Terrible show

[Lee G]

Loudmouth & obnoxious Sgt. Bilko and his platoon of buffoons. This was one of the worst shows from the 50's. The scripting was poor and unfunny. Every episode had the same plot, and almost all of them had nothing to do with the military although they were supposed to be army guys. They may as well have been a bunch of bums who hung around the pool hall all day. Phil Silvers was talented, but his ability was wasted here. If you want to see a funny 50's show, watch The Honeymooners classic 39. Now THAT is a funny show!

[tv star collector]

I have to disagree. As writer Rick Mitz states (in THE GREAT TV SITCOM BOOK), the show was "brilliant," "hilarious" and quite simply "the best." " .. this
sitcom was a classic ... Silvers was right up there at the top."

"CBS loved the show and bought it even before finding a sponsor, which was
unheard of back then."

" ... the show went on to win five Emmies, many other awards, 23,000,000
viewers--and the biggest prize of all: knocking [Milton] Berle off the air
after an eight-year reigh as Mr. Television."

"Ad-libbed remarks often helped give the show a spontaneous sparkle."

"At first, they filmed it with a live studio audience; later, they filmed the
show without an audience, edited it, and then ran it in front of an audience
of GIs and recorded their laughs. The show never used canned laughter."

"New scripts were written each week. The cast would rehearse three days,
and on Friday would run through the show and then film it. [Creator Nat]
Hiken did all the work--writing, directing, and producing. The first year it was
on the air, a young writer friend of his died of a heart attack. Hiken, forty-one, got scared and turned over the head writing responsiblilities to
his assistant. A young writer named Neil Simon was one of the staff writers."

"The show was innovative in a number of ways. It was the first sitcom to use
black actors without calling attention to them. They were just there. Silvers
tells a story of how he was mugged by a black man in New York--until the
man realized it was Silvers he was mugging. 'You're okay,' the man said, and
let him go."

Silvers' show also marked the important debut for several future TV stars,
incl. Fred Gwynne, Joe E. Ross, Dick Van Dyke, Dick Cavett, Dina Merrill,
and Alan Alda.

"Over the years, the show has not lost one ounce of its urbane humor and
extraordinary energy."

Perhaps this scene sums up the virtues of the Bilko series best ...

PRIVATE ONE: "Bilko'll get his."
PRIVATE TWO: "Oh, he's already got his--and he's got yours too."

[Lee G]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I know many people who dislike the Bilko show. I have tried watching it, I think it's one of the worst shows I've ever seen.

In addition to The Honeymooners, another good 50's show is Amos N Andy. They could have called the show Kingfish N Andy because Amos usually had very little to do with the goings on in the episodes. Tim Moore and Spencer Williams were great comedians.

[Mr. Television]

I think the show is brilliant and it's my favorite 50's show next to I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...while "THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW" IS a "classic", it never seemed to play that way in New York. WPIX-TV [Channel 11] scheduled the reruns erratically through the mid-'60s, briefly revived it in the early '70s, and WOR-TV [Channel 9, now WWOR-TV] only scheduled it during 1984. I really didn't see it again until TV LAND started showing it between 1996 and 1999.

[dlemond]

Never really saw an entire episode of this show, but I must admit I'm curious and will rent a disc of the 50th anniversary collection.

My verdict to follow at a later date.

[Lee G]

I think Bilko is the type of show that either you like it or you don't like it. There is no middle ground. For me, I don't care how many awards a show has won. Some pretty crappy TV shows have won awards, so I don't pay attention to that stuff.

I Love Lucy is a show that ranks so-so with me. The episodes are reasonably funny, but the show is overrated and a little bit of whiney Lucy goes a long way. Because of this, I can't watch too many episodes at one time. I think Lucy fared a bit better in her later sitcoms Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show.

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by I Walk The Line

I think the show is brilliant and it's my favorite 50's show next to I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners.

Awards aside, 23,000,000 viewers can't be wrong.

Still, any TV show (or movie or popular song, for that matter) is a matter of
personal taste. Not everyone is going to like it (no matter how big a rating).

Hard-nosed critic Sam Frank (who admitted to disliking the beloved I LOVE
LUCY) stated in regard to THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW: "Much as I enjoy the
show, I am reluctant to rate it as a classic. It has smart and sharp writing,
direction and acting, it is often howlingly funny and Silvers is on top of his
game as Bilko. The problem is that Bilko as a character and the show as a
whole lack heart and depth and the situations tend to be repetitive. Nat
Hiken's later CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? had heart and depth and plot variety,
making it the superior comedy."

Having seen more episodes of CAR 54, I would have to give it the edge, too.
Nevertheless, THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW was, at times, brilliant and hilarious.

[kooky12]

I guess it was a formulaic show (like Everybody Loves Raymond ?) but it still makes me laugh !

[TV DVD Fan]

I've only seen 18 episodes thanks to the DVD set (wake up Paramont). But from what I have seen, I think it's brilliant. Phil Silvers can make any situation work. Even if you've seen the same type of story before, he can put a different spin on that story every time. Simply brilliant comedian and great show.

[catlover79]

Never saw it.

[PLEATS!!]

Well it is simply this, any 50's sitcom can be seen by todays standards as cheesy if you are unreceptive to its content. Many of them I could not sit through.
I personally regard the Phil Silvers show as a very watchable classic that has stood the test of time and is no less formulaic in plot than its contemporaries or almost any given modern sitcom.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by dlemond

Never really saw an entire episode of this show, but I must admit I'm curious and will rent a disc of the 50th anniversary collection.

My verdict to follow at a later date.

It's a later date.

[MaskedMala]

It's unbelievable that there's only the first season of this Classic Sitcom available on DVD. Hey! people at CBS, it's about time to release season 2, 3 and 4 of Sgt. Bilko.

[comedyfreak]

I really liked this show and use to watch it every night when I was a kid. I wish they would rerun the show and also finish the dvd releases.