McKeever and the Colonel

I was very small when this show was on, and only remember bits and pieces of plots. I do remember that McKeever was in military school-- he was not a bad kid. However, the boy stayed in trouble because of plans he made that went wrong. One of the military personnel who worked at the school was sympathetic to McKeever. The other old soldier who ran the school was not, and that's where the comedy came out of. It was a pleasant show.

*McKeever and the Colonel* almost certainly got greenlighted in 1961 as the result of a favorable reception for the television broadcast of Charlton Heston's *The Private War of Major Benson* (1955).

The antics of McKeever, his allies and his enemies among the military school student body, made for harmless entertainment even by the standards of the early '60s. I came to think of it as a boys' version of *The Phil Silvers Show* (1955-1959), made memorable by the rapscallion character of MSgt. Earnie Bilco, then pounding away in re-runs on NBC.

Those who are only familiar with the absolutely godawful 1995 Damon Wayans knock-off of Heston's movie (*Major Payne*) owe themselves a look at the much, much better original, and would certainly enjoy seeing *McKeever* if someone had the sense to issue the series in re-runs or on DVD. --

I was 10 years old when I saw this show. We were stationed in Pensacola, Florida at the time. I remembered bits and pieces of it. It was like Dennis The Mennace in a military school. McKeever had 2 fellow students with him. One was named "Monk" and the other was the chubby kid who played the bugle. I remember that the sergeant was good old "Uncle Fester" from the Adam's Family, Jackie Coogan. There was a lady in the show as well. I think she was a nurse for the boys at the academy. Of course the antagonist "Mr. Wilson" if you will, was the colonel. All the kids watched the program. Soon I would be off to Iceland at a new duty station with the family and we didn't have much TV there. I still remembered this show. It made an impact on me and I really liked it. Wow, that was 43 years ago! It didn't seem like only 1 season!

I remember these "military comedies" and their single season on NBC, playing back-to-back, early Sunday evenings, just before "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color".

While "Ensign O'Toole" starred Dean Jones and was about an Ensign Pulver-type character on a modern day Navy destroyer (the captain was played by the constantly grumpy Jack Albertson), "McKeever" was geared more to my pre-teen age group.

I had a "McKeever and the Colonel" comic book, probably a one-shot, and I seem to remember the story was an off-shoot of one of the episodes. Other than that, I don't remember much specifically, but I can still hum the catchy theme-song/march. :-)

I recall wishing it was me in one of the key roles . . . of course I was 9 at the time. And whenever it was McKeever time every kid in the neighborhood raced off to the TV to watch. It was a show that placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of kids. In the show the young cadets had responsibilities, unlike in real life the responsibilities of a young child didn't seem as noble. It was also the first time I recall being really impressed with the cleverness of a youth (as I was then) to prevail over an adult. Of course there were other shows where youths prevailed over adults but those shows lacked roles a child could identify with. I never lost my love of the show and have searched for episodes available for purchase. Maybe someday someone someplace may have some for sale.