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CPO Sharkey ... am I the only one who remembers this one? (1 Viewer)

Katherine_K

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Reading a thread on Phil Silvers and McHale's Navy reminded me of another vintage TV show that I'd love to see again. the 1976-1978 sitcom CPO Sharkey starting Don Rickles as a crusty navy chief trying to train a bunch of recruits at the San Diego Recruit Depot... ran for ... 37 episodes I believe.
 

george kaplan

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You're definitely not the only one. My two most wanted tv shows on dvd that don't stand a chance in hell of getting released are this one, due to it's obscurity, and WKRP in Cincinnati, due to music rights.
 

Katherine_K

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This can join The Dirty Dozen 1988 TV series on my way too obscure list than. China Beach is my most wanted release in music rights hell.
 

JeffWld

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"CPO Sharkey" was an R&R production, with Don Rickles holding a portion of the rights. I guess it will be up to him to determine if he wants to strike a DVD deal should an interested distributor come along.
 

MattHR

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I'd buy it in a heartbeat! I used to love that show. I don't recall ever seeing in reruns.
 

Katherine_K

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Comedy Central (I believe back when it was just the Comedy Channel) played it in the early 1990s as double feature with the Phil Silvers show.
 

Jeff#

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I don't understand why he hasn't cashed in on the DVD market already. Don Rickles released one of the first comedy videotapes on home video in 1975: "Buy This Tape You Hockey Puck", which features one of his stand-up performances in a Las Vegas club.
 

Steve...O

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I also remember this from its original run. However I haven't seen it since. Rickles alone would make it worthwhile viewing.

Didn't this air alongside another obscure "gem": Operation Petticoat with John "don't call me Gomez" Astin or is my memory playing tricks on me? Who'da thought these late 70s sitcoms would seem soooo long ago?

Steve
 

Jeff#

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Yes, John Astin starred in Operation Petticoat as Lt. Commander Sherman, but only during the first year. It was not exactly a contempory to CPO Sharkey because that show started one a year before OP and ended a year before also. More importantly, Operation Petticoat took place in World War II. CPO Sharkey was in contemporary peacetime.
 

Michael Harris

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I remember this show. Heck, I met a lot of CPO Sharkey types while I was in the Navy. One of the better "service comedies".
 

LarryDavenport

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I believe Operation Petticoat was on ABC and CPO Sharkey was on NBC. Operation Petticoat, by the way, starred Jaimie Lee Curtis and Jim Varney (and I had a crush on Melinda Naud as Lt. Crandall.
 

Steve...O

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Thanks for all the info on Operation Petticoat.

Yes, Melinda Naud was a cutie. Much more so than the other actress, Jamie what's her name?? :)

Steve
 

Steve Meskell

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I remember that Don hosted the Tonight Show and broke Johnnies pencil box that was on the desk. Carson got pissed and found out that CPO was being taped next door. He took a camera and confronted Don...it was a very funny moment
 

Dan McW

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That clip of Johnny invading the CPO Sharkey set was played on Jay Leno's first Tonight Show after Johnny's death, when Rickles and Bob Newhart were among the guests. Seems like Rickles said the length of the entire CPO Sharkey series was about "20 minutes," saying in rat-a-tat fashion that all of his TV shows went "bang-zoom-in the dumper," "bang-zoom-in the dumper"!

I recently unearthed a tape I made of one of the Tonight Show anniversary specials that the old (and good) Family Channel once reran, and the same clip appeared in it. In the anniversary-show clip, however, the footage was allowed to run much longer, and Johnny let loose with 1-2 (IIRC) non-PC comments involving a black cast member or guest star who was in the interrupted scene. He may have been doing a Rickles impression as he made those comments, as Rickles is known somewhat (!) for such comments.
 

Jack P

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Well, Time-Life remembers it and we're getting it!


http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/CPO-Sharkey-Season-1/20869


I have to admit at 37 episodes over two seasons this would have been ideal to release in one package, but I'll gladly with this retire part of my 1991 "Dishonorable Discharge" marathon from Comedy Central which was the last time this program ever aired on cable. And it would be great if we could have as a bonus clip Johnny Carson barging in on a taping (which was a S1 episode) to berate Rickles for breaking his cigarette box.


This and "Operation Petticoat" are my two 70s short-lived sitcom grails so its nice to see one taken care of (in part).
 

JamesSmith

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I remember CPO Sharkley. It's a whole lot better than anything else that's currently on.

James
 

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