Shark Bytes

About as realistic as 'Hogan's Heroes". I'm sure WWII vets really identified with those shows!!!!

McHale's Navy never really jumped, but the show just wasn't as funny after moving to Europe. What was the point anyway? Somebody else said it was due to some stupid politically correct moron being afraid to "offend" the Japs, but hey, the setting is WWII. The Japs were the enemy.

Grew up with this show, in the 60s and early 70s, it was often the 5.30 lead-in to channel 9 news. If were were not watching this, we were on 9 stable mate Gomer Pyle or 0/10s Hogans Heroes. The Pacific War setting perhaps particularly maybe appeals to Australians, we had a Pacific War vet in the house, anwyay, Flynn and Conway were a hard to beat duo, as were scenes like Conways fabulously politically incorrect " honourable japanese officer" eating rice rations with Mako.The air-force movie likewise was a treat, it actually far exceeded the 1st McHales Movie, even though it lacked the excellent Borgnine.I confess to not seeing many of the "ETO" McHales, and i get the sense I didnt miss much.
A trivia note regarding the "73" vs Japanese submarines: most I recall were actually sunk with a Gruber torpedo--rather than a Depth Charge- and by quickly taking advantage of a right time right place longshot that their other wacky misadventures had led them into.
Parker perhaps once or twice downed an attacking IJN Zero or Kate by sheer chance swinging out of control and terrified on the bow 0.50.
I think actually at least once or twice a Kriegsmarine U-boat full of sinister Nazi agents came into the pacific and crossed swords with our USN crap-game and booze-running "pirates".
Interesting idea that they transferred to the ETO due to the increasing business importance and redemption of Japan, of course, they had always covered their bets a little with modern-day Japan by having a decent friendly and cuddly pacifist Japanese Navy buddy hidden on the island with them-effectively, their Jap "Sergeant Schultz".

I was born in late 1962, and watched this show in rebroadcast in the 70's. I own the first 2 season DVD sets that have been released. It's hilarious. Joe Flynn is outstanding. There wouldn't be a program without him. I so appreciate Joe Flynn and wish he had lived.

It never jumped. Most of the later shows were still funny. They just quit due to other more lucrative offers for many of the stars. Great cast, mostly good writing. A logical successor to Bilko. It is fun to look for actors that were on many other t.v. shows of the era.

The author of Catch 22, Joseph Heller wrote four episodes of this show. Does anyone know which episodes he wrote?

The only memories I have of 'McHale's Navy' is from reruns on the pre-cable Independent channels (UHF) it ran on.

...But having purchased the Season One DVD box set, I'm actually discovering just how wonderful it actually was, and perhaps why it ran nearly as long as some of the more critically acclaimed shows at the time ('Get Smart', 'The Dick Van Dyke Show').

One of the reasons was the cast. You couldn't find any better. I guess the fact that I served 20 years in the Navy myself (1982-2002), I could actually relate more to some of the characters: The scheming Gruber (Carl Ballentine), the clueless Ens. Parker (Tim Conway), the flunky Lt. Carpenter (Bob Hastings, whom I remember as Capt. Ramsey on the daytime drama 'General Hospital'), and the uptight Capt. Binghamton (Joe Flynn), and of course, the ever sly but grounded LCDR. McHale (Ernest Borgnine).

As for Jumping The Shark, well...maybe the relocation to Italy wasn't too smart on the part of the show's producers, but we all need to remember that reality is often suspended in T.V. Land.

Let me tell you 'bout a story 'bout a man named McHale.
He skippered on a PT boat and looked just like a whale.
The ratings they got lower by the end of season three.
So he loaded up the PT boat and moved to It-al-y.

The comedy team of Binghamton and Carpenter even exceeded the one of Flynn and Conway. I liked the episode where Carpenter, thinking the war is over, pushes Binghamton into the drink, saying, "You've had the course Leadbottom. For two years I've had it with your, What What, What's and your Who, Who, Who's". Classic comedy!

The comedy team of Binghamton and Carpenter even exceeded the one of Flynn and Conway. I liked the episode where Carpenter, thinking the war is over, pushes Binghamton into the drink, saying, "You've had the course Leadbottom. For two years I've had it with your, What What, What's and your Who, Who, Who's". Classic comedy!

This show NEVER jumped.

As for relocating the crew to Italy, it was silly but why not?

We're talking about television, you know.

i must agree about the move to Italy being pointless and absured but politics?, yes sir re baby!

the shark jump happened for me with four words: "The Red Skeleton Show"

there was no way they could go head to head with Red's show. he was gaining popularity so much back then.

the move to Europe was an attempt to save ratings. switch things up so to speak.

if VCR's were present back in 65' or if the exc's of the show had a clue [ie. switch time slots/days?] [it had a rating of 22.8 (23rd watched show every week)], McHale's Navy might have lasted a few more seasons.

i have enjoyed McHale's Navy since conception

As everybody above notes, it's obvious the Great Shark Jump was the boring and pointless move to Italy. No argument with the other posters on that one, but the cause may (or may not) have been politics. As McHale's Navy aged, the 60s audience was getting just a tiny bit more sophisticated, and Japan was starting to be a business (though not military) powerhouse again, so the producers must have decided that the Pacific scene making fun of Japanese stereotypes was just too racially insensitive, and offensive to various people. Therefore, they moved to Europe in order to make fun of a "safer" enemy, Nazi Germany, whom you did not risk offending. Simply, they were running scared at being called bigots, so they jumped the shark and moved to a new, less offensive situation. In my hypothesis, it was an early example of PC, meaning no disrespect to anyone.

What a stupid plot move. It was never the same. McHale and the crew were all about tropical indolence.

Mc Hale's Navy never jumped the shark. Who cares where they were stationed or if the move was logical in relation to a real war that actually happened? Just as Sgt. Bilko never saw the enemy, the entire premise of Mc Hale's Navy was that they were a shipload of scammers who might occasionally sink a Japanese submarine by accidentally launching a depth charge, Ensign Parker, as usual. This would always happen just before Leadbottom was about to close the trap around them, then Mc Hale would weave a complex "secret mission" that would justify their presence on the island, in the bay, etc. ad infinitum. Plain and simple, they get away with it, again. This show was meant for kids, which we all were 40 years ago. My uncle would watch a war movie and complain that the marines didn't carry a particular rifle or that the officer's insignia was upside down. This was not a show for him, it was a show for kids, the common theme being pull the wool over teacher's eyes. Getting away with something without being caught is a major theme in kiddie fare. Binghamton and his lackey, the kid who rats out his friends to garner favor, are the enemies, not the Japanese, nor the Germans. The PT73 could be stationed off the coast of Alabama and it would not change the dynamics or the plot. Fuji, the "enemy", makes this point abundantly clear. He is one of the crew, all of whom would be imprisoned for concealing his whereabouts, except Mc Hale, who would be executed by firing squad.