Hogans Heroes:

[Deja Q]

I rather like choice #3 myself... The theme tune was catchy though...

[RobertSeattle]

1. FYI - HD.Net shows reruns of this

Apparently the original show was shot in real film so it could easily be converted to true High Definition TV - bizarre but true.

http://www.hd.net/2002-prarchive/2002-12-11-01.html

[Deja Q]

6. HDTV has a higher res than NTSC video, but the gain is a loss

So a direct transfer of film to HDTV would look rather good, especially if it was restored.

Here's the kicker. Thanks to policies which started after Reagan got elected, we've lost 6.5 minutes of tv show time per 1/2 hour time block; that 6.5 minutes being used for more commercials. What's the point if it looks so great when we don't see all of it?

Unless we spent $100 per season of the series in HDTV format... :eyes:

Sorry, given the broadcast flag, the FCC, MPAA making recording of HDTV media ILLEGAL. Screw 'em all, I'm on a boycott for life. And that's good, the industry as it stands gets to be expensive...

[xultar]

2. Hey I saw the Preview for the Movie...looks good!

about the main dude's life and early death

[Zuni]

10. It is called Auto-Focus

It was a pretty darn good movie. It is out on video.

[Khephra]

15. Autofocus is pretty damn good

I'll quote myself, because it's such a good quote:

"Autofocus is the "Boogie Nights" of Bob Crane films."

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I thought it was a poor attempt

to make a sitcom out of the movie "Stalag 17", which was quite good, as I recall...

[hlthe2b]

4. Well, it was satire after all....but since Bob's death...

and all the info about his kinky life, it does make the whole thing a little more weird and creepy.

[hlthe2b]

5. Bush must have been a fan...

since he and his whole administration daily parrot the line from Sargeant ? "I know nothink!"

[herthaner]

7. "Sargeant ?"

Feldwebel Hans Georg Schultz AKA Schorschi! :)

[hlthe2b]

9. Ahh, yes.... Schultz!

thanks for the reminder.

[mlawson]

8. I always wondered how they all spoke perfect German.

So while on their covert missions, no real German ever suspected they were American?? Even Kinch???

Also, it looked strange, when they had "snow" drifts in their camp, when the background trees were all green, and the sun was straight overhead...

But I always enjoyed the show.

[Zuni]

13. My stepfather looks just like Col. Klink

Colonel Klink will always be one of my favorite TV charecters

[mitchum]

21. Softcore porn Nazi chic film "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS" was shot...

on the old Hogan's Heroes set just a few years later

[Zuni]

11. The main Germans on the show were all German Jews

Werner Klemperer, aka Colonel Klink was the son of a famous German composer Otto Klemperer. Their family fled Germany for New York soon after Hitler came to power.
Seargeant Schultz was played by John Banner, who was an Austrian Jew. His family fled after the Anschluss in 1938.

[mlawson]

12. And LeBeau had been a French POW. n/t

[herthaner]

18. Thats not quite correct

Robert Clary (Corporal LeBeau) was a prisoner in the Concentration Camp at Buchenwald.

[mlawson]

20. Even worse. It's amazing he survived. n/t

[Rooktoven]

22. Supposedly Klemperer wouldn't do

the show if the Germans were portrayed as anything but ridiculous.

[supernova]

14. Great Show, talented cast

I thoroughly enjoyed it. People who get upset at HHs I think just generally have a low tolerance for black or gallows humor. I don't; I think it's quite healthy.

This was the first attempt that I can recall of us trying to cope by minimizing the enemy. Making the Germans look foolish and incompetent. In reality, the Nazis were anything but. I'm sure thtere are other instances of laughing about them but this is the biggest earliest one I remember.

I know nothink!!!

As someone else mentioned, all the Germans were Jews who had escaped. I'm sure it was quite liberating to "stick it to the man" via the show.

[VOX]

16. Somehow, the idea of the "antics" in a WWII German POW camp...

never struck me as good fodder for a sitcom.

And it's a good bet that the GIs who spent time in those camps didn't find it particularly funny.

If it had been far-out satire (a la "Springtime for Hitler" from "The Producers") it might have been funny. But as it stands, it was routine, second-rate stuff.

[Nlighten1]

17. When I was a kid I was digging tunnels in my back yard because of this

show. My parents thought I was nuts.

[mitchum]

19. It was in appallingly bad taste and that's why I love it