Forgotten TV: McNamara's Band (1977)

Ten years after Garrison's Gorillas failed to find a long-term audience, ABC went to the well again, this time for laughs.

McNamara's Band. however, is so obscure now that there's not a Wikipedia page for the series. A search there only brings up the song by the same name.

The concept was the same. Johnny McNamara (John Byner) and his gang of crooks are recruited by the US government as a covert operations team in World War II. Sid Haig came over from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and would move back into a villainous role in the Saturday morning serial, Jason of Star Command. a year later.



In a way, this was meant to be Garrison crossed with CBS' comedy-adventure hit, Hogan's Heroes (1965-71), but, as a late season replacement, the network was simply burning off the show. The above photo, supplied by IMDB, is all we have on record.

I do remember seeing this show in the summer of '77, and have been searching for videos the last several years. Byner would land a few more series gigs, most notably landing a supporting role on Silk Stalkings as a con man-turned-informant.

Rating: B.