No Time for Sergeants Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sgt. Bilko

So many people mistakenly thought "The Phil Silvers Show" was named Sgt. Bilko, that many television stations gave up and titled the show "Bilko" in reruns. Master Sergeant Ernest Bilko was the leader of a gang of US army soldiers more interested in playing poker, running lotteries and any other get rich quick scam they can pull off than in soldiering. The show won three consecutive US Emmy Awards as the Best Comedy and Best Writing between 1956 and 1958. "The Phil Silvers Show" was shown in the UK during its original run and was an extremely popular rerun in the 1960s-1980s.

As a measure of the respect given "The Phil Silvers Show" in the UK, the 2003 book "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy" named the show the best comedy ever to be shown on UK television, beating out both "Fawlty Towers" and "Seinfeld" amongst others.

Answer: "I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing."

"Hogan's Heroes" ran on US television from 1965-1971 and has been syndicated world-wide. The series followed a crew of Allied soldiers who were POW's in Stalag 13. The commander of the camp Col. Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer) was a soft-hearted and easily duped German officer, proud of the fact that no one had ever escaped from his camp. The reason, we learned, was that no one wanted to escape as the Allied crew were really a skilled group of counter-insurgents and spies. Despite the obvious evidence of "shenanigans" going on between Col. Hogan and his crew, Sgt. Schultz managed to look the other way muttering his familiar "I know nothing" phrase.

"Hogan's Heroes" was both a popular program and severely criticized by some groups for making comedy from the horrors of a NAZI prison camp and by extension the Holocaust. Yet, it is interesting to note that five major cast members of the show were Jewish, and four of these actors were Holocaust survivors. In addition to John Banner, the other three major German characters (Werner Klemperer as Col. Klink, Leon Askin as Gen. Burkhalter and Howard Caine as SS Maj. Hochstetter) were played by Jewish actors. French actor Robert Clary (Allied Cpl. Louis LeBeau) survived three years in the heinous Buchenwald concentration camp.

Answer: Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.

Jim Nabors first played the simple sweet-natured Gomer Pyle during the third season of "The Andy Griffith Show". Pyle was an auto-mechanic at the Mayberry gas station. Episodes featuring Pyle and his familiar catchphrases of "surprise, surprise" and "shazaam" became breakout hits. The Gomer Pyle character was spun off into a new show debuting in September 1964. The basic premise was simple; Gomer Pyle joined the Marines. Veteran actor Frank Sutton (who was a decorated Sgt. in the US Army during World War II) played the classic drill sergeant, Vince Carter, whose job was to wipe the silly grin off of Private Pyle's face.

"Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C." was tremendously popular and reached as high as the number two show in the US for the 1965-66 and 1968-69 ratings periods. The light comedy of the show contrasted with the harsh realities of the increasingly violent and graphic real life Vietnam War. While almost unfathomable to accept today, the Vietnam War was not mentioned in any of the shows 150 episodes.

Answer: Major Dad

"Major Dad" was a star vehicle for Gerald McRaney that aired on US television for four seasons that never quite reached the ratings success of McRaney's previous TV show "Simon & Simon". Beverly Archer played the drool and unflappable Sgt."Gunny" Bricker in seasons two through four, keeping the gruff McRaney and the unpredictable Matt Mulhern in check. Shanna Reed played McRaney's new wife and the show juxtaposed storylines between the military/work angle and McRaney's adjustment to being a husband and father of three young girls.

Gerald McRaney has had a long and highly successful career in both television and movies. Of interest, McRaney was the last person to meet Sheriff Matt Dillon from the long-running "Gunsmoke" in a gunfight. McRaney met former "Designing Women" star Delta Burke in 1981, when she guest starred in an episode of "Simon & Simon", and the two were married in 1989.

Answer: F Troop

"F Troop", despite only running for two seasons from 1965-1967 and producing 65 episodes, has remained a popularly syndicated comedy shown across the globe. The show featured Ken Berry as the naive Captain Parmenter, whose accidental sneeze triggered the Union troops to attack and turn the Battle of Appomattox from a Confederate victory. As a reward, Parmenter was raised to the rank of Captain and given command of the Army outpost at Ft. Courage Kansas.

In reality, the hostile natives had already made peace and were getting a "piece" of the various schemes cooked up by Sgt. O'Rourke and his team of conmen and schemers. Indeed, the real jobs of both the "F Troop" soldiers and the local Indian tribe was to promote various businesses controlled by O'Rourke Enterprises of which all, soldier and Indian alike, are partners. One of the main gags of the show was to protect the Captain's reputation while not letting him know of the various collaborations between tribe and troop.

Answer: Blackadder Goes Forth

Rowan Atkinson starred as the comic hero Edmund Blackadder in four series (seasons in the US) each set in a different time period. Atkinson and Tony Robinson as Baldrick the dogsbody (gopher in American slang) repeated their roles in each series playing their previous characters' descendants. The third and fourth series added Hugh Lawrie (later Greg House) as a dim-witted aristocrat. The first series from 1983 was set in a mythical 15th Century England. The second series from 1986 was set in Elizabethan times, while the third series from 1987 used the Regency Period of the early 19th Century for a backdrop. Finally, the fourth series, "Blackadder Goes Forth", from 1989 found the cast together as a military unit during World War I.

One of the central tropes of the "Blackadder" series was that in each series, Atkinson's station in society decreased as his competence and savvy increased. Correspondingly, each generation of Baldrick's became less competent and unkempt. The entire "Blackadder" series has been named to numerous best shows of all-time lists. "Blackadder Goes Forth" won the BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1989.

Answer: Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Actor for his poignant role as the lonely butcher Marty Piletti in "Marty". Borgnine was a fixture in television and movies throughout his sixty year acting career. In "McHale's Navy" Borgnine played the competent commander of a US Navy PT boat saddled with a bureaucrat commanding officer and a scheming misfit crew. Borgnine served for ten years in the US Navy as a gunners mate.

In addition to Borgnine, "McHale's Navy" featured Tim Conway in his first major series role as the naïve by the book Ensign Parker and the fine comic actor Joe Flynn as the stuffy Capt. Binghamton. "McHale's Navy" aired on US television form 1962-1966.

Answer: Motor Pool

"M.A.S.H." starred Alan Alda as the sarcastic surgeon Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and ran for 11 seasons which is over three times as long as the War was fought. "M.A.S.H." the television series followed a 1968 book by Robert Hooker (penname of Dr.H. Richard Hornberger) and an immensely popular 1970 movie directed by Robert Altman. Over its 11-year run, "M.A.S.H" garnered 14 Emmys. The final episode of "M.A.S.H." earned a 66 share and was watched by over 125 million viewers. M.A.S.H. remains one of the most syndicated shows in US television history.

Veteran character actor C.W. Bailey played the cigar-chomping work-avoiding scam artist Sgt. Luther Bailey in 14 episodes during the 1979-1983 seasons. Bailey frequently plays a police officer or a soldier and is perhaps best known as the sarcastic Lt. Louie Provenza on the US television shows "The Closer" and "Major Crimes".

Answer: Dad's Army

"Dad's Army" is one of England's most beloved comedies. The show ran for 80 episodes over a nine-year period between 1968 and 1977. The show centered on the fictional English seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea and lovingly spoofed the World War II activities of the men (and the women) either too young, old or informed to be conscripted into the British military. In the show, the town's banker George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) appointed himself the leader of the defense force. John Le Mesurier played Mainwaring's bank employee and Home Guard Sergeant, Arthur Wilson.

"Dad's Army" became a massive success, tapping into British national pride and rekindling interest in the efforts of the Home Guard. The show remains popular in reruns. In 2010, Thetford, a town in Norfolk, used as background for the series erected a life-sized bronze sculpture of Arthur Lowe as Mainwaring dressed in his Home Guard uniform.

Answer: Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith played the starring role of the naïve "country bumpkin" Private Will Stockdale in the 1955 original one-hour television adaptation. Griffith reprised his role on Broadway and earned a Tony nomination for his efforts. The 1958 movie starred both Griffith and a young Don Knots, and was a surprise moneymaker and made Griffith a bona fide star.

The 1964 television show might have been successful if not for three problems. Unknown character actor Sammy Jackson (who had a cameo role in the movie version of the show) played the Will Stockdale character and not Griffith. At the same time, Griffith and cohort Don Knots starred opposite "No Time For Sergeants" with their highly successful ratings juggernaut "The Andy Griffith Show". Finally, the same basic show, done much better, was already on television as "Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.