What Once Beloved TV Character Now Strikes You As Being Annoying? (1 Viewer)

[Jack P]

Hogan simply gave us every week what audiences had already seen in "Stalag 17" and "The Great Escape". I think one would have to be offended by those films in order to be offended by Hogan.

 

[Rob_Ray]

My Uncle Bob, a B-17 crew member during WWII, was shot down and remained a POW until the end of the war. He loved Hogan's Heroes. Go figure...

So did my dad, also a Purple Heart veteran of the war, but not a POW. He loved anything having a WWII setting from Twelve O'Clock High to Hogan's Heroes.

 

[Professor Echo]

My German friend tells me that HOGAN'S HEROES remains one of the most watched, popular shows in Germany. They love it there.

 

[Ron1973]

My German friend tells me that HOGAN'S HEROES remains one of the most watched, popular shows in Germany. They love it there.

If my understanding is right, it is captioned there and supposedly Klink has a mistress that's never seen in the show?

 

[Professor Echo]

That's true, Ron. She is his maid and mistress. He says "she sweeps pretty fine," which has a double meaning in the German language. Is she not mentioned in the US version? (I've probably seen maybe three episodes of the series in my life).

 

[Ron1973]

That's true, Ron. She is his maid and mistress. He says "she sweeps pretty fine," which has a double meaning in the German language. Is she not mentioned in the US version? (I've probably seen maybe three episodes of the series in my life).

No, no mistress mentioned at all. I've been watching since I was a kid and have probably seen every episode and I've never saw a mention. If anything, Klink is a loser in love in the original version. I guess that Batman cameo didn't help him, either

 

[Ron1973]

 

[Jack P]

Would have been more clever to have a window cameo where Batman and Robin go past, the window opens, Schultz sticks his head out and looks up and then shakes his head, "I see NOTHING!"

 

[John Hermes]

No, no mistress mentioned at all. I've been watching since I was a kid and have probably seen every episode and I've never saw a mention. If anything, Klink is a loser in love in the original version. I guess that Batman cameo didn't help him, either

Klink fancied himself a lady's man on the show and had some dates but no mistress. Fortunately, he escaped the clutches of General Burkhalter's sister many times.

 

[Ron1973]

The question has to be begged how Klink got to America in the 1960's looking no older than he would have as the 1940's Klink! And shouldn't Batman and Robin have turned him in for being a Nazi? Lol!!!!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I feel like saying this here, although it's kind of irrelevant. I'm too shy to start a new thread for it.

I've been thinking that sitcoms can be divided into four categories:

1) Not stupid and funny. These are the great classics, like I LOVE LUCY, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, THE HONEYMOONERS, ALL IN THE FAMILY and THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW.

2) Not stupid, but not really funny. These shows are fine, but you don't laugh much. I'd nominate FATHER KNOWS BEST, BACHELOR FATHER, HAZEL, DONNA REED, DENNIS THE MENACE, OZZIE AND HARRIET and a few others here.

(Depending on the episode, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW could fit in either Category 1 or 2.)

3) Stupid, but can be funny if you're in a stupid mood. Examples of this would be THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, GREEN ACRES, BEWITCHED, THE MUNSTERS, and many, many others.

4) Stupid and not funny. These are the really bad ones, of course, and I'd say maybe half of all sitcoms of history fit in here. I feel this way now about shows like MY LITTLE MARGIE, I MARRIED JOAN, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, BURNS AND ALLEN, HERE'S LUCY and a couple hundred more.

 

[John Hermes]

Man, oh, man. I think OZZIE & HARRIET is very funny. You might not laugh much but I do.

 

[Gary OS]

Man, oh, man. I think OZZIE & HARRIET is very funny. You might not laugh much but I do.

Absolutely! Ozzie & Harriet would have to go in that #1 category as far as I'm concerned. As would Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, LITB and TAGS. No question about any of them in my book.


Gary "and of course, All in the Family would be in the last category" O.

 

[Ejanss]

4) Stupid and not funny. These are the really bad ones, of course, and I'd say maybe half of all sitcoms of history fit in here. I feel this way now about shows like MY LITTLE MARGIE, I MARRIED JOAN, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, BURNS AND ALLEN, HERE'S LUCY and a couple hundred more.

Say what you like about Gracie (better yet, don't ), but never accuse the Burns & Allen SHOW of being stupid--
George's fourth-wall monologues and sardonic "2 Hip 4 Comedy" delivery letting the audience in on the joke (even the "joke" of his being paid to not really do that much for an act), and even the running gag of watching his own show on TV to find out what was going on in the house, were ahead of their time for the 50's, or even the 60's. (And arguably an influence on Garry Shandling's 80's sitcom.)

 

[Ron1973]

Count me in on Gilligan being stupid. I still watch it from time to time but it just doesn't hold the same charm that it did when I was a kid/teenager.

Two shows that held their charm that might fall into the "funny but stupid" category are "Gomer Pyle USMC" and "My Favorite Martian." I watched an episode of Gomer last night on YouTube for the first time in ages. Absolutely hilarious! Sgt. Carter explained there were going to be newspaper reporters and Gomer was dumb enough to ask if The Mayberry Gazette would be there!!!!

I was given an Amazon gift card and I purchased a few episodes of "My Favorite Martian." It's been 20+ years since I saw it in reruns. It held up quite nicely amazingly. Some of the shows I loved as a kid (Wonder Woman, Incredible Hulk, Dukes of Hazzard) don't hold the same charm to me now but Uncle Martin and Tim still had me hooked!

 

[John Hermes]

Count me in on Gilligan being stupid. I still watch it from time to time but it just doesn't hold the same charm that it did when I was a kid/teenager.

Two shows that held their charm that might fall into the "funny but stupid" category are "Gomer Pyle USMC" and "My Favorite Martian." I watched an episode of Gomer last night on YouTube for the first time in ages. Absolutely hilarious! Sgt. Carter explained there were going to be newspaper reporters and Gomer was dumb enough to ask if The Mayberry Gazette would be there!!!!

I was given an Amazon gift card and I purchased a few episodes of "My Favorite Martian." It's been 20+ years since I saw it in reruns. It held up quite nicely amazingly. Some of the shows I loved as a kid (Wonder Woman, Incredible Hulk, Dukes of Hazzard) don't hold the same charm to me now but Uncle Martin and Tim still had me hooked!

Frank Sutton's Sgt. Carter is one of my favorite television characters. His attempt to hold his temper in the episode "Come Blow Your Top" is wonderful, in addition to his acting and comedy in countless other Pyle shows.

 

[Ockeghem]

Frank Sutton's Sgt. Carter is one of my favorite television characters. His attempt to hold his temper in the episode "Come Blow Your Top" is wonderful, in addition to his acting and comedy in countless other Pyle shows.

John,Agreed with regard to Sutton. Jim Nabors was funny, but in my opinion, Carter stole the show and went a long way to making it as good as it is. Side note: I wish the writers and/or Sutton had worked Sutton's black belt skills into a few more episodes than they did. I would have liked to have seen that.

 

[Jack P]

I think those who would call "Burns And Allen" an example of a "stupid" sitcom, again need to remember the context for this show as a long-running hit on radio and then TV which lasted as long as it did because it always knew when it was time to adjust formats. For instance, Burns And Allen as a married couple did not take place until 1940, when they had already been on radio for nearly a decade when George realized their routines of him as flustered would-be boyfriend while Gracie kept flirting with the announcer didn't work any longer, so he made it in effect a "domestic" sitcom and found new ways to mine the comedy by having him as flustered husband (and above all just be honest with the audience that already knew he and Gracie were married). Then, when the move to TV came, George made the adjustment by dispensing with the "flustered husband" aspect of his persona and adopting the monologue, breaking of the 4th wall dynamic that he couldn't do on radio (and isn't it refreshing how George's penchant for honesty would make him *address* the repeated changes in the actors playing Harry Morton?).

"My Favorite Martian" as a "stupid" premise deserves to be regarded as such no more than "I Dream Of Jeannie" or "Bewitched" but it is by far the funniest of those kinds of sitcoms because Walston and Bixby were like watching a great vaudeville team in action.

 

[Ron1973]

"My Favorite Martian" as a "stupid" premise deserves to be regarded as such no more than "I Dream Of Jeannie" or "Bewitched" but it is by far the funniest of those kinds of sitcoms because Walston and Bixby were like watching a great vaudeville team in action.

Odd you should mention that. The episodes I downloaded were the first two shows from the 3rd season in which Uncle Martin transported them back to the Old West. The bad guys had tied them up and Uncle Martin couldn't use his finger to break the ropes. He told Tim to hold his hands up, that he was going to try something. He went all "Samantha" and wiggled his nose breaking the ropes. Tim asked him where he learned it and he told him "by watching one of your American TV shows!"

 

[Ejanss]

Then, when the move to TV came, George made the adjustment by dispensing with the "flustered husband" aspect of his persona and adopting the monologue, breaking of the 4th wall dynamic that he couldn't do on radio (and isn't it refreshing how George's penchant for honesty would make him *address* the repeated changes in the actors playing Harry Morton?).

One of my favorite moments has George wondering what all the characters are plotting behind his back, and says "Well, looks like I gotta turn on my show, to find out." He turns on the TV to see long-suffering announcer Harry Von Zell coaching Harry Morton on what would be the best fake excuse to talk George into lending some needed money.
"Poor guy," George turns to the audience, "doesn't even know he's been fired...But WE know, don't we? "
Later, when the two come in with their story, George says, oh, he was just watching TV.
"Anything interesting?""Nah, just a couple of dumb guys trying to fool their boss."