F TROOP Fridays: "Reunion for O'Rourke" (1966)

 F TROOP Fridays: Number 39   

F TROOP: "Reunion for O'Rourke" (1966 ABC-TV/Warner Brothers) Season One, Episode 25; Original Air Date March 8, 1966.  Starring Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan O'Rourke, Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn, Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter, Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane, Frank de Kova as Chief Wild Eagle, James Hampton as Private Dobbs, Bob Steele as Private Duffy, Joe Brooks as Private Vanderbilt, Ivan Bell as Private Dudleson.  Guest stars: Eve McVeagh as Wilma McGee, Ben Gage as Mike O'Hanlon, Marjorie Bennett as Ella Vorhees, Richard Reeves as Jim Sweeney.  Written by Ed James and Seaman Jacobs.  Directed by Charles Rondeau.

"Many years ago, tribe leave Massachusetts because pilgrims ruin neighborhood...."

Sergeant Morgan Sylvester O'Rourke lets slip to the Captain that he is celebrating his 25th anniversary in the service this month, but his accompanying furlough request is motivated by business rather than nostalgia: namely, a surplus of souvenirs needing a buyer.  Unfortunately, an elevated threat of Indian uprisings has by-the-book Captain Parmenter denying O'Rourke's reasonable request.

The threat of losing his share of the profits has Agarn off to persuade Parmenter but the Captain coaxes the Corporal with an idea of his own: a surprise testimonial dinner.  As planned by the C.O. the secret celebration will make travel unnecessary by bringing the Sergeant's oldest and dearest friends to Fort Courage for the occasion.  Yes, Agarn puts sentiment ahead of profit once the Captain puts him in charge of the entire affair.  But as demonstrated in Play, Gypsy, Play the previous week, there's good reason not to have him in the driver's seat.

"We have lined up the finest entertainment west of.....hey, what's just east of here?"

As I've noted in prior posts, series creators Ed James and Seaman Jacobs envisioned a more cynical F TROOP than what ultimately emerged once Hy Averback won the post-William T. Orr era power struggle on the set.  Reunion for O'Rourke was as close as we ever got to a heartwarming outing from the James/Jacobs team, and you can forget about a sappy conclusion like those found in A Gift From the Chief or Will the Real Captain Try to Stand Up here.  

"Sarge, if you ruin this night--I'll kill ya!"

Agarn temporarily putting his greed aside is an eyebrow raiser but makes sense here, as the opportunity for the second banana to run the show is the one thing almost as appealing as money to the frustrated subordinate.  Softie underneath he may be, but the empowered Corporal really gives that hat a workout and even goes after O'Rourke with a hat rack(!) when the guest of honor refuses all efforts to lure him out for the surprise.  He even rubs off on his underlings, as Duffy gives Vanderbilt a whack with his (likely decades-old) head covering.

The James/Jacobs attitude (also likely director Rondeau's) towards any F TROOP mawkishness is in evidence throughout O'Rourke's big night as every single attempt at hugs or tears is thwarted.  Often violently.  His old schoolteacher confirms that kid brother Morton was "the good kid" in the family and still holds a decades-old grudge over a frog in her teapot.  Old girlfriend Wilma McGee still has her figure despite gaining eight children (the Sarge's reaction is one of the best laughs in an episode stuffed with good ones) and her own thriving Emporium (now this interests Morgan) from the husband she married "while she was waiting" for O'Rourke to come home.  Two old buddies from the Mexican-American War have ended up on very divergent paths, to the peril of all party attendees--Mike O'Hanlon's shows us O'Rourke could be doing far worse things than his Enterprises.

"Where the Hekawi?"

Despite it's title and the numerous welcome tidbits from the Sarge's past, Reunion for O'Rourke is almost certainly best-remembered for the backstory provided for his business partners.  Yes, this is the episode that reveals just how the Hekawi tribe was named.  I won't reproduce the entire story; I couldn't tell it nearly as well as Frank deKova's Wild Eagle does anyway.  Suffice to say it is a legendary moment among F TROOP aficionados that lives up to the hype. 

Not long after his 2,038 performance run touring the country as THE MUSIC MAN, Forrest Tucker sings Dear Old Donegal.  Or, I should say, finally gets in more than a line or two at the fadeout of Act Two.  My Wild Irish Rose however is mostly ceded to the Hekawi Glee Club(!).  At least until the coda.  Par for the course for F TROOP, both are sung decades before they were actually written.

Once more, the co-creators allow O'Rourke to succeed where Bilko often failed, as the Enterprises finds that much-needed buyer in the Sarge's romantic past.  No, he and Agarn will never get rich either, but they'll surreptitiously keep ill-gotten gains almost every episode.  At least until the J.J.'s (and Rondeau) were completely out of the picture in Season Two.  Too bad.

Look out for LOVE THAT BOB's Mrs. Niemeyer (Bob Gives S.R.O. Performance), Marjorie Bennett as the Sarge's still-angry third grade teacher, and for MAVERICK's James Arness impressionist extraordinaire Ben Gage (Gun-Shy) as the Sarge's shady old pal O'Hanlon aka The Canary Kid.  O'Hanlon demonstrates the pitfalls of sentimentality in this universe better than anyone--if he could have forgone going to see his old friend, the Kid would still be at large and the most successful outlaw in the West at episode's end, right? 

HOW'S BUSINESS AT O'ROURKE ENTERPRISES?

Way too slow at the outset, but a timely sale to the McGee Emporium gets the souvenirs moving again by the epilogue.  Ever the shrewd negotiator, O'Rourke manages to make that sale without becomin' that father to eight blessed McGee young 'uns.

TIME PASSAGES:

O'Rourke states he "joined up for the Mexican War" and since it has been 25 years, this episode likely takes place circa 1871.  O'Hanlon's statement that Morgan was a Sergeant 22 years ago (and 3 years after that enlistment) is contracted in Our Brave in F Troop later: "it took me ten years to get these stripes!"   In the coda, we learn that Chief Wild Eagle has been leading his tribe for 17 years.  Hey, close enough for that golden sundial. 

NUMBER OF TIMES O'ROURKE COULD HAVE BEEN TRIED FOR TREASON:

Zero, with everyone putting any differences aside for one night to celebrate the Sarge's silver jubilee.

PC, OR NOT PC?

Natives and palefaces come together in peaceful harmony to pay tribute to the Sarge, and the Irish cultural appropriation by the Hekawis is received well by the patrons sans O'Rourke.  The festive occasion even has by-the-book Parmenter cutting through red tape to let the Natives into the saloon, with the dangers of letting them near whisky going unmentioned. 

THE ALL-IMPORTANT NIELSENS:

Reunion for O'Rourke scored well with viewers with a solid 21.4 rating and 31.6 share, both above the season average of 20.4/31.3.  RED SKELTON led the 8 PM pack as usual with a 28.4/41.9 for the half-hour but the Troopers bludgeoned NBC's movie September Affair (15.7/26.3).

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Nice bit of symmetry for the show to celebrate O'Rourke's 25th year in the Army with its 25th episode.  Reunion for O'Rourke demonstrates the show in full stride on all fronts; just a tad of unintrusive heart and chock full of laughs.  I originally gave this the top rating and an extra half star for the classic Hekawi history story, and while I'm taking that half-star back in my revisionist rating, it's still a very worthy entry in a very worthy season.  (***1/2 out of four) 

F TROOP is currently seen weekday mornings starting at 9 A.M. Central Time on Outlaw TV.

Television Review: LOVE THAT BOB: "Bob Digs Rock n' Roll" (1958)

LOVE THAT BOB a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW: "Bob Digs Rock n' Roll" (1958 NBC-TV/Laurel-McCadden Productions) Original Air Date: May 27, 1958.  Starring Bob Cummings as Bob Collins, Rosemary deCamp as Margaret MacDonald, Ann B. Davis as Schultzy, Dwayne Hickman as Chuck MacDonald, Olive Sturgess as Carol Henning.  Guest Stars Ingrid Goude as herself, Dan Tobin as Wallace Seawell, Stanley Stenner as himself, El Brendel as Ole Svensen.  Written by Paul Henning, Dick Wesson and Shirl Gordon.  Directed by Bob Cummings.

Introduction to the LOVE THAT BOB/THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW episode guide is at this link.

Trouble in the McDonald/Collins household--Chuck has lost Carol to rock n' roller Stenner.  Wishing to step up his game, Chuck wants $20 down payment on a guitar to compete with the singing sensation.  Bob's reaction?  Well, he explains it better than I can:

"A girl goes for the same thing she went for 2,000 years ago--a man!  And you don't need an overgrown ukulele around your neck to get her!"

Chuck remains unconvinced, and determined to cut a deal at the pawn shop to compete with Stanley on a level playing field.  Even learning that Stenner went to Bob's arch rival Wallace Seawell for his promotional poster doesn't commit our Playboy to his nephew's cause, since Bob has a girl of his own to win: the unattainable Goude.  

"Uncle Bob, you don't know what makes the girls go ape!"

"Are you kiddin'?  I've been monkeyin' around since I was twelve."

Miss Sweden is modeling for the day's bathing suit ad, giving Bob one more opportunity to close the language gap (and the deal) with the nubile beauty.  Having tried almost everything else, Bunko Bob produces a medal proclaiming him Sweden's Greatest Hero.  (Our playboy has made some pawn shop swaps of his own!) It looks like the big bad wolf might finally make some headway with the Scandinavian supermodel until Schultzy switches Bob's medal with janitor Ole's lookalike 'award'.  All the while, Seawell's portrait of Stenner keeps getting redeveloped--to no avail as each new poster eventually receives darts from the rivals of both the singer and his ace shutterbug.

In a show loaded with in-jokes, Bob's unfriendly rivalry with Wally Seawell was explored in a handful of episodes sprinkled throughout the first four seasons.  In real life, Seawell was the show's technical advisor: in reel life, he's played by Dan Tobin, returning to the role after Bob Enters a Photography Contest and Bob Sails for Hawaii.  Collins definitely comes across as the least mature of the shutterbugs here, joining Chuck in throwing darts at his rival's work.  Which is fine, 'cause its a lot funnier that way.  No one wants to see our Playboy lose his youthful edge--something the ratings would prove in 1959 when Tammy Johnson arrived.  The mustachioed Tobin took over the Seawell role in 1957 from John Hubbard (The Petticoat Derby).

The first of a two parter, Bob Digs Rock n' Roll gives seventeen year old Stanley Stenner a push towards rock n' roll stardom.  Who's he, you ask?  The son of Cummings' valet who was also a protege of Mary Martin after being cast as Curly in PETER PAN on Broadway at age 14.   Stenner had a lot of star power behind him, and demonstrates a solid voice, but neither acting nor music worked out as a long term career for him.   This one is an admirable effort to put Stenner over worthy of any wrestling jobber.  To be fair he's a much better candidate for rock n' roll stardom than Hickman ever was, something Hickman would freely admit in FOREVER DOBIE.   

Bob Digs Rock n' Roll is the last of seven episodes for unattainable Ingrid Goude, and Bob gets no further here than before.  It's later than you think, Bob--that rock n' roll that you so casually dismiss appeals to the ladies in your desired age group!  (Once Bob realizes this, he sort of lives up to the episode's title--once he thinks it'll help him score that is.)

But lest you think Bob is just too old for Ingrid, she is dancing with Ole to Stenner's strumming, and in real life Goude was finally landed by apparel mogul Jerome K. Ohrbach in 1962 (54 to her 25 at the time).  So much for that coming youth revolution!  Speaking of, that would be explored much more fully when the story continued the next week (sans Goude) in Colonel Goldbrick.  Chuck's relationship woes continued into that installment as well.

WHO WAS BLOCKING?

Schultzy took these "honors" more often than anyone, so it isn't surprising that she does it again here by switching the medals.  I'd still say Bob's chances were mighty slim even with the real one, though...

DID BOB SCORE?

No, but it's a noble stab at glory--secluded beach shoot, war hero story complete with artifact, and even his own attempt at rock n' roll.  Too bad none of it worked in what would prove to be his final attempt with Miss Sweden.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Director Cummings worked his magic with countless inexperienced actors in his two and a half seasons at the helm while also maintaining top notch work from his pros.  Bob Digs Rock n' Roll pokes fun at our hero’s age, but not as pointedly as the better half of this two parter, Colonel Goldbrick.  Part one is still up to the overall high standard from the show's last great season.  (*** out of four)

Don't want to take my word for it?  Want to see Bob Digs Rock n' Roll for yourself?  Here ya go:

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings Part Four - What REALLY Was, and Wasn't--and What Might Have Been

And now the thrilling conclusion of the F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings series.  For you latecomers to the party, first, a chance to catch up: 

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings PART ONE at this link

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings PART TWO at this link

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings PART THREE at this link

I'm providing more context to the findings on the 1966-67 television season (see Part Two above for more), the show's second and unfortunately last.  We can dig into (and debunk) myths that had a half century to gain traction thanks to the newfound availability of Nielsen pocketbooks courtesy of Ratings Ryan.  Long-held perception and ratings reality have been proven to be two very different things throughout this exercise.  Thanks for checking out my ramblings over your morning coffee--I sincerely hope I've made it worth your while.  

F TROOP improved ABC's fortunes in its time slot again in 1966-67.

After BATMAN and GIDGET replaced SHINDIG! and DONNA REED for the second half of 1965-66 to kick off ABC's Thursday lineup, GIDGET averaged a rating of 18.6 for 14 airings (260.2 total) and a 29.2 share following BATMAN from January 12 to April 14, 1966.  Decent numbers on the surface, but losing over one-third of BATMAN's audience (27.0 rating/43 share).   When F TROOP moved into the time slot that fall, it improved on both GIDGET numbers during the season's first half (18.8/30.7)  despite a lead-in from a weaker BATMAN which fell to 19.3/33 during that September-December 1966 span (losing 28 percent of its rating and 23 percent of its share from its first season) and starting the season with one of the weakest lead-outs ever (more below).

GIDGET averaged 10.0 million households in the Spring of 1966, F TROOP bumped that up to 10.6 million households the following season.  This despite BATMAN dipping from 14.5 million households to 10.7 million in front of it.  F TROOP increased GIDGET's rating by 3 percent, share by 7 percent, and was seen in 6 percent more households. 

F TROOP did lose some of the audience from its lead-in--temporarily:

Over the course of the entire season, F TROOP lost 156,000 households on average from BATMAN:

F TROOP 10.615 million HH 19.24

BATMAN 10.771 million HH 19.53

For the full season, BATMAN rated 19.5, F TROOP 19.2: losing 1.5 percent of BATMAN's rating.  BATMAN had the higher rating of the two every week but two during the season's first half; the two shows tied once at 18.5 and F TROOP had a higher rating on 11/17/66.  Over the entire period from September 1966 through the end of December, ABC went from losing 32 percent of BATMAN's audience to less than 3 percent at 8 P.M. with F TROOP taking over for GIDGET.  Still, a loss is a loss.

Then, starting in January 1967, ABC gained households at 8 PM E.T.

In the second half of the season F TROOP was actually stronger than its lead-in.  Beginning 1/5/67, F TROOP had a higher rating than BATMAN nine out of the 15 weeks, with the two shows tying once.   BATMAN improved to 20.2 (302.8 over the 15 weeks) over the second half, F TROOP to 20.3 as noted in Part Two; if we remove reruns, F TROOP still holds a 7-5-1 edge in the 13 weeks in which both aired original episodes.  For the season, BATMAN held a 18-10-2 edge against its lead-in, but this was due solely to the first half.  During the season's second half, F TROOP (11.2 million households) actually averaged 60,000 more households than BATMAN (11.14 million).  Both shows improved from the first half of 1966-67, but F TROOP improved more. 

F TROOP's lead-outs might have had an affect on it at first.  

Moving to a new night and time was what I previously cited as a reason for F TROOP's somewhat slow start in Season 2, but another factor might have been one of television's all-time greatest disasters: THE TAMMY GRIMES SHOW (gone by October!) at 8:30 P.M.  With TAMMY GRIMES following it, F TROOP averaged 17.7 for the 3 weeks in September.  This improved to a 18.8 once DATING GAME was installed for GRIMES.  F TROOP surged to a 20.3 rating from January to April once BEWITCHED was moved up to 8:30 PM Eastern.  So BEWITCHED was very good for F TROOP, as you'd expect.  But the reverse is also true.

F TROOP and BEWITCHED were actually good for each other.

ABC made Thursday ladies' night beginning in 1967-68, moving Sally Field back to the 8 PM Thursday slot and adding Yvonne Craig to the cast of BATMAN as Batgirl.  But teaming F TROOP and BEWITCHED meant that ABC's two highest rated sitcoms in the Nielsens for both 1965-66 and 1966-67 were airing back to back on Thursdays, and F TROOP's second half increase of 1.5 ratings points was certainly helped by this schedule change.  Now, get a load of what having F TROOP as a lead-in did for BEWITCHED:

348.6 total in 16 weeks with TAMMY GRIMES/DATING GAME preceding it (21.8). 

346.4 total in 14 weeks with F TROOP as a lead-in (24.7)

ABC gave an early green light to THE FLYING NUN for the Thursday 8 PM slot in the Winter of 1967, so F TROOP would have been moved to another night had it returned.  Going by the ratings (not the only consideration for networks, obviously), that decision was debatable.  THE FLYING NUN briefly improved on F TROOP's showing (see more on that below) but BEWITCHED dropped from a 24.7 rating over the second half of 1966-67 with F TROOP as a lead-in to a 23.5 rating with NUN preceding it in 1967-68.  

THE FLYING NUN did--again, temporarily--improve upon F TROOP's showing on Thursdays.

THE FLYING NUN appeared to be a hit and an improvement, after taking over for F TROOP.  The sneak preview on September 7 averaged a 23.0 rating, which was higher than all but two F TROOP episodes the prior season.  In addition, NUN lasted three seasons after taking over at 8 P.M. Thursdays and finished 1967-68 in 34th place, up 5 spots from F TROOP while DANIEL BOONE slipped from 27th (remember, I came up with 20.5, not 20.8 for 1966-67) to 29th (20.0, though I came up with 19.8--a total of 514 in 26 airings).  So on the surface this decision bore fruit, since BOONE fell 3 percent and NUN gained a little less than 2 percent on the full season F TROOP numbers during 1967-68 as a whole.

Sources elsewhere gave NUN a 19.5 rating, but I came up with 19.7 rounding up.  THE FLYING NUN had a higher high share-wise during the first half, but after Christmas came a lower low than F TROOP had in either half of the previous season (30.7 and 31.8 respectively), finishing below a 30 share for the second half.

First, the season as a whole for each:

1966-67 F TROOP 19.24 rating/31.3 share (39th) 10.61 million HH

1967-68 FLYING NUN 19.66 rating/31.9 share (34th) 11.02 million HH

THE FLYING NUN also had the handicap of a weaker lead-in, as BATMAN utterly collapsed in front of it in 1967-68, totaling 246.1 for the season's first 16 weeks for a 15.4 average rating, losing nearly a quarter of its second half (20.2) audience from the previous season.  

So why do I say the improvement was temporary?  Because THE FLYING NUN was, like F TROOP a season earlier, a tale of two halves.  Only this time, the inverse of F TROOP's showing:

First half of 1967-68: 303.9 rating in 15 shows (20.2) 504.9 total share (33.7).

Second half of 1967-68: 246.8 in 13 shows (19.0) 387.7 total share (29.8).

NUN did have 10 weekly wins over BOONE to F TROOP's 9, but only one of those wins for FLYING NUN came after Dec. 14th.   By contrast, F TROOP won the entire 7:30-8:30 hour for the final month of the previous season. 

Taking each entire season into account, THE FLYING NUN did slightly improve the ratings and cut into BOONE's audience--thanks to the first half.  It is debatable whether ABC was well served in the long run by the switch.  By the 1967-68 season's end, the number of households tuning into NUN (10.75 million) was 450,000 below F TROOP's second half average for 1966-67.  BEWITCHED also performed better with F TROOP in front of it (24.7) than in either half of the following season (23.6 and 23.4 respectively) with NUN as a lead-in.   

While F TROOP had a similar dip to NUN in the second half of its first season (20.9 to 19.9 opposite RED SKELTON) it reversed this in season two, regaining all of its 1965-66 audience by the Spring of 1967.  In its second season, THE FLYING NUN continued declining, sliding to a 16.9 rating (456.9 in 27 shows, 9.8 million households) and well out of the top 50 (51st place KRAFT MUSIC HALL averaged a 18.0, that's as far as any ratings I could locate went) with 9.8 million households per week.  Perception of THE FLYING NUN's success was shaped by its first three months on the air--the next two and a half seasons demonstrated a fall arguably faster and farther than BATMAN's.  With the benefit of long-term hindsight it appears that THE FLYING NUN maintained positive momentum of the prior half-season from F TROOP (20.3 for the latter in early 1967 to 20.2 for the former in Fall 1967, not much difference) for only a few months and then the bloom fell off the rose.  

F TROOP versus its peers--was it really that disappointing in 1966-67?

Peers being the 1965-66 sitcom class that returned for 1966-67.

F TROOP went from 36th (20.4) to 39th (19.2);

HOGAN'S HEROES went from 9th (24.9) to 17th (21.8); 

GET SMART from 12th (24.5) to 22nd (21.0); 

I DREAM OF JEANNIE from 27th (21.8) to 41st (19.0); 

GREEN ACRES 11th (24.6) to 6th (24.6), the only one to move up in the rankings in Season 2, but the rating was identical to the year before.

GREEN ACRES as noted stayed the same, F TROOP's rating dropped 6 percent over the entire season (second half was less than 1 percent below its 1965-66 rating), HOGAN'S HEROES 11 percent, GET SMART 14 percent, JEANNIE 13 percent. In that context, F TROOP seems less disappointing in its second season than perceived, since all of its peers sans one fell further from season one to season two.

What might have been:

Since the 8 P.M. Thursday slot was promised to THE FLYING NUN long before schedules were announced, the most likely landing spot for F TROOP in Fall 1967 would have been in the 7:30 to 8:30 hour on Wednesdays, opposite LOST IN SPACE and THE VIRGINIAN.  It's hard to see F TROOP failing to improve on CUSTER, which was off the air before January 1968 with an anemic 11.7 rating.  As for the competition, well, F TROOP did post a higher rating than LOST IN SPACE in the first and second seasons for each:

1965-66: F TROOP 20.4, LOST IN SPACE 20.3

1966-67: F TROOP 19.2, LOST IN SPACE 18.8

Just sayin'.

With Ben Kalmenson holding the cards at Warner Brothers, and the Seven Arts sale announced in November 1966, it is likely that F TROOP was a goner no matter how high the ratings. For sure, though, ABC was too quick to deem it a disappointment in its new timeslot when THE FLYING NUN was promised the 8 P.M. Thursday slot for the following Fall by January.  (Why, exactly, when even the "disappointing" Fall 1966 F TROOP numbers improved on those for Sally Field's GIDGET the season before?  But I digress.)

F TROOP's second half performance helped give ABC ratings of 20.2, 20.3 and 24.7 for the 7:30 to 9 P.M. period on Thursdays over the season's second half, with all three shows benefitting.  One would think this would have solved the "Thursday problem" from the Fall, right?  We can only wonder what might have happened to it, and to BATMAN, if the fates would have allowed a return of all 3 that Fall unchanged.  Television history is full of what-ifs, and F TROOP suffered from poorer timing that most successful series.  We can all be thankful the fates allowed us the 65 episodes we have--imagine if the Seven Arts sale had gone through a year earlier.  Miracles do happen--HONDO eventually got rediscovered with only 17 episodes--but without critical syndication exposure afforded it by that second season in color, we might still be waiting for F TROOP to get its due.  There'd have been no five years on Nick at Nite, no three years on Me-TV, etc.

The closest comparison to F TROOP ratings-wise among its peers is I DREAM OF JEANNIE, which ranked 27th and 40th during the two seasons in which F TROOP ranked 36th and 39th.  The two shows were two tenths of a percentage point apart at the end of 1966-67, but JEANNIE had support from NBC and Screen Gems, and three more seasons of life in it, returning to the top 30 in its fourth season.  

How many more Emmy nominations would this man have received with two or three more seasons?

Hope you've enjoyed my ruminations on F TROOP and the Nielsens of the mid 1960s.  Now, back to reviewing it and all the other shows you've been enjoying episode guides for here at The Section.  I still reserve the right to return to the ratings in the future, so be warned!

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings PART THREE: Dispelling More Myths

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings PART ONE at this link

F TROOP in the Nielsen Ratings PART TWO at this link

So to recap the first two parts of my analysis of the Nielsen Ratings for F TROOP, here's the overall findings for each season:

1965-66: 20.4 rating, 31.3 share, 36th out of 108 shows

1966-67: 19.2 rating, 31.3 share, 39th out of 113 shows

Each season had a higher ranking, rating and share than THAT GIRL ever achieved in five years on ABC (to name one example from the show's peers) so the perception that F TROOP was a lowly rated failure in its network run is dismissed--at ease!  One myth of many I'll be poking holes in as I provide some missing context in parts three and four.  

I know I'm taking a considerable amount of time with this.  Hey, if Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn can take three of the six volumes of the THESE ARE THE VOYAGES book series to defend STAR TREK against decades of dissing its ratings, then surely I can take four blog posts (ok, make it five) to defend F TROOP against similar misconceptions.  

The third post in this series will now take a closer look at the 1965-66 season, which as I mentioned in the previous posts, Ratings Ryan was kind enough to make available here.

Going into 1965-66, ABC had experienced five consecutive years of failure at 9 P.M. Eastern on Tuesday nights.  Beginning with 1960-61, the network had tried westerns (STAGECOACH WEST), police drama (THE NEW BREED), Desilu Productions (THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH), sitcoms (THE TYCOON) and even relocated established hits (HAWAIIAN EYE) to no avail attempting to compete with CBS and NBC.  CBS' RED SKELTON in particular--a Tuesday juggernaut throughout the 1960's with a "kill list" to rival BONANZA's on Sundays at 9.  Even finding success a half-hour earlier at 8:30 Eastern with McHALE'S NAVY beginning in 1963 had not resulted in ABC continuing that success from a strong lead-in.  

F TROOP changed ABC's fortunes for the better in the 9 P.M. timeslot on Tuesday nights in 1965-66, and provided the network with its only season of sustained success there between 1960 and the 1969-70 debut of THE ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK.  I'll just stick with the immediate "before and after" to illustrate:

1964-65  TYCOON 19.5 rating/28.2 share (49th)

1965-66  F TROOP 20.4 rating/31.3 share (36th)

1966-67 PRUITTS OF SOUTHHAMPTON 14.0 rating/24.1 share (77th - first half) THE INVADERS 19.1 rating/28.6 share - 2nd half, 40th season) COMBINED 16.6 rating/26.4 share.

TYCOON starred Walter Brennan, fresh off a six-year run in THE REAL McCOYS, and enjoyed a 22.3 lead-in from McHALE'S NAVY (29th in 1964-65).  TYCOON nonetheless became ABC's fifth 8 PM failure in a row on Tuesdays, losing 13 percent of McHALE'S audience.  The next season, F TROOP was given a weaker NAVY (19.8/30.1 share, 44th place) preceding it, and not only improved on its well established lead-in but also outrated another long-running favorite that immediately followed:

8:30 P.M. McHALE'S NAVY 19.8/30.1 (44th) 10.67M households

9 PM F TROOP 20.4/31.3 (36th) 11.0M households

9:30 PM PEYTON PLACE (II) 19.5/31.1 (46th) 10.5M households

It would appear that F TROOP was actually getting quite a few viewers to switch channels; to further bolster this appearance, SKELTON's season average is shown as 27.6, but its rating during the second half hour at 9-9:30 P.M. for the 27 weeks it went head to head with the TROOP was nearly a point below its overall rating--26.7.  When McHALE'S NAVY and F TROOP were preempted for the only time all season on February 1st, SKELTON soared to a season high 33.3 rating.

F TROOP shoring up the longstanding weak link in the middle of the Tuesday lineup helped ABC to its only night of victory during 1965-66 despite ratings dropoffs from all of the otherwise intact 1964-65 schedule the rest of the night--COMBAT (10th to 35th), McHALE'S NAVY (29th to 44th), PEYTON (20th to 46th) and FUGITIVE (5th to 34th)!  Before BATMAN came along in January, F TROOP was ABC's highest rated new show and still ended the season 7th out of the 39 offerings from the Alphabet network (see part one for more on how even F TROOP's ranking has been misrepresented in the decades since).  Still, you'll rarely hear historians mention that--only that the show never made the top 25 and lasted only two seasons.   

One of the more recent chroniclers to cover the era is Thom Shubilla, author of Primetime 1966-67: The Full Spectrum of Television's First All-Color Season.  Not to disparage; I'm glad his book exists despite a number of inaccuracies (i.e. JULIA did not replace OCCASIONAL WIFE, THE JERRY LEWIS SHOW did).  I can tell, though, that he's no fan of F TROOP.  Shubilla cites the show as "waning" and a supposed non-factor in the demise of competition JERICHO during the season he writes about (more on that next post).  The author also has a number of head-scratching claims about the 1965-66 season.  Shubilla's assertion (page 206) that "F TROOP lost out in the ratings to both RED SKELTON and NBC TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES during 1965-66 (page 206)" is provably false no matter how you examine the numbers.

No one is disputing the first contention, since SKELTON was the # 4 show on all of television during 1965-66.  The statement that NBC's Tuesday movie defeated F TROOP is really dubious since the August 1967 TELEVISION (a source Shubilla cites elsewhere in his book) had NBC TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES at 60th place at season's end (it was 57th at midseason to F TROOP's 27th per the March 1966 issue). 

During the 9 PM - 9:30 PM half hour, NBC's movie averaged 16.2 on the 29 Tuesdays in which it competed with F TROOP.  This was below its average overall rating of 18.1 from 9-11 P.M. E.T. for thirty movies, as NBC gained viewers in later hours (competing with the extremely low rated CBS REPORTS from 10-11 E.T. helped there).  NBC TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES was bested by F TROOP by an average of 4.2 ratings points in the head to head half hour of 9-9:30 P.M., then gained an average of 1.9 the rest of the night against other shows.   F TROOP averaged 11 million households from 9 to 9:30 to the NBC MOVIE's 8.73 million over the season's 30 weeks. 

F TROOP's only losses to the NBC movie were to Home From the Hill on 3/1/66 and to G.I. Blues on both 11/9/65 and 4/12/66.  It appears that Shubilla confused the 1965-66 listing in TELEVISION with the 1966-67 listing, which had the NBC Tuesday Movie in 35th place that season.  But it wasn't opposite F TROOP that year--it was opposite the bomb PRUITTS OF SOUTHAMPTON, and the lack of effective opposition from ABC at 9 P.M. was a contributing factor to NBC's rise of 25 spots in the ratings.  For that matter, SKELTON also benefitted from F TROOP's move, rising from a 27.6 rating to a 28.2 and from 4th place to 2nd behind BONANZA in 1966-67. 

Shubilla further cites F TROOP as the season's 40th most watched show "though the ratings started out high".  I can't blame him for missing that one, as it took some real digging and calculating for me to determine that 36th place was the correct ranking, but even the show's second half rating and share outpointed every other ABC show that was put up against SKELTON during the Sixties.  Including THE INVADERS, a second season entry that followed the Diller debacle in 1967 but managed a renewal with a 28 share (and was subsequently canceled halfway through 1967-68).  

F TROOP sustained those "early high ratings" better than most despite having an immovable object in front of it during its freshman season.  While there were quite a few 1965 premieres ahead of F TROOP, here's some of the new programs ranked behind it: LOST IN SPACE, THE BIG VALLEY, I SPY, THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.  BIG VALLEY (53rd midseason, 57th on the year end list) had to compete with GREEN ACRES (11th) and DICK VAN DYKE (16th) on CBS, but none of the others were facing unwinnable battles.  And BIG VALLEY at least got to air in color against ACRES (VAN DYKE remained in black and white) whereas F TROOP aired in black and white versus color competition from the other two networks--SKELTON was always in color and most of NBC's movies were as well.  

Speaking of the color/black and white disparity which was in its final season during F TROOP's first: two shows that F TROOP gets compared to concluded their runs during 1965-66 under the same circumstances: CBS' THE MUNSTERS and ABC's THE ADDAMS FAMILY.  Both get more respect than the TROOP in general because both made the top 25 during 1964-65 while F TROOP never did.  All three managed only two seasons on the network (ended up between 64 and 70 total episodes) but enjoyed lasting success in syndication despite the relatively low number of segments available.

During 1965-66, though, all three sitcoms faced the same situation: airing in black and white against dynamic, Nielsen top-10 competition in color.

I stress that the following is not a diss of either MUNSTERS or ADDAMS FAMILY (I like both), but rather just to bolster two points I've consistently made in this series:  

1) F TROOP performed better than other shows facing similar obstacles, and 

2) Second half performance was consistently a key factor in whether a show was renewed or not--second half surges typically brought you back, second half swoons usually got you a pink slip.  

After ranking as ABC's seventh highest rated show in 1964-65, winning its time slot at 8:30 P.M. on Friday and finishing that season in 23rd place overall (23.9 rating), THE ADDAMS FAMILY remained in black and white for season two but faced new color competition from CBS' HOGAN'S HEROES (24.9 rating, 9th for the season) in 1965-66.  While it took a hit, it still looked like a decent bet for renewal at mid-season:  267.1 rating in 15 airings (17.8 average) and 479.6 share (32.0 average).  A strong enough second place despite a drop to 49th, especially the share, to look like a renewal for the third place network.  But the second half demonstrated further decline, totaling a rating of 256.3 in 15 shows (17.1) and 422.3 share (28.0 average).  It came out to a 17.4 rating, 30.0 total share for the full season.  Despite the respectable overall share, the steady decline throughout the season and eventual fall to (reportedly) 62nd place from 23rd resulted in a cancellation.

THE MUNSTERS suffered a change of fortune that was one of the decade's most abrupt.  13th place in 1964-65 (24.7 rating), and while it dropped into 31st place during the first half, 15 airings through 1/6/66 totaled 320 in ratings (21.3) and 566.6 in share (37.8).  A solid hit still, easily cruising towards renewal.  Then, beginning on 1/13/66, SHINDIG! was out and new color sensation BATMAN (27.0, 5th for the season) was in on ABC.  THE MUNSTERS' final 14 airings totaled 211 in ratings (15.1) and 338.5 in share (24.2).  By the final two week Nielsen report those numbers were down to a 12.1 rating/21.2 share.  While the full season totals were 18.3/31.2 (not 30.7 as I've seen elsewhere, just a number of errors I've found when running these numbers myself) which might result in renewal in a vacuum, the poor third to BATMAN and DANIEL BOONE over the second half sent the MUNSTERS packing just three short months after a third season looked like a lead pipe cinch.  Darn, darn, darn, darn!

In contrast, F TROOP maintained a rating over 20 all season long despite facing the highest ranked and long-established competition, and ratings fell 6.2 points in the time slot in Fall 1966 after F TROOP was moved.   THE ADDAMS FAMILY and THE MUNSTERS are perceived as hits due to high first season rankings and ratings which fell off sharply within a year, while F TROOP gets penalized for its consistency and perceived as a failure for never finishing in the top 25.  Just saying. 

One other comment: TELEVISION had MUNSTERS ending the season in 61st, ADDAMS in 62nd, but again I can't help but notice the likelihood of really lazy tabulation at the time yet again.  I find it hard to believe that not one show finished with an overall rating between 18.3 (MUNSTERS) and 17.4 (ADDAMS)--mainly because I found one above without even trying to!  The aforementioned NBC TUESDAY MOVIE (allegedly in 60th place, remember) averaged a 18.1 rating in 1965-66, so THE MUNSTERS should at least be in 60th instead of 61st.   The MUNSTERS share was wrong for the full season, off a full half point (F TROOP's as you'll recall was reported as 3/10ths of a point lower than actual as well).  I wish I had the time to run ALL the numbers for the season and see what I come up with, given all the errors I am finding in the so-called official Nielsen list.  Maybe another time.

For now, though, I'll be moving back to 1966-67 in the conclusion of this quadrilogy (tetralogy? quartet?).  Stay tuned!