ABC (ended 1967)
I like 60's TV shows, F Troop isn't high on my list of favorites but I still bought both seasons on DVD for a couple reasons.
First, the show does have it's funny moments and seeing it on TV nowadays is rare indeed. So it's good the DVD's came out. Second, these episodes got first class treatment on DVD as they are all uncut and we got them on six discs per season and there are no double sided discs! I think this can be attributed to the fact that this was a Warner Bros. show and they still hold the rights to it so they wanted to do the DVD's properly. No cost cutting, no edited episodes or cheap flimsy packaging with these sets!
But overall for me, F Troop does fall a little short in the laughs department. The proceedings basically are mostly on the silly side as opposed to being genuinely funny. The guy who really steals the show is Frank DeKova as Wild Eagle. Melody Patterson provides nice eye candy. Larry Storch is over the top as Corporal Agarn, Forrest Tucker's O'Rourke character is stiff and undistinguished, Ken Berry as Capt. Parmenter is haplessly goofy and his act wears thin after awhile. Like many old TV shows, this one is OK to own on DVD for nostalgic reasons to those who saw it on TV back in the day and retain fond memories. Many 60's sitcoms were on the silly side, Get Smart, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Munsters, etc. F Troop is no exception. But the actors in these shows are memorable for the characters they created, the episodes do provide a measure of amusement and despite their shortcomings these old shows are so much better than the junk that's on TV today.
...Get outta Dodge, F-Troop silly?...
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Actually, I take minor issue with your lumping of "Get Smart" in with the rest of your list of silly shows. Get Smart was, for the most part, tightly written except for the fourth season which relied too heavily on parodies of then popular movies and T.V. shows (The fugative, and Bonny and Clyde for just two examples).
But on the F-Troop end, I LOVED that program and, if I could get my roomate to upload (or is it download?) this picture I have of me in 1967 sitting in the bottom of a box that had contained and F-troop toy that was similar to the old magnetic football field games that, when activated, would send the plastic players rumbling around, I could prove that F-troop was my very first memory of television (in 1967, F-Troop was still in it's initial run). You can plainly see the top of the box that says; "F-Troop" magnetic action game." I distinctly remember playing with it at that moment and also having my Mom yell at me to not sit with my face up to the T.V. screen as I did when F-Troop was on as it would make me go blind!
Sure F-Troop was silly and it got lost in the waves of westerns and western comedies and rural comedies that littered the mid 60's T.V. landscape, but a lot of moments and a few entire episodes were spot on, especially the pilot episode which I'd rank as one of the best ever made along with the first episode of "Lost in Space" ( Dr, Smith holding a laser gun to the back of an unsuspecting Major West's head is unforgettably evil and Smith was pretty damn evil and creepy without going all fem as he did later on) and the pilot episode of Get Smart.
You are so right about Frank Dekova stealing any scene he was in as the tired, hapless Chief Wild Eagle. If you ever saw him throw acid in the face of an innocent movie theatre manager in the "Frank Nitti story" episode of the Untouchables, you's really get an idea of what the word diverse means in terms of acting roles. Dekova was ruthless, silent and brutal, yet such a pussycat on F-Troop. You are right about Storch being over the top, but I'm not sure if you meant that negatively. I have always loved his histronics and it helped cover much of the weaker material. His only true crime is aping almost every nuance and action of the late Jackie Gleason. Watch an episode of the Honeymooners, any episode, then watch Storch in action on F-Troop. He does the old Gleason "And away we go"..hand motions exactly for starters, especially when teaching the Hekawis how to do a war dance in the pilot episode. Larry Storch used to have his own T.V. show that competed directly with the old Gleason show on the Dumont network...I'll have to see if this site covers it. I used to think the same as you do about the O'Rourke character, but someone had to be a bit more low-key and I only wish I had the Parmenter dumb luck and appeal to a hottie like Wrangler Jane. Ken Berry apes Stan Laurel a lot too if you watch closely. He does Stan Laurel's old crying face schtick to a tee.
The pilot episode, "The Day the Indians Won", "What are You doing after the Massacre", and "Old Ironpants" are just a few of the near perfect episodes in a series that ran way too short and deserved at least a third season...even the "That's Showbiz" episode was great, tho usually reviled by critics and fans for the cringe inducing "Hey Mr. Tamborine" number at the end.
I just wish more fans of this old, great, silly show would post here. I think the old Fort set still stands and is surrounded by condos. I'll have to look that up and maybe post a link. Ciao for now.
