McKeever & the Colonel

[Bob's TV Treasures]

All cast members of this short-lived
1962 "Four Star Studio" sitcom (dead or alive) have
been accounted for, except for the MCKEEVER character,
portrayed by young Scott Lane. Anyone know of his whereabouts?
Any contact info?

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...it was a situation comedy about cadets at a children's military school [Westfield Academy], primarily focusing on the rivalry between "Cadet Gary McKeever" [Scott Lane] and the school's headmaster, "Colonel Harvey Blackwell" [Allyn Joslyn], with Jackie Coogan as "Sgt. Barnes", Blackwell's aide-de-camp. The show aired on NBC's 1962-'63 Sunday night schedule at 6:30pm(et), just before another short-lived military comedy, "ENSIGN O'TOOLE". 26 episodes were produced, but the ratings for rival CBS' "PASSWORD" the first half of the season were more than enough for NBC to cancel the series after one season. Four Star Television immediately sent the series into syndication on local stations [WABC-TV in New York was airing it on weekend afternoons by the mid-'60s], but it vanished by the early '70s. Today, the series is owned by 20th Century-Fox Television (who acquired the Four Star library several years ago), but they're not interested in reviving it for ANY purpose- not even on DVD- simply because they feel it's an "obscure" series...so obscure, I'm certain most of their executives don't even know it's in their TV library.

[Bob's TV Treasures]

You'd be amazed how many of the old FOUR STAR flops have been shown in syndication. THE TOM EWELL SHOW and MCKEEVER & THE COLONEL here in SoCal, and on the UK's PERFORMANCE Channel they showed THE GERTRUDE BERG SHOW, ENSIGN O'TOOLE, PETER LOVES MARY, JOHNNY RINGO,
THE JEANNIE CARSON SHOW and I think they did MR. ADAMS & EVE, too.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

....especially if you count the limited number of episodes that were part of "RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE". There were two "packages" of those in syndication; the first, covering the 1957-'59 episodes, were retitled "CALL MR. D", because the final season (1959-'60) was still appearing as a first-run network series [NBC] at the time the show was initially syndicated. Those final season episodes were eventually syndicated under the original title; I saw them on Nostalgia Television in the late '90s. They also aired "LAW OF THE PLAINSMAN" (the "spin-off" from "THE RIFLEMAN"), another "one-season wonder".

Apparently, it was a "package deal" for "McKEEVER" and "ENSIGN O'TOOLE", because Four Star (and the direct influence of Dick Powell?) convinced NBC to schedule them back-to-back on Sunday nights in the 1962-'63 season.

Now, if the "Performance" channel carried "MR, ADAMS & EVE" (it lasted almost two seasons), there MUST be copies of every episode stashed somewhere!!!

[bencasey]

I was having someone tape McKeever and Tom Ewell for me off a Sacramento station around 1981 or so.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...because ever since the Four Star TV library became part of 20th Century-Fox Television's "inventory", they feel there's no need to release those "one-season wonders" to the general public these days- even on DVD. I think you already knew that....a damn shame.

[treky]

yea, it is a damn shame. I remember seeing "McKeever" on a local station on sunday afternoons in the mid to late 6os, and though I only have vauge memories of it I remember it was pretty good.
And I remember another station showed "ENSIGN O'TOOLE on saturday afternoons at the same time, and I rember that was pretty good too.

[bencasey]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

...because ever since the Four Star TV library became part of 20th Century-Fox Television's "inventory", they feel there's no need to release those "one-season wonders" to the general public these days- even on DVD. I think you already knew that....a damn shame.

That's because Fox sucks. But everyone knew that already.

[Marvo301]

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...Dell's "McKeever & the Colonel" lasted only a few issues. And they're quite collectable! The series was filmed in black and white, so a color cover of the cast already makes it worth at least $50- to some collectors...

[Vito]

Just wondering if anyone has any info about "McKeever..." during its syndication run here in Southern California. I have a vague memory of watching an episode as a very small child in the mid-1960s, but I can't remember a whole lot about it!

Any details -- when it aired, which local network (KTTV? KTLA?) carried it, etc. -- will be appreciated.

[jehobden]

I have a TV Guide, Albany (NY) Edition, from Sept. 3, 1977 which showed an Ensign O'Toole rerun on WRGB-TV out of Schenectady that Saturday afternoon. My family had just moved from that tv market (NY Capital District) the year before, but I have no recollection of ever having seen Ensign O'Toole on WRGB-TV or any other station. I haven't even seen clips of Ensign O'Toole or McKeever and the Colonel on You Tube.

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by Bob's TV Treasures

All cast members of this short-lived
1962 "Four Star Studio" sitcom (dead or alive) have
been accounted for, except for the MCKEEVER character,
portrayed by young Scott Lane. Anyone know of his whereabouts?
Any contact info?

I've read about everyone still alive from the series except for Keith Taylor (Tubby). I know he'd played Beaver's classmate, Harry, on Leave It to Beaver before this show, and he was in the Disney movie, Follow Me Boys, later in the decade, but I don't know what he's done since then. Does anyone know?