F-TROOP Season Two  

For those of you out there unfamiliar with this fantastic comedy from the sixties, let me give you a brief synopsis.
Ah, the heck with it!
How about we let the lyrics of the title song do it for me: The end of the Civil War was near, When quite accidentally, A hero who sneezed, abruptly seized Retreat and reversed it to victory. His medal of honor pleased and thrilled His proud little family group. While pinning it on, some blood was spilled, And so it was planned he'd command...F-Troop! Where Indian fights are colorful sights And nobody takes a lickin', Where paleface and redskin Both turn chicken. When drilling and fighting get them down, They know their morale can't droop, As long as they all relax in town Before they resume, with a bang and a boom...F-Troop!
See, the hero was Captain Wilton Parmenter played by Ken Barry who most people might associate with the Vicki Lawrence vehicle, Mama's Family. But Ken was a fantastic physical comedian and the stunts he pulled on F-Troop were reminiscent of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. His subordinates were Sgt. O'Rouke (Forrest Tucker) and Cpl. Agarn (Larry Storch). There act was slightly resembling The Skipper and Gilligan, but O'Rouke was smarter than The Skipper ever was and Agarn was not quite the idiot that Gilligan was.
So, with that basic premise there are hijinks at the fort. Season Two gave us some amazing guest stars like Paul Lynde as the singing mountie, Vincent Price as a might be vampire and Harvey Korman as a German balloonist.

Warner Bros. Have done a fine job with making these look as sharp as the day they were televised. There is also a featurette concerning the history of the show and you get 31 episodes in the set. F-Troop is classic television with good old fashioned values and a hearty dash of slapstick to make you laugh out loud at something that is a milestone in American television comedy.
What could be better than that?

Douglas A. Waltz