McHale's Navy - Season Two Review
McHale and his crew are at it again in season 2. The first two episodes start off with a bang. Binghamton captures Mchale's Japanese POW/cook Fuji thinking he's a spy. McHale comes up with a plan to convince Binghamton the war is over in order to rescue Fuji. In the second one, McHale and his crew are overheard by Capt Binghamton plotting to kill a noisy bird that's been driving them nuts - only Binghamton thinks they are plotting to kill HIM. The antics of the PT-73 crew go on and on and so do the laughs. This has always been one of my favorite sitcoms and season 2 is great for the low price.
McHale's Navy - Season Two Feature
- ISBN13: 0826663105742
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
The ever-popular Ernest Borgnine, one of the all-time great "regular guy" stars, anchored
McHale's Navy, a cheerful, rambunctious '60s sitcom set in the South Pacific during World War II. By its second season, the show had perfected its formula (a formula already lifted wholesale from
The Phil Silvers Show): Lt. Commander McHale (Borgnine) and the scrappy crew of his PT boat (including Tim Conway, later of
The Carol Burnett Show, as bumbling Ensign Parker and Gavin MacLeod, later to helm
The Love Boat, as seaman "Happy" Haines) scheme, swindle, and romance their way through the war, avoiding the enemy whenever possible, and making life miserable for their petty, tyrannical commanding officer, Capt. Binghamton (Joe Flynn, later to appear in numerous Disney live-action movies like
The Love Bug and
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes). Though some episodes reflected real world issues of the 1960s (for example, Ensign Parker feels less of a man when a pretty nurse turns out to be better than him at pretty much everything), by and large the show existed in a bubble of slapstick and classic vaudeville schtick--and the show's fans wouldn't want it any other way. Despite the backdrop of WWII,
McHale's Navy aimed young. McHale and his crew are basically a gang of rascally kids getting away with pranks and defying the adult authority figures around them. Though the guys routinely pursue nurses, their "dates" amount to little more than stolen kisses and light petting--compared to the leering
Hogan's Heroes,
McHale's Navy is strangely prepubescent. Of course, this innocence is much of the show's charm, and makes the occasional Asian and Pacific Islander stereotypes a little easier to take (though it's worth noting that the Japanese characters on the show were always played by Japanese actors, something not common at the time). In addition to the original 36 episodes aired in 1963-64,
McHale's Navy: Season Two features brief interviews with Borgnine and Conway (regrettably, Flynn died in 1974). The fairly bland Borgnine interview has at least one good anecdote, but the Conway interview is charming throughout.
--Bret Fetzer
From 1962 to 1966, McHale s Navy was a must see staple of ABC television. Still stationed on their naval base on the tiny island of Taratupa during World War II, Lt. Cdr. Quinton McHale,Ernest Borgnine, Ensign Parker,Tim Conway,and the rest of the scheming crew of PT73 are back in Season 2 with 36 all new hilarious adventures from the Pacific!
