''The Wackiest Ship in the Army'' is an American comedy drama adventure television series that aired for one season on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

between September 19, 1965, and April 17, 1966. Produced by Harry Ackerman and Herbert Hirschman, the series was loosely based on the 1960 film starring

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

and

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

, which itself was a fictionalized account of a real wartime vessel. Although often referred to as a

comedy series Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television ...

, the show violated three unwritten rules that unofficially defined TV

situation comedies A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...

at the time: It was an hour in length (almost all comedy series were only a half-hour, and the few attempts at hour sitcoms were unsuccessful), it had no

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most commonl ...

, and characters were sometimes killed in it.

Synopsis

The series is set in the Pacific theater of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and centers on the crew of the USS ''Kiwi'', a leaky, wooden, twin-masted

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

whose mission is to carry out covert missions behind

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

lines. Her old-fashioned, noncombatant appearance works in her favor, and she sails under false colors (the

Swiss flag The national flag of Switzerland (german: Schweizerfahne; french: drapeau de la Suisse; it, bandiera svizzera; rm, bandiera da la Svizra) displays a white cross in the centre of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross ...

) when in enemy waters. The ''Kiwi'' is jointly commanded by

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Major Simon Butcher (

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American character actor of film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo'' (1975) and ''Heaven Can Wait'' ...

), who is in charge of shore operations, and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Lieutenant (junior grade) Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), ...

Richard "Rip" Riddle ( Gary Collins), who is in command of the vessel at sea. The crew consists of: * Mike Kellin:

Chief Petty Officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deux ...

Willie Miller (also in the 1960 film, and listed in the series opening credits) * Mark Slade: Radioman Patrick Hollis * Fred Smoot: Machinist Mate Seymour Trivers * Rudy Solari:

Gunner's Mate The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard occupational rating of gunner's mate (GM) is a designation given by the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) to enlisted sailors who either satisfactorily complete initial Gunner's Mate "A" scho ...

Sherman Nagurski *

Don Penny Donald Penny Schneider (born 1933) is an American television actor and comedian. Born in Brooklyn, New York. He is known for playing the role of Lieutenant Stanley Harris in the American television series '' The Lieutenant'', and Pharmacist Mat ...

: Pharmacist Mate Charles Tyler, ship's cook

Notable guest stars

Guest stars included: *

James Hong James Hong (; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in American media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. With more than 650 film and television credits as of 20 ...

: Agaki (three episodes) *

Jill Ireland Jill Dorothy Ireland (24 April 1936 – 18 May 1990) was an English actress and singer. She appeared in 16 films with her second husband, Charles Bronson, and was additionally involved in two other of Bronson's films as a producer. Life and ca ...

Robert Loggia Salvatore "Robert" Loggia ( , ; January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Jagged Edge'' (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for ...

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both '' December Bride'' (1954–195 ...

* Chips Rafferty (also in the 1960 film) *

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the telev ...

* Jack Soo

Production notes

The theme music and scoring were by

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Reco ...

Ship

The USS ''Kiwi'' was based on the real-life , a 40-year-old

(or

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. S ...

) that the

Government of New Zealand , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

transferred to the

during World War II. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

returned her to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

in 1944. The ''Echo'' was broken up in 2015 due to her poor material conditioning following her use as a bar which had closed in 2013.

In other media

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...

novelisation based on the series, by Lee Bergman, was released in 1965.

Broadcast history

''The Wackiest Ship in the Army'' premiered on

on September 19, 1965.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, , p. 889.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–present (Sixth Edition)'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , pp. 1102–1103.Classic TV Archive ''The Wackiest Ship in the Army'' (1965–66) Accessed 11 November 2021
/ref> It lasted a single season, and the last of its 29 original episodes aired on April 17, 1966. Prime-time reruns of ''The Wackiest Ship in the Army'' followed in its regular time slot on NBC until September 4, 1966. The show aired at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday throughout its run.

Episode list

SOURCES Marshall, Andrew, The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1966): S01E29 – Routine Assignment, Military Gogglebox, January 11, 2019 Accessed 11 November 2021
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wackiest Ship in the Army 1965 American television series debuts 1966 American television series endings 1960s American comedy-drama television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Military comedy television series Military humor in film American military television series Nautical television series Live action television shows based on films Television series by Sony Pictures Television World War II television comedy series Television shows set in Oceania Television series by Screen Gems Television series about the United States Navy