Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series)

Baa Baa Black Sheep
Logo from the program
Genre	Drama
Created by	Stephen J. Cannell
Directed by	Alex Beaton Robert Conrad Larry Doheny Walter Doniger
Starring	Robert Conrad Simon Oakland Dana Elcar James Whitmore Jr. Dirk Blocker Robert Ginty John Larroquette Jeff MacKay Larry Manetti
Narrated by	Robert Conrad
Theme music composer	Mike Post Pete Carpenter
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	36 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Stephen J. Cannell
Producer(s)	Philip DeGuere
Location(s)	Channel Islands of California
Editor(s)	Jerry Dronsky Harvey Stambler
Running time	48 min
Production company(s)	Stephen J. Cannell Productions Universal Television
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Audio format	Monaural sound
Original release	September 23, 1976 – April 6, 1978

Baa Baa Black Sheep (later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron) is a period military television series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. Its premise was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps aviator Greg Boyington and his World War II "Black Sheep Squadron". The series was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell. The opening credits read: "In World War II, Marine Corps Major Greg 'Pappy' Boyington commanded a squadron of fighter pilots. They were a collection of misfits and screwballs who became the terrors of the South Pacific. They were known as the Black Sheep."

Greg "Pappy" Boyington is the commanding officer of VMF-214, a group of fighter pilots based in the Solomon Islands during World War II. Pappy often intercedes in altercations at the base, but everyone seems to pull together when they are assigned missions in the air. "Pappy" likes to drink and fight a lot when not flying missions, and owns a Bull Terrier named "Meatball" — which he claims belongs to General Moore in Flying Misfits, but General Moore says "he wouldn't own an ugly mutt like that."

The series premise was very loosely based on a portion of the real-life military career of Gregory Boyington, known as "Pappy" due to his "advanced" age compared to the younger pilots under his command. (He was 30 when he took command of VMF-214.) Boyington, who was a technical adviser for the series, commented that this was "fiction based on reality" and that no regular character in the series except for himself actually existed. In the documentary film Pappy Boyington Field Robert Conrad shares personal insight about Pappy from their time together during the television series.

Popular character John "Hutch" Hutchinson (Joey Aresco) was killed off in the episode Last One for Hutch and replaced as chief mechanic by master sergeant Andy Micklin (Red West), who had joined the squadron a few episodes earlier in Devil in the Slot.