What Might've Been: McKeever & The Colonel (1962)

Four Star's track record with comedies wasn't that good. No matter what they tried, it turned out that comedy wasn't their forte at all.

One such example of a good idea that went nowhere was 1962's McKeever & The Colonel, one of two service comedies Four Star sold to NBC, the other being Dean Jones' Ensign O'Toole.

McKeever, however, was set at a military academy, where the plots were as much about the faculty as the students themselves. Allyn Joslyn was the Colonel in the title, matching wits with Cadet McKeever (Scott Lane), whom the producers sought to present as a juvenile knockoff of Phil Silvers' Sgt. Bilko. Jackie Coogan, two years before The Addams Family, was sympathetic Sgt. Barnes, the central figure in the episode, "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow". Cast member John Eimen has a YouTube channel, from which we get this video:

Edit, 3/26/24: Renown Pictures, Ltd. has the rights to several Four Star properties. So, we had to replace the video with a sample intro:



Coogan & Joslyn would work together again on Addams Family, where Joslyn appeared frequently in a supporting role.

Rating: B.