What Might've Been: At Ease (1983)

 Phil Silvers' legendary You'll Never Get Rich, aka Sgt. Bilko, was an inspiration for Aaron Spelling's 1st half-hour sitcom in nearly 20 years. 

Unfortunately, At Ease, coming along shortly after M*A*S*H ended its run, was a victim more of poor timing than poor ratings or Spelling's bad reputation with sitcoms.

The series marked the return of Roger Bowen (ex-Arnie) to series television, and, speaking of "M*A*S*H", he was in the movie version, lending a little bridge between that franchise and this wanna-be, which fell closer to another Fox service comedy, Roll Out!, a decade earlier. Bowen headed an ensemble that included actor-singer-Dr. Pepper pitchman David Naughton (ex-Makin' It), George Wyner, Josh Mostel (ex-Delta House), and Jimmie Walker, who'd bombed out in a Spelling crime drama, B. A. D. Cats, three years earlier, but getting cast in this series brought him closer to his iconic role of JJ from Good Times.

At Ease lasted 3 1/2 months. While Spelling had finally had a comedy series that was a hit, it was the comedy-drama anthology, The Love Boat, an hour-long show that was a couple of years away from ending its run.

Let's check a sample episode:

If memory serves me correctly, Bilko was in syndication at the time, along with M*A*S*H. Ballgame over.

Rating: B-.