MovieChat Forums > McHale's Navy (1962) Discussion > 'Pilot' McHale Episode

'Pilot' McHale Episode

posted 16 years ago by vinidici
9 replies | jump to latest

...I understand that Ernest Borgnine played as Quinton McHale for the first time in an episode of some hour-long anthology TV series. Here's the REAL surprise: It wasn't a comedy!

I know of a couple of spinoffs from sitcoms that were DRAMAS (e.g. "Lou Grant" from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Trapper John, M.D." from "M*A*S*H"), but this is the only instance I know of in which a sitcom span off from a dramatic anthology series.

All I know is that the show was called "Alcoa Premiere" and the name of the episode was "Seven Against the Sea," aired in April 1962. Anyone know anything else about the original McHale episode?

[–] jetlag31 16 years ago

There's a description of it on the Wikipedia page for McHale's Navy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McHale's_Navy

(BTW, note that the Wikipedia article lists--probably mistakenly--Edson Stroll as being in the pilot's cast. Later it implicitly denies his presence when it mentions "the only actors from the dramatic pilot who made it to the series were Gary Vinson as George "Christy" Christopher and John Wright as radioman Willy Moss".)

More info and several pics and clips can be found at the tvparty.com site:

http://www.tvparty.com/unseenmchales.html

[–] nebka23 16 years ago

Is this on the DVD sets?

[–] JEFJR 15 years ago

[–] hackraytex 10 years ago

I saw a pilot on YouTube in which I don't think anyone from the pilot made it into the series. It gave pretty good back ground about Binghamton and McHale.

Binghamtom got to be Captain because he had run a yacht club in Long Island and McHale before the war had run a tramp steamer in the South Pacific and knew everyone in the area so his connections enabled him to make deals and keep up on what was going on in that neck of the woods. Parker joined the crew in the first episode because they could not keep an executive officer with the crew because they were so wild and crazy. Ihe previous XO had lasted about two weeks and was in a strait jacket in the hospital there awaiting medical evacuation. McHale was under stict orders from Binghamton not to go near that poor guy. I heard but never got the facts that Binghamton put McHale and his crew on the nearby island away from the main back to get them out of his hair because of all of their shenanigans.

I have a lot of good memories about this show because my dad was in the navy and it was a show we could enjoy together. One mistake, I joined the navy because my dad had been in it and also partially from the memories of this show and found out real fast that the real navy was nothing like McHale's Navy.

I think Tim Conway and Gavin McLeod are all that are still with us although I think Gavin McLeod bailed after one season. I always wondered why he did that and if he regretted it before the Mary Tyler Moore show. Thanks for all of the good laughs.

Have to agree that there was nothing funny about concentration camps and I think the WWII veterans got Hogan's Heroes cancelled because anyone who was a victim of a concentration camp would have been insulted by the show. I did read the Werner Kemperer only agreed to play Klink if he got to play him as stupid as a board and that Klink would always fail. He destested the Nazis and did not want to do anything to make them look good.

[–] FlushingCaps 10 years ago

Hackraytex, I believe you are making an error in your closing paragraph. You write about Hogan's Heroes and Nazi concentration camps as though the Heroes were in one. They never talked about the concentration camps on the series, the camps where civilians were taken and housed, and of course, killed in many cases.

The Heroes were simply in a Luftwaffe POW camp. If any veterans group protested, they weren't too effective because that series lasted six full seasons, essentially running its course before being cancelled.

I always thought they carefully portrayed only two Germans as being somewhat dumb--Klink and Schultz. While Hogan's men outmaneuvered the Germans they faced, the other Germans were not shown in a way as to suggest they were all fools. No reason, in my opinion, for anyone to feel offended at this hilarious series.

[–] hackraytex 10 years ago

OK. You could be right. I just remember Klink bragging to the Gestapo inspector that would show up from time to time that "There has never been an escape from Stalag 13". Of course, Klink and Shultz would do anything to keep from being sent to the Russian front and who could blame them. However, of course, why would Hogan and company want to try to escape since they were there to spy on the Germans and thwart their schemes and they had a tunnel and could leave anytime they wanted to.

McHale's Navy was still better. I never saw the last year but from what I have read, it was not as good as the rest of it. Did McHale's Navy end due to running its course or was there other reasons for it ending? I know Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, and Joe Flynn had successful careers afterward. Ernest Borgnine always seemed to be a very positive and upbeat person who enjoyed his life and his last marriage appears to have been very happy. We lost Joe Flynn too soon and may he and Ernest Borgnine rest in peace.

[–] loughsprng 10 years ago

In his autobiography Borgnine said that he felt McHale's Navy could have gone on longer than it did, but in it's fourth season the producers decided to move the show from the Pacific theater over to Europe and it hurt the series.

I couldn't agree more. As much as I love this show and the people in it I never did care for the last season as much as I did the first three.

[–] hackraytex 10 years ago

I have not seen too many shows that survived being "retooled". Most of the time it is usually because some geniu$ think it will save money or they think it is in need of a "jump$tart" to being in more bucks. Of course, who does not want to make more money but they wind up killing the golden goose.

One of many examples and the results were not pretty was when the suits fired Eric Fleming, he wanted out anyway, from Rawhide and most of the rest of the cast with him. It looks to me that Clint Eastwood was caught in the middle of that mess and although they brought Sheb Wolley back they got rid of just about everyone else. The show only lasted half a season. Nothing against Clint Eastwood, but his movie career was starting to take off so he obviously had other plans on his mind but also respected that he had to honor his contract so he did the best he could. The point I hope to make is they need to realize that in most cases, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[–] gschwertley 7 years ago

Re. the last season where the venue changed to the Italian theater, the two cousin Guiseppe episodes are entertaining. Having nothing to do with venue, by the last season they were starting to rehash gags that had already been covered in previous episodes. Everything runs its course.

Even when I was a teenager in the 1960's, I wondered at the wisdom of moving naval personnel from the Pacific to the Italian theater in Europe. Not to mention the historical accuracy of such a move. I later learned that the US Navy actually did have some PT boats in the Med but not near as many as in the Pacific. But it's not likely that boats already deployed to the Pacific would've been moved to the Med.