F Troop
| F Troop | |
|---|---|
opening title
|
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by |
Seaman Jacobs Ed James Jim Barnett |
| Starring |
Forrest Tucker Larry Storch Ken Berry Melody Patterson Frank de Kova James Hampton Bob Steele Joe Brooks |
| Theme music composer |
William Lava Irving Taylor |
| Composer(s) | William Lava Frank Comstock |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 65 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
William T. Orr (1965–1966) Hy Averback (1966–1967) |
| Producer(s) | Hy Averback (1965–1966) Herm Saunders (1966–1967) |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Warner Bros. Television |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white (1965–1966) Color (1966–1967) |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 14, 1965 – April 6, 1967 |
F Troop is a satirical American television sitcom about U.S. soldiers and American Indians in the Wild West during the 1860s that originally aired for two seasons on ABC. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965 and concluded its run on April 6, 1967 with a total of 65 episodes. The first season of 34 episodes was broadcast in black-and-white, the second season in color.
The series relied heavily on character-based humor; verbal and visual gags, slapstick, physical comedy and burlesque comedy make up the prime ingredients of F Troop. The series played fast and loose with historical events and persons, and often parodied them for comical effect. There were some indirect references made to the culture of the 1960s such as a "Playbrave Club" (a parody of a Playboy Club) and two rock and roll bands (one which performs songs written in the 1960s).
F Troop is set at Fort Courage — a fictional United States Army outpost in the Old West—from just at the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to at least 1867. There is a town of the same name adjacent to the fort. Fort Courage was named for fictitious General Sam Courage (portrayed by Cliff Arquette), who has been in the Army for forty years. The fort itself is in the style stereotypically found in most American westerns.
The commanding officer is the gallant but chronically clumsy Captain Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry), descended from a long line of distinguished military officers. He is awarded the Medal of Honor after accidentally instigating the final charge at the Battle of Appomattox. Only a private in the Quartermaster Corps, he is ordered to fetch the commanding officer's laundry (with the inference that it is General Grant's laundry). As he rides away to get the laundry he repeatedly sneezes. A group of Union soldiers mistake his sneezing for an order to charge, turning the tide of the battle and "earning" Parmenter the nickname "The Scourge of Appomattox". He is also awarded the (then non-existent) Purple Heart after he is accidentally pricked in the chest by his commanding officer while receiving his first medal – "the only soldier in history to get a medal for getting a medal". His superiors, wishing to reward his action, promote him to captain and give him command of remote Fort Courage, a dumping ground for the Army's least useful soldiers and misfits (the Secretary of War (William Woodson) notes "Why, the Army sent them out there hoping they'd all desert"). Of the three commanding officers at Fort Courage before Captain Parmenter, two deserted and one suffered a nervous breakdown.
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