Tim Conway had to believe in the age-old expression, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again". By this, I mean that Conway, between the end of McHale's Navy in 1966 and joining the cast of The Carol Burnett Show, had several opportunities to prove he was just as capable a headliner as Burnett or Ernest Borgnine, for example. His first attempt, Rango, was a mid-season replacement for ABC in 1967, and didn't fare very well.
Three years later, Conway moved to CBS, and signed with Talent Associates, whose Get Smart was in its final season. The Tim Conway Show, from Smart producer Burt Nodella, was another mid-season entry, this one reuniting Conway with McHale castmate Joe Flynn.
Flynn was the owner of a struggling, small-time airline, and Conway his only pilot. As it happened, neither were exceptionally skilled. For Conway, this was another variation, just like Rango, of his McHale role as bumbling Ensign Charles Parker. You'd think that by this point, Conway would've been looking for a different kind of role, and he'd eventually get it. This just wasn't it. That Flynn's character, Herbert Kenworth, was just as inept was an attempt to disguise that fact.
Subsequently, only 12 episodes aired, and the last, after being pulled from the schedule twice, aired in June 1970. Three months later, Conway was back, this time with a comedy variety show that also failed.
Here's part 1 of "All of Our Airplanes Are Missing":
The problem? The show aired on Fridays, and ABC had taken control of the night with a lineup led by the freshman Brady Bunch. Ballgame over.
Rating: C.
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