DVD Review: F TROOP: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON (1966-67)

F TROOP: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON (1966-67 WB/ABC-TV) Starring Forrest Tucker (Sgt. O'Rourke), Larry Storch (Agarn), Ken Berry (Captain Parmenter), Melody Patterson (Wrangler Jane), Frank de Kova (Wild Eagle), James Hampton (Dobbs), Don Diamond (Crazy Cat), Bob Steele (Duffy). Directed by Seymour Robbie, Hollingsworth Morse, Gene Nelson, Hal March. Produced by Herm Saunders. Executive Producer Hy Averback.


New day. New time. New executive producer and producer. Several new writers and directors. Switch from black and white to color, from descriptive theme song to instrumental, from live action opening to caricatures by MAD magazine’s Mort Drucker. It was a startling number of changes in store for F TROOP’s second season.  Unfortunately, in the opinion of this reviewer. In a reverse of today’s corporate mantra, the show went from great to good.

Perhaps a sophomore slump of sorts was inevitable given the quality of the classic first season. Even so, while Season Two still contains a number of terrific episodes, there’s also a lot of evidence suggesting way too much tinkering.

ABC switched F TROOP from a Tuesday night slot opposite CBS’ long time killer THE RED SKELTON SHOW (F TROOP had been the first ABC show to survive against Skelton at 9 P.M. Tuesday in 8 seasons) to what seemed like a cushy Thursday night slot following BATMAN. But unfortunately the changes didn't stop there.

Gone from the stellar first season were Executive Producer William T. Orr, the show's best director, Charles Rondeau, and perhaps most damaging of all, ace writers and co-creators Ed James and Seaman Jacobs. In addition, the show’s second best writing team, Stan Dreben and Howard Merrill, was reduced to a mere cameo (only two episodes), as was series co-creator Jim Barnett (one). Arthur Julian’s workload went up, to a whopping 16 of the 31 second season shows, and he was predictably tapped out, delivering several of the clunkers.

With F TROOP’s new early time slot (8 PM ET) and new creative team the focus was often taken off the schemes and scams of O’Rourke and Agarn, and the slapstick was played up to appeal to the kiddies. With this younger audience obviously in mind, the edgy (for 1960’s TV) characters who were either clueless or heartless (in Agarn’s case, both) changed as well, becoming much more conventional. The result really softened what had been a subtly subversive show. Too often during Season Two, F TROOP actually became what its detractors claimed it was: a poor man’s PHIL SILVERS SHOW.

Formerly self-serving Sgt. O’Rourke continued to scheme, but acquired a Bilkoesque heart of gold. Whereas before he would pull every string he could to keep a moneymaking business going, here he’s giving up scams to assist elderly widows, young lovers, children…even a wild horse in one instance(!).  Corporal Agarn, formerly dim but sufficiently devious and greedy to assist O’Rourke ably, became much dumber, crying at the drop of a hat and basically making you wonder just exactly what he contributed to O’Rourke Enterprises. Captain Parmenter, clueless and completely hopeless in Season One, gained all the intelligence Agarn lost and then some. This season, he’s still clumsy but has become a gallant and sometimes competent CO.  The Old Man leads everyone out of the wilderness on a survival test and legitimately passes a test for promotion to Major, two things that would have been unthinkable a season before.


Equally damaging, the give and take between the Hekawis and O’Rourke Enterprises becomes very one-sided, with Wild Eagle getting the best of the deal again and again. A lot of the entertainment from Season One was watching O’Rourke and Wild Eagle barter; in Season Two, the negotiations were so one-sided I figured Wild Eagle would get Manhattan Island back for 24 dollars next.


Okay, I’ve given you all the bad news.  Here's the good news:

The guest stars in Season Two are arguably even better than the lineup in Season One, and the color film does look gorgeous. The actors are still in great form, their terrific chemistry triumphing over ill-advised changes in their characters (Storch even garnered an Emmy nomination for this season). And while there aren’t as many home runs like THE 86 PROOF SPRING, THE DAY THE INDIANS WON and HERE COMES THE TRIBE, there are a number of doubles and triples. A few of the new writers bring some vibrancy; Austin and Irma Kalish in particular contribute some very impressive episodes outside the usual F TROOP formula. One positive change is the use of both a teaser AND a tag, rare in sitcomland. We also get some of the funniest pre-POLICE SQUAD! freeze frames ever. And one great new running gag: Agarn's "Who says I'm dumb?" which was exclusive to this season.

Season One had a fantastic 20 episode run in the final two-thirds. Season Two slumped during its middle third, but it is a shame that F TROOP didn’t get a chance at a third season, for the final two episodes are arguably the best two episodes of the season: OUR BRAVE IN F TROOP, a terrific episode that refocuses on O’Rourke Enterprises, and IS THIS FORT REALLY NECESSARY?, one of the very best of the entries to step outside F TROOP’s usual formula, with more plot than the average straight western, but still funny. While we'll never know if the ship would have been fully righted in a third season, these final two episodes suggest that it was very possible to do so.


EPISODE BY EPISODE (best shows in Purple):

THE SINGING MOUNTIE **** Guest star Paul Lynde plays the title character, who is pursuing Agarn’s cousin, suspected fur thief Lucky Pierre (gotta love this slipping past the censors of the day). Great opener marred only by Agarn’s disappearance halfway through; very inspired laughs. Arthur Julian’s best script of the season by far.
 
HOW TO BE F TROOP WITHOUT REALLY TRYING ½* F Troop is assigned to split up and leave Fort Courage. A real dud in every regard, with very lame jokes and a shockingly ineffective O’Rourke resigned to his fate instead of fighting the orders the way he had in THE NEW I.G. and A FORT’S BEST FRIEND IS NOT A MOTHER among others.

BYE BYE BALLOON *** Considered by many to be the most famous episode (“It is…balloon!”). Harvey Korman is in top form as a visiting Prussian general; of course, it’s really F TROOP tweaking the Nazis a la HOGAN’S HEROES. O’Rourke and Agarn again don’t seem to be protecting their business interests as much as they should, and there are some gaps in logic, but there's still a lot of side-splitting funny business from Storch and Korman here.

REACH FOR THE SKY, PARDNER ***1/2 Charles Lane, the man of a thousand foreclosures, guest stars as the local banker eye-balling O’Rourke’s saloon after a series of mail robberies puts him in jeopardy of missing his mortgage payments.

THE GREAT TROOP ROBBERY ***1/2 Milton Berle as Wise Owl, in a sublimely silly story about Agarn’s amnesia coinciding with a rash of robberies. Who’s the culprit? Well, sometimes not wise to be wise—more wise to be unwise!


THE WEST GOES GHOST **1/2 O’Rourke Enterprises takes in two new partners, as Dobbs and Vandy join O’Rourke and Agarn in resigning from the army to homestead a ghost town….rumored to have real ghosts! Would have been more effective in black and white IMO.

YELLOW BIRD ***1/2 Dreben and Merrill wrote this one, an inspired F TROOP version of THE SEARCHERS, with O’Rourke seeking to rescue Julie Newmar from Indians because her father is the richest man in Texas. Newmar looks great as always and has a real flair for the show’s physical humor. One quibble: O’Rourke comes across as really, really stupid in his business dealing with Wild Eagle here.

THE BALLOT OF CORPORAL AGARN *** Some gentle ribbing of Ronald Reagan’s entry into politics (the song and dance man is even named Bragan) in this episode giving Agarn the deciding vote in his hometown’s mayoral election. An extremely far-fetched resolution, but still a funny episode overall.

DID YOUR FATHER COME FROM IRELAND? *** Forrest Tucker gets his turn at a dual role, playing Angus O’Rourke, the sergeant’s very Irish father. Some priceless give and take between “Mr. O’Rourke” and Agarn.

FOR WHOM THE BUGLE TOLLS **1/2 Richard X. Slattery is the latest threat to O’Rourke Enterprises, an officer who typically judges an entire fort by the quality of its bugler.

MISS PARMENTER **1/2 The captain’s equally clumsy sister visits, and takes a liking to Bugler Dobbs while assisting in a critical operation for Wild Eagle. Don Diamond gets some of his funniest moments as the still selfish, borderline heartless Crazy Cat.

LA DOLCE COURAGE ***1/2 An inspired script by Austin and Irma Kalish finds O’Rourke putting a traveling Italian cook to work in his new banquet room at the saloon. Unfortunately the man’s beautiful daughter (Leticia Roman!) is being stalked by The Black Foot. Four….NO….minestrone…….

WILTON THE KID * Ken Berry’s turn at a dual role. Unfortunately this script just isn’t very funny.  Quite a comedown from the first season's OLD IRONPANTS, if you're looking for Berry's 'evil twin'.

THE RETURN OF WRONGO STARR ***1/2 F TROOP’s most popular guest character returns in series co-creator Jim Barnett’s only writing credit of the second season (co-written with Merrill and Drebin). Some great lines throughout, and Henry Gibson is always a welcome presence.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST *1/2 Agarn and Parmenter go on a survival test. Arthur Julian, who wrote this and 28 other F TROOP episodes, has a funny cameo as Fort Courage’s new undertaker.

BRING ON THE DANCING GIRLS **1/2 A re-working of O’ROURKE VS. O’REILLY, with O’Rourke facing a male blackmailer this time. Should have been great, but it’s a little hard to swallow Agarn being this weak a link in the O’Rourke Enterprises chain after what’s been established before.

THE LOCO BROTHERS **1/2 Captain Parmenter is kidnapped by renegades. A reworking of THE RETURN OF BALD EAGLE, but quite a bit better than that rare first season dud.

FROM KARATE WITH LOVE *** O’Rourke goes into the Japanese souvenir business, not knowing that the girl F Troop is providing sanctuary for is being pursued by a vicious Samurai (Mako).

THE SERGEANT AND THE KID *** 10 year old Joey Walker joins the troop, and turns out to be Fort Courage’s best soldier. Go figure. One of the better experiments, giving O’Rourke a romantic interest (Pippa Scott), the boy’s mother.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING AFTER THE MASSACRE? **1/2 One of the more famous F TROOP episodes features Phil Harris (Forrest Tucker’s boyhood hero) as 147-year old Flaming Arrow and a cameo from Mrs. Tucker herself, Marilyn Fisk. The deadpan Harris is screamingly funny, but after everything we’ve learned about the Hekawi tribe’s history, it’s just too big a stretch to see its oldest member as a brave, bloodthirsty warrior who doesn’t care about money. Not to mention Wild Eagle willingly giving up his profitable business to try and take the U.S. back.

A HORSE OF ANOTHER COLOR * Bright moment early featuring O’Rourke’s latest invention, but otherwise a snore involving the inept efforts of O’Rourke, Agarn and Parmenter to capture the wild stallion, Black Devil.

V IS FOR VAMPIRE *** As Wild Eagle puts it, “now that’s what I call a paleface!” Vincent Price plays Count Sforza, who may or may not be a vampire. Hey, what would the series be without one episode in a spooky old mansion?

THAT’S SHOW BIZ (no stars) The authors of TV Land To Go had this listed as the best episode of the series.  What were they smoking?  Agarn quits the army to manage the Bedbugs, a musical group about a century ahead of its time. Clever idea but very poor execution: Agarn is giving them an unfavorable reaction in the teaser, then in the next scene is ready to resign to manage them. Almost none of the jokes are funny.

THE DAY THEY SHOT AGARN ***1/2 Takes a page from WILL THE REAL CAPTAIN PLEASE TRY TO STAND UP?, telling the entire story in flashback. An inspired script and idea from the Kalishes, and look for the brief return of John Mitchum in a cameo (he was Private Hoffenmueller during the first season, another M.I.A. whose continued presence would have helped the color episodes). Great guest appearances here from Fred Clark and Victor French.

ONLY ONE RUSSIAN IS COMING! ONLY ONE RUSSIAN IS COMING!
**1/2 Larry Storch gets his third and final dual role. Okay, but not nearly as funny as his first two.

GUNS, GUNS, WHO’S GOT THE GUNS? ** A recycled plot as a renegade is suspected of selling rifles to the Apaches. Compare this one to THE NEW I.G. from Season One to see how the mighty have fallen. Treason, whether real or implied, was cheerfully accepted as long as it was profitable in Season One! Here, why, it’s just unthinkable.  Perfect example of how things went from subversive to conventional a little too often this season.

MARRIAGE, FORT COURAGE STYLE (no stars) My pick for the very worst F TROOP episode ever. O’Rourke and Agarn’s second attempt at finding mail order brides is nowhere near as funny as the first (OLD IRONPANTS) and halfway through segueways into a third-rate reworking of THE COURTSHIP OF WRANGLER JANE. Well, actually…..the first season O’Rourke thought a married Parmenter would be good for O’Rourke Enterprises, and second season O’Rourke now tries desperately to save the captain from being “trapped” due to a nightmare Agarn had. It’s now people over profits, folks, and on this show it was much funnier the other way around.

CARPETBAGGING, ANYONE? **1/2 James Gregory’s Major Duncan was also missing this season, but he makes an appearance as carpetbagging Big Jim Parker, who plans to take over the saloon, Wrangler Jane’s….and Fort Courage itself. The fort, not just the town! It’s sillier than usual throughout.

THE MAJORITY OF WILTON (no stars) Absolutely nothing here is consistent with what preceded it, a running theme for the worst episodes of this season. O’Rourke doesn’t know the Army regulations? No thought at all to the impact a promotion would have on O’Rourke Enterprises? Skip it. The second worst F TROOP episode ever IMO.

OUR BRAVE IN F TROOP **** The best color episode.  Wild Eagle joins the Army to have his tooth pulled and ends up taking over the fort peacefully.  A return to first season form in every respect, with Parmenter clueless, O'Rourke and Agarn pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, and a scheme getting way out of hand.  Cliff Arquette steals the show as General Sam Courage, the Fort's namesake, who is even more senile than Duffy.

IS THIS FORT REALLY NECESSARY? **** Several attempts were made to experiment with the F TROOP formula, and this was the most successful. Not only a funny script, but one with much more plot than your average dramatic western. Charles Drake and the former Mrs. Errol Flynn, Patrice Wymore (also seen in Season One’s SHE’S ONLY A BUILD IN A GIRDLED CAGE) guest star as an efficiency officer and his bride-to-be, who also happens to be a former flame of O’Rourke’s.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

At least there’s something extra this time around. FALL IN WITH F TROOP is a 28 minute retrospective featurette with sadly limited contributions from the major cast members. Ken Berry, writers Austin and Irma Kalish, and Phil Rawlins (producer/director) are among those interviewed on camera, but where’s Larry Storch? How about James Hampton or Melody Patterson? At least the third Mrs. Forrest Tucker, Marilyn Fisk, is interviewed on camera, and Joe Brooks is interviewed off-camera. It’s a fun featurette with some good behind the scenes info, but too little input from the folks who actually worked on the show.

Also a commentary would have been great. Storch recently contributed commentaries to THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW DVD; so why not F TROOP?

The 31 episodes are presented full frame, same as Season One. Unlike the Season One DVD, episodes are broken down into seperate chapters for teaser, opening theme, Act One, Act Two and the tag. Quite an improvement in presentation from Season One.


OVERALL: *** out of ****

The batting average is considerably lower than on Season One. Still, while F TROOP’s second season is weaker than the first, there’s only two seasons to be had, and this is one of the great ensemble casts in TV history. You should definitely check out Season One first, though. For the bargain shopper, the F TROOP TELEVISION FAVORITES DVD contains three of the best color episodes.

DVD Review: F TROOP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (1965-66) PART 2 OF 2

F TROOP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (1965-66) Warner Home Video/ABC-TV Starring Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch, Ken Berry, Melody Patterson, Frank deKova, Don Diamond, James Hampton, Bob Steele and Joe Brooks. Produced by Hy Averback. Executive Producer William T. Orr


PART 2 OF 2 (here's Part One):

Episode by Episode review, with Key episodes in Orange:


SCOURGE OF THE WEST ***1/2 Hits the ground running with a superb pilot, establishing the situation very quickly, with a few of the usual awkward “introductory” speeches. They aren't too much of a distraction from the numerous belly laughs.
 
DON’T LOOK NOW, ONE OF OUR CANNON MISSING ****  Larry Storch does his first celebrity impersonation, old-time western star Donald “Red” Barry has a cameo, and O’Rourke loans Chief Wild Eagle the fort’s cannon. Also, Melody Patterson’s real age is apparently still a secret, as she has some pretty affectionate kissing scenes with Berry.

THE PHANTOM MAJOR ***1/2 "Dr. Bombay" Bernard Fox guest stars in a side-splitting bit of weirdness as a British "living legend" assigned to teach F Troop "the art of infiltration through camouflage"--thus making the fort obsolete and jeopardizing O'Rourke Enterprises. A few too many groaners in Arthur Julian's script, but this one is commendably droll, directed by old school vet Leslie Goodwins.

CORPORAL AGARN’S FAREWELL TO THE TROOPS ** The first clunker, with a tired, conventional plot concerning Agarn thinking he has days to live, when in fact the medical information he overhears concerns O’Rourke’s horse. It’s been done elsewhere, and never very well anywhere. Look for Vic Tayback in a cameo.

THE RETURN OF BALD EAGLE *1/2 For some strange reason this episode kept turning up in prior, alleged “Best of” releases. Perhaps it’s the “name” casting of Don Rickles, but his performance is a laugh-killer, and this is not one of Arthur Julian’s better scripts, to put it mildly. One of the worst of the season.

DIRGE FOR THE SCOURGE ***1/2 Jack Elam is great as badman Sam Urp, who is seeking to shoot it out in the middle of town with Captain Parmenter. “There’s only room for one Scourge, and that’s me!”  First appearance by Don Diamond as Crazy Cat.

THE GIRL FROM PHILADELPHIA ***1/2 Parmenter’s old, status-seeking fiancée is the latest threat to expanding O’Rourke Enterprises, as she wants to take “The Great White Pigeon” back to Philadelphia, using her family connections to get him transferred. 

OLD IRONPANTS ***1/2 While Parmenter goes off to military school for two weeks of intensive training, O’Rourke and Agarn begin a mail order bride business. And remember: “Good luck on your new assignment at Little Big Horn!”. Resolution is too abrupt; until then, a hilarious showcase for Ken Berry.  Also includes one of the funniest Wild Eagle-O'Rourke negotiations.


ME HEAP BIG INJUN **1/2 Some overly corny lines here, even by the vaudeville standards established. Agarn spends his furlough with the Hekawis at O’Rourke’s insistence, then decides he likes Hekawi life better than army life.

A GIFT FROM THE CHIEF ** The night maneuvers are funny, but this plot, with Chief Wild Eagle giving Parmenter a Hekawi baby as a gesture of goodwill, is way too conventional for F TROOP. Last appearance by Edward Everett Horton as medicine man Roaring Chicken.

SHE’S ONLY A BUILD IN A GIRDLED CAGE *1/2 A stretch here. The sharp O’Rourke jumps to the conclusion that Bugler Dobbs is engaged to Laura Lee, the famous dance hall girl. She’s played by Patrice Wymore, formerly married to Errol Flynn and also a Season Two F TROOP guest star. A dull episode, way too soft in all respects.

HONEST INJUN ***1/2 John Dehner made a living playing con men, and memorably tangled with Bret Maverick in the classic MAVERICK episode “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres”. Here he is Sergeant O’Rourke’s latest rival. Watching Tucker and Dehner go at it makes for a very entertaining episode.

O’ROURKE VS. O’REILLY **** Another formidable rival arrives for O’Rourke; Lee Meriwether, who wishes to end O’Rourke’s saloon monopoly by opening up a new one across the street! Classic line: “We’re not doin’ anything wrong! Just putting the chaser IN the bottle.”

THE 86 PROOF SPRING **** One of the most surreal, and hilarious of all F TROOP episodes. Parley Baer guest stars as a Colonel investigating reports that the Hekawis are getting whiskey. How to keep the still away from him?  Keep it moving.....


HERE COMES THE TRIBE **** F TROOP’s take on Romeo and Juliet, sort of. Tucker and Storch really shine in this one, with some great lines and one of the series’ best tags. Inexplicably, each of the last two episodes were unreleased by Columbia House on the 30 episode set released in 1998. They were two of the biggest oversights.

IRON HORSE GO HOME ***1/2 O’Rourke schemes to get the railroad to come through Fort Courage. One problem: he’ll have to convince Wild Eagle to relocate the Hekawis.  Which the Wise Old Chief does....settling into the fort! Marred a bit by unconvincing day for night footage in a key scene.

OUR HERO, WHAT’S HIS NAME? ***1/2 Jackie Joseph, Mrs. Ken Berry at the time, plays Betty Lou, Agarn’s oft-referred to fiancée. Here, she’s written him a Dear John letter, and O’Rourke schemes to help his heartbroken buddy by claiming he killed Geronimo. One problem: word gets around! Not the most credible premise but inspired lunacy from beginning to end. Mike Mazurki also guest stars.

WRONGO STARR AND THE LADY IN BLACK ***1/2 F TROOP’s most famous guest star: Henry Gibson as Private Leonard “Wrongo” Starr, the jinxed cavalry trooper. He arrives in town at the same time as “The Happy Go-Lucky Widow”.  Gibson was so popular he was brought back to reprise the character in Season Two.

EL DIABLO ***1/2  Larry Storch plays 5 different relatives in this one, including the title character, whose real name is Agarnato. We would later meet several other eccentric Agarn relatives, but this was the first.

GO FOR BROKE **1/2 George Gobel guest-stars as Wrangler Jane’s inventor cousin. Meanwhile, O’Rourke turns out to be no Bilko in his poker match against Dapper Dan. Like Bilko in “The New Recruits”, he doesn't know he's being cheated.  UN-like Bilko in the same episode, he has no qualms about gambling with the troop’s pension fund!

THE NEW I.G. **** Andrew Duggan is one of F TROOP’s all-time funniest guest stars, as hard-nosed, deadpan Major Chester Winster, inventor of the “Chestwinster 76”, the gun that will win the West. Unfortunately O’Rourke has loaned it to the Hekawis to make toy replicas, the newest souvenir for O’Rourke Enterprises! Some of Don Diamond’s best work as Crazy Cat.

SPY, COUNTERSPY, COUNTER, COUNTERSPY ***  Long before ONE DAY AT A TIME, Pat Harrington Jr. gets his opportunity to parody Don Adams, as superagent B. Wise, a master of disguise. Fun, with plenty of good natured digs at GET SMART!

THE COURTSHIP OF WRANGLER JANE **** O’Rourke’s latest scheme: build a steam room. But he’ll need the captain off the post to do it. Hmm. Married officers live off the post, as Agarn keeps reminding us.

PLAY, GYPSY, PLAY ***1/2 Agarn gets his opportunity to run O’Rourke Enterprises while O’Rourke is away. Some guys are VICE President for a reason. Zsa Zsa Gabor guest stars.

REUNION FOR O’ROURKE **** Gets an extra half star for the classic explanation on the Hekawi tribe was named. Agarn tries to keep a surprise party for O’Rourke secret.

CAPTAIN PARMENTER, ONE MAN ARMY ***1/2 With a nod to the classic MAVERICK episode “The Ghost Soldiers”, Parmenter finds himself stationed alone at the fort due to an error in paperwork. Willard Waterman, once “The Great Gildersleeve”, guest stars as F Troop’s first Captain.

DON’T EVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN *** F Troop is being cited for having the highest morale by the Secretary of War.  In this episode, the repetition gets a bit annoying.  If you’ve seen that fantastically dirty F Troop blooper reel in circulation, you’ll recognize that a lot of the bits came from the filming of this episode.  Would rate a star higher with that footage!

TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE TROOP **** The first of 3 great appearances for James Gregory (BARNEY MILLER) playing Major Duncan. When Duncan pulls rank and requisitions Fort Courage’s cook, O’Rourke smells another money-making opportunity---if he can just get Agarn in Cookie’s place.

INDIAN FEVER *** Victor Jory guest stars, and Agarn’s bout with the title disease is the latest threat to O’Rourke Enterprises. But does he really have it? “When I had the German Measles, I didn’t see any Germans!”

JOHNNY EAGLE EYE **** Talk about treason: O’Rourke schemes to get Sitting Bull’s son into F Troop as an “Indian Scout”, because he’s a crack shot, sure to win the army marksmanship contest. Some of Joe Brooks’ best bits of business, and one of F TROOP’s most side-splitting situations.


A FORT’S BEST FRIEND IS NOT A MOTHER ***1/2 Jeanette Nolan as Parmenter’s overly protective mother, who can’t stand the thought of her son being called a “scourge”. She wants him transferred---can O’Rourke outwit a general’s wife?  The "council of war" sequence is one of the season's finest moments.


LT. O’ROURKE, FRONT AND CENTER **** James Gregory returns as Major Duncan, looking for officer material. In this episode, we see one of the Hekawis’ most profitable solo businesses, their Playbrave Club, in which O’Rourke has membership card # 1. Marilyn Fisk, a.k.a. Mrs. Forrest Tucker, has a cameo.

THE DAY THE INDIANS WON **** Arguably the funniest episode of the entire first season, which is saying a lot. The Council of Indian Nations is furious with the Hekawi for not going on the warpath. Meanwhile, Major Duncan is getting suspicious because the Hekawi have been quiet for too long. Great, great lines and one of the funniest half-hours of television I’ve ever seen, period.


WILL THE REAL CAPTAIN PLEASE TRY TO STAND UP? ***1/2 O’Rourke plots to get the town drunk into F Troop for a day. Heart of gold taking over? Nah, it’s to win a bet, of course!

The 34 episodes are all presented full frame, but not broken into individual chapters within the episode itself. French and Spanish subtitles. All episodes are presented uncut; there are no syndicated versions here.

EXTRAS:

Sadly, there are no extras, the only gripe I have with the Season One set. James Hampton, Joe Brooks, Larry Storch, Ken Berry, Don Diamond and Melody Patterson are all still with us, and though Storch is 83, he’s been astoundingly active in recent years (most recently, a commentary on the Sgt. Bilko boxed set, an appearance in THE ARISTOCRATS, and Broadway stints in SLY FOX and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN). Still, Season Two could use the extras as a selling point more, so hopefully they’ll correct this next time out.

BOTTOM LINE:

**** Disappointing lack of extras, but the 34 episodes on this set are so strong, it is more than well worth purchasing. One of TV’s all time funniest seasons of comedy, period. Should be in just about any classic TV collection. Warners, give us some extras with Season Two—and that’s an order!!

DVD Review: F TROOP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (1965-66)

(This is the first of two parts!)

F TROOP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (1965-66) Warner Home Video/ABC-TV. Starring Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch, Ken Berry, Melody Patterson, Frank de Kova, James Hampton, Bob Steele, Don Diamond and Joe Brooks. Produced by Hy Averback,
executive producer William T. Orr



In the December 25, 1965 issue of TV GUIDE, Roger Youman utilized the writings of over 40 newspaper critics in his article “The Critics Speak” to form a consensus on the 35 series making their debut in the Fall 1965 season.  The day's writers were reserved about the season as a whole, but to modern eyes this is a very impressive list of premieres: multiple Emmy winners GET SMART! and I SPY, long-running dramatic favorites THE WILD, WILD WEST and THE F.B.I., perpetually rerun comedies GREEN ACRES, I DREAM OF JEANNIE and HOGAN’S HEROES, low-rated critical favorites THE LONER (from Rod Serling) and TRIALS OF O’BRIEN (starring a pre-COLUMBO Peter Falk) and the very popular DEAN MARTIN SHOW.

And with over 80 percent of the television critics in its corner, the most critically acclaimed new show of the 1965-66 season was: F TROOP.

“That silly show with the tower always falling over and all the politically incorrect humor and lowbrow slapstick? That was better reviewed than GET SMART and GREEN ACRES???? I don’t believe it!”

Believe it. F TROOP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON shows just why the critics of the day loved it, and why the show has maintained a loyal cult following for the past 40 years. The classic first season is jam-packed with hilarious episodes and wonderfully subversive humor that flew under the radar in its time, veiled by the lowbrow physical gags and vaudeville shtick.

F TROOP begins with the accidental promotion of Private Wilton Parmenter, who is to his distinguished military family what Zeppo was to the Marx Brothers and Joe Besser was to the Three Stooges. With one lucky sneeze that sounds like “charge”, Wilton finds himself promoted to Captain, and assigned to Fort Courage in the Midwest.

Once Parmenter arrives at his new post, he finds that reveille is played at 10 A.M. “because of the three hour time difference" and that even though rations and pay allotments are drawn for 30 men, only 17 are stationed at the fort (the other 13 are allegedly are “Indian scouts out on patrol”). Sgt. O’Rourke, the ranking NCO of the Fort, has run off two captains and a major before Parmenter's arrival. The shrewd O'Rourke immediately realizes that the new Captain is “the pigeon he’s always dreamed of”, a commander who is no threat to his O’Rourke Enterprises, which involves all sorts of dealings with the Hekawi Indians, running the local saloon, and several other illegal, even treasonous, but highly profitable ventures. He and his second-in-command, Corporal Agarn, continually keep the captain in the dark and maintain both his nominal position as commander and the façade that Parmenter is the feared Scourge of the West.

As for the rest of F TROOP, well, just like Bilko’s platoon at Fort Baxter, very few of F TROOP’s soldiers would pass a physical in real life. The bugler can’t play, the lookout has 20/900 vision in each eye, and the slightly senile Trooper Duffy regales anyone who will listen with tales of his days at the Alamo--apparently its only survivor. Fortunately, the Hekawis invented the peace pipe and only want to live in (profitable) peace and partnership with O’Rourke and Agarn.

F TROOP was the best of the variations on THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW, which is pretty impressive considering that HOGAN’S HEROES and McHALE’S NAVY are among the others.

In some ways, the freshman season of F TROOP even one-upped BILKO.  Deep down, Sgt. Bilko was a softy with a heart of gold when the chips were down. But Sgt. O’Rourke was truly selfish and even treasonous at times: loaning the Hekawis the fort's cannon (and once, the entire fort itself!), inducting Sitting Bull’s son into the army to win $1,000, gambling with the F Troop pension fund (Bilko notably resisted doing this in his pilot episode) and replacing the Captain with the town drunk in order to win a bet.  O'Rourke's henchman Corporal Agarn was just as devious, but nowhere near as bright. Also, while Bilko's schemes usually failed in the end because he was a softy, O'Rourke and Agarn were often seen counting and keeping their ill-gotten gains (a brilliant twist on the formula, IMO).

O’Rourke’s Hekawi counterpart, Chief Wild Eagle, was just as heartless (“Now, if you’d like to go for the 25 dollar attack, five Hekawi bite dust!”) and shrewd, with an equally devious second-in-command in Crazy Cat, who constantly spoke longingly about the “sad, sad day” when the Chief would go to the “Happy Hunting Ground” (and Crazy Cat would ascend to the top spot).

The selfish, “what’s in it for me” edge to much of F TROOP’s humor anticipated the more cynical era that would produce MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, SEINFELD and other sitcoms with self-serving, even heartless, yet strangely likable lead characters that were two decades away from being even the exception to the rule in 1965.

In addition to lacking Bilko’s conscience, O’Rourke, as played by Forrest Tucker, was much more physically imposing than the owlish, bespectacled Phil Silvers.  As Leslie Nielsen would over a decade later, Tucker suddenly emerged as a comedian by satirizing the western and military roles he’d been playing straight for 25 years.  The unique Larry Storch had the role of his career as Corporal Agarn. He was given ample opportunity to display his knack for dialects and mimicry, playing as many as 5 different roles in an episode ("El Diablo"). Ken Berry, with his experience as a dancer, made his pratfalls look downright graceful and had a clueless expression to rival Paul Ford's. The entire cast was strong, with Frank de Kova and Bob Steele also veterans of numerous serious western roles.

Ken Berry as Captain Parmenter as "Beauregard Clayton"..

Unfortunately F TROOP would decline a bit during season two, as Parmenter became smarter, Agarn became much dumber, and O’Rourke developed Bilko’s “heart of gold”. Not that the second season was bad--just disappointing after the superb collection that preceded it, and way too conventional.  Combined with a time slot change (following a fading BATMAN), and a lack of support from its studio (Warner Brothers) it was too much to overcome and F TROOP ended its run in 1967.

But F TROOP: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is very impressive and shows why critics and fans loved it. The show hits the ground running with 3 wildly funny episodes outlining the initial setup. In episodes 4 through 12, there are some growing pains as the show develops the character of Crazy Cat (and phases out medicine man Roaring Chicken) and has some too-conventional scripting, even a couple of ill-advised forays into semi-sentimentality. Fortunately, these are few and far between.

From the 13th episode on, though, F TROOP hits its stride and goes on an incredible run, hitting the ball out of the park almost every week through the end of the season.

COMING UP IN PART TWO: ALL 34 EPISODES IN MORE DETAIL, WITH FULL REVIEWS!

DVD Review: THE WHITE SHADOW SEASON 2 (1979-80)

THE WHITE SHADOW, SEASON 2 (1979-80 CBS-TV) Starring Ken Howard, Ed Bernard, Joan Pringle, Erik Kilpatrick, Byron Stewart, Timothy Van Patten, Kevin Hooks and Thomas Carter.

As a huge fan of the CBS cult classic THE WHITE SHADOW I had Season Two on preorder prior to its March 21 release.

I feel the series peaked during this second season. After it, many key cast members graduated from high school in a realistic, gutsy, but dramatically depleting move. By Season 3, Gomez, Hayward, Goldstein, Jackson, and Reese were all gone and replaced by new cast members that didn't have the same appeal. Also missing in S3: Ed Bernard, as Joan Pringle's Sybil Buchanan was promoted to principal. They were all sorely missed, and the series was cancelled after that third and final season.

But in Season Two, THE WHITE SHADOW really hit its stride. For starters, the show was astoundingly prescient. You had episodes with athletes betting on their own games ("On the Line"; a full decade before the Pete Rose controversy), female teachers having sex with their students ("Salami's Affair"; just compare this 25 year old episode to today's headlines!), segregated country clubs ("Links"; this would become a big controversy in the early 1990's), venereal disease ("Me?"), passive-aggressive racism towards black athletes playing quarterback and point guard ("Crosstown Hustle"), and child abuse ("The Hitter"). And that's just 6 of the 22 episodes in this underrated drama's best season.

A quick review, episode by episode. Titles of Key episodes in bold:

"On the Line": Curtis Jackson (poor guy, a dark cloud follows him around all season) gets involved with a bookie, with predictable results, at the same time that an aspiring journalist follows the team around. A point is also made about journalistic responsibility, and made far more successfully than in the awful Happy Days episode in which we learn the Fonz is afraid of liver. *** 1/2

"Albert Hodges" After a wrongful imprisonment, the bitter Hodges comes back to finish high school with a heightened radar for discrimination and a major chip on his shoulder, threatening to divide the team. Commendably open ended final scene. *** 1/2

"Crosstown Hustle" Unscrupulous, opportunist coach at an almost all-white school hoodwinks Reese into transferring. Effectively subtle points made here about "old school" attitudes towards black athletes playing point guard in basketball (and by extension, quarterback in football). ****

"Sudden Death" Haywood Nelson of What's Happening! guest stars as a talented new player who has an undetected heart defect, with tragic results. Great performances by Howard and one of my all-time faves, Madge Sinclair as the boy's mother. Some very uncomfortable moments, with another cliche-defying ending. ***1/2

"A Silent Cheer" Coach Reeves and the father one of his players both have to face the fact that dreams die hard, and it is time to move on. ****

"No Place Like Home" Coolidge moves in with the coach after his apartment building burns down. ** 1/2

"Globetrotters" I was never a fan of the "special guest star" episodes, which were fortunately very scarce during seasons 1 and 2. Coach Reeves enlists the help of his good friends, the Harlem Globetrotters. to cure his team's collective big head. **1/2 This episode has a commentary with Byron Stewart (Coolidge), Kevin Hooks (Thorpe), Erik Kilpatrick (Jackson) and Ira Augustain (Gomez).

"Me?" A triangle involving Coolidge, Thorpe and Coolidge's new girlfriend, and the consequences of one casual encounter. Several intense dramatic scenes, especially the closer between Coolidge and Thorpe. ****

"Needle" Hayward deals with his grief after the overdose death of his young cousin. Despite the 'Hayward as Paul Kersey' plot, this one is emotionally draining from beginning to end. **** Commentary by Victor Lobl, director

"Sliding By" An episode dealing with the perils of grades being handed out for athletic prowess. In this case a very gifted transfer student with an impeccable transcript turns out to be less gifted than we thought. ****

"Delores, of Course"  Debbi Morgan guest stars. Poor Curtis Jackson. A bout with alcoholism, a gambling problem, and now the love of his life returns to Carver from San Francisco....with a very dark secret. Heartbreaking final shot that will stay with you. **** My favorite episode of the series, with a great contribution from Joan Pringle in her scenes with Morgan.

"A Christmas Present" The obligatory Christmas episode. Oh well, it's pretty good as these things go. We learn here that Sybil (Joan Pringle) has a husband. I had always suspected she and Coach Reeves secretly had the hots for each other, myself. :) *** GUEST STAR: Sybil's husband is played by Joan Pringle's real life husband, the late Theodore "Teddy" Wilson. You'll recognize him as Sweet Daddy from "Good Times".

"Feeling no Pain" The team has a brush with drugs after Salami hurts his knee. Another episode way ahead of its time. ***1/2

"Artist" Thorpe discovers a talent for art. His father is unenthused. **1/2

"Salami's Affair" Still very relevant as noted above; Salami gets very, very special attention from a 'progressive' teacher. Some very realistic and uncomfortable moments and one of the series' finest hours. ****

"Links" The coach takes the team to a country club, which turns out to be unofficially segregated--remember when country club segregation became a major issue in the early 90's? Many hilarious moments as Salami and Coach double date (real appropriate, huh?) and Coolidge and Thorpe try golfing ("hit it with a closed face"). **** A sober topic that very few series would dare to mine is explored and yet, thanks to the scenes described above, this is the funniest episode of the series.

"The Stripper" Special Guest Star alert! Sports movie icon Randee Heller (she was the great Gabe Kaplan's wife in "Fast Break" and the "Karate Kid"'s mom) plays another progressive teacher; no, she doesn't have the hots for a student, just Coach Reeves. But he doesn't know about her other job...... *** 1/2.

"Gonna Fly Now" The sale of angel dust around Carver High. A distant third to "Feeling No Pain" and "Needle" along these lines. **1/2

"Out at Home" Coach Reeves is promoted to athletic director, over the unpopular baseball coach. Very interesting episode in which most of the regulars take a back seat; more than anything a character study of the bitter old Carver baseball coach (very well played by guest star James McEachin). ***1/2

"The Russians Are Coming" Dated and contrived Cold War episode. The usual cliches aren't avoided. *1/2

"The Hitter" Gomez deals with abuse at the hands of his father. ***1/2

"The Death of Me Yet" Once again, poor Curtis Jackson. Wrong place, wrong time yet again, this time fatal. As in "Sudden Death", a very powerful episode about the aftermath of the tragic, senseless death of a teenager. Perhaps the best scene of the entire series takes place when Coach Reeves meets Jackson's younger brother. ****

"Coolidge Goes Hollywood" Embarrassing. Sole value is camp value, as Coolidge improbably becomes a TV star. It does have valid points to make about racism in media 20 years before Spike Lee's "Bamboozled", but the setup is so unrealistic, so farfetched, and clumsily set up, that it is impossible to be very involved with anything happening here. Worst episode of the first two seasons. * Special Guest Stars: Ed Asner as himself(!) and George Wyner.

"A Few Good Men" Graduation approaches, Goldstein considers the Marines, and.....Reese considers a recording career? Anticlimactic, which is probably the point after a championship is won, but still, a great season limped to a close with two subpar episodes. *1/2

EXTRAS:

Director Lobl is very informative in discussing "Needle". There's also a producer's commentary on "Death of Me Yet", a feature on the budding directing careers of Thomas Carter (Hayward) and Kevin Hooks (Thorpe), started on this show, and an 18 minute retrospective on Bruce Paltrow. A very nice set of extras.

Myself, I would have liked some input from unsung heroine Joan Pringle. Season 3, perhaps? With the onscreen chemistry between the two actors, a Howard/Pringle commentary would be interesting.

OVERALL:

A very strong, solid season, despite ending with two false notes. Better than Season One, and the series is at a definite peak with "Needle", "Links" and "The Death of Me Yet" in particular. There's much more going on here than basketball, and though it is impossible for something 25 years old not to be dated, you'll be amazed how relevant many of the issues still are. And on DVD, the series never looked better. I think you can overlook 3 weak episodes out of 24 and give this ****.