The Wackiest Ship in the Army (TV series)
| The Wackiest Ship in the Army | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by |
Danny Arnold Herbert Margolis, based on the story "Big Fella Wash-Wash" by Herbert Carlson, in the July 1956 issue of Argosy |
| Starring |
Mark Slade Jack Warden Gary Collins |
| Theme music composer |
Howard Greenfield Jack Keller Helen Miller |
| Composer(s) | Nelson Riddle |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 29 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Harry Ackerman |
| Producer(s) |
Herbert Hirschman Joseph Dackow |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Herbert Margolis Productions Joseph M. Schenck Productions Screen Gems |
| Distributor | Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | September 19, 1965 – April 17, 1966 |
The Wackiest Ship in the Army is an American comedy-adventure series that aired for one season on NBC between September 19, 1965, and April 17, 1966. Produced by Harry Ackerman and Herbert Hirschman, the series is loosely based on the 1960 film starring Jack Lemmon and Ricky Nelson. Although often referred to as a comedy series, the show violated three unwritten rules which unofficially defined TV sitcoms at the time: it was an hour in length (almost all comedy series were only a half-hour, and the few attempts at hour sitcoms were unsuccessful), it had no laugh track, and characters were sometimes killed in it.
The series is set in the Pacific theater of World War II and centers about the crew of the USS Kiwi, a leaky wooden twin-masted schooner whose mission was to place spies behind Japanese lines. The Kiwi was jointly commanded by Army Major Simon Butcher (Jack Warden) who was in charge of shore operations and Navy Lieutenant, junior grade Richard "Rip" Riddle (Gary Collins) who was in charge afloat. The crew consisted of-
Guest stars included:
The theme music and scoring was by Nelson Riddle.
The USS Kiwi was based on the real-life USS Echo, a 40-year-old schooner or scow that was transferred to the United States Navy from the government of New Zealand. It was returned to New Zealand in 1944.
A paperback based on the series, by Lee Bergman, was released in 1965.
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