickeyMac]

There is something else too. This is not to accurate because look at what we are all overlooking: Ivan Dixon

Before 1948 the armed forces were segregated and just how did Kinche get in with the other guys in the first place? Not only that, there is a good possibility he may have been sent to a concentration camp. The nazi's weren't too crazy about black folks either.

Just saying.

[dawsongirl]

Originally Posted by MickeyMac

There is something else too. This is not to accurate because look at what we are all overlooking: Ivan Dixon

Before 1948 the armed forces were segregated and just how did Kinche get in with the other guys in the first place? Not only that, there is a good possibility he may have been sent to a concentration camp. The nazi's weren't too crazy about black folks either.

Just saying.

Yeah, there were other black men wandering around there too. Mostly white Americans, but every now and then, you'd see a black guy. So like you said, that was far from realistic.