Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

For those of us who were very young and just discovering the fun of watching TV comedies with our parents you couldn't ask for better shows than the Andy Griffith Show and it's spin-offs. Perhaps the best spin-off show was Gomer Pyle USMC. It's excellence is due primarily to the chemistry between Jim Nabors and Frank Sutton. The writing was good too, but these pros made that easier because they could carry the load so effectively.

Of course the show's formula was lifted wholesale from the already successful Andy Griffith's comedic career. That formula started, as far as I know, with Andy's routine called "What It Was Was Football" which I still think of when I see a "big orange" soda (Crush or similar ilk)! It was honed further by the movie "No Time For Seargeants" and then refined for sitcoms in The Andy Griffith Show. American loved the formula so as long as it was changed enough to camouflage the sameness...Success was almost guaranteed.

Oh yeah, the formula was basically exploiting, in a kind way, the innocence of someone who was naive and stripped of all pretension. It worked to the "nth-degree" with Jim Nabors as Gomer! He was so believable that it likely sabotaged him after his stint as Gomer. That can happen when a character is so fully inhabited by an actor who is both a great actor and is so well suited for a persona that you see this as the person's natural persona. In spite of this, I see his whole acting career as a qualified success due to the fact this show will continued to loved by millions more around the world...Especially now that it's out on DVD.

Simply put, "they don't make 'em like they used to" and this is truly a gem of a series.

BEING A Spin off from THE ANDY GRIFFITH show, even before anyone had even heard of a "spinoff"; GOMER PYLE, U.S.M.C. successfully walked a tight rope to sitcom immortality. Going on and staying on CBS for a full 5 years was no small accomplishment.

THE "TIGHTROPE" OF which we speak was that certain balance that the production team sought and managed to maintain throughout the series run. This balance was one of seeking a sort of middle of the road approach to Gomer's persona.

HAVING ORIGINATED AS a stock character hillbilly and employed as an assistant mechanic & grease monkey; the character Gomer's main function was to provide the show with some of its most obvious laughs. Hence, the other supporting characters, such Barney, Floyd, Otis and even Ernest T. Bass, would seem, at least comparatively, smarter.

NOW, WITH THE advent of the GOMER PYLE Series, the production team was presented with a problem of minor personality modification. This "surgery" was a necessary evil for the ultimate success of the show. If left as he appeared on ANDY GRIFFITH, his inherent stupidity would be an insurmountable obstacle to believability and success.

IN RE-INVENTING Gomer's personality (or at least in adjusting it), the writers made Pyle more of an innocent and literalistic (much like Andy Griffith's characterization of 'Will Stockdale' in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS). Added to this, they emphasized a sort "Heart of Gold" tendency of our hero. This greatly enhanced their ability to make a premise last for the full half hour.

SPEAKING OF FAR-OUT characterizations, what about that of Sergeant Vince Carter. Being portrayed by an under-appreciated dramatic actor (Frank Sutton), it at first seems that this Sergeant is Gomer's eternal Drill Instructor (aka "D.I.") His involvement with the story lines, however, also required a toning down for the good Sergeant Carter's attitudes, personality and actions.

WITH THE OBVIOUS blessing of the United States Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, those opening and closing sequences using hundreds of real marching Marines, that serve as a backdrop for Sgt. Carter's hard-boiled shouts and gesturing and Pyule's silly laugh-talking.

THIS SEEMED TO be an exercise in the unbelievable; as it was the era of the Vietnam War. We don't really know how to describe this; other than "Dicotomy" and "Paradox."

This was one of the funniest shows of the 1960's. This took the premise of putting the very innocent and naive Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith show and putting him into the the greatest killing machine ever. The thing that made this show great was not only his interaction with Sergeant Carter, but with other people as well. The situations that Gomer would get into as a result of his naive nature helped to make this show the classic that it was. Also, Frank Sutton created one of the classic characters in the history of television in Sergeant Carter. Not only could Carter be easily exasperated, but in a lot of instances he also could be seen as more of a big brother to Gomer as he bumbled his way through his hitch in the marines.

In 1965 the Gomer Pyle, USMC show was switched from black and white to color. It was necessary to film the color guard and opening and closing scenes for the show in color. This was done at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, in June, 1965. I was in the recruit platoon used for the filming and I am the young Marine marching directly behind Gomer in those scenes. During most of the brief scene Sgt. Carter is between me and the camera, however the angle changes just before the scene closes. We marched from 0730 until 1430 that day just to get those few seconds of film. The platoon was Plt. 130, 1st Recruit Btn. As a side note, during a break in the filming, Frank Sutton (Sgt. Carter) asked me if I ever smiled. Being the young, indoctrinated, Gung Ho recruit I was, my reply was, "Yes Sir. When my Drill Instructor tells me to, sir!" Frank Sutton Rolled his eyes and said to Jim Nabors, "I forgot where we were for a second". After my stint in the Marine Corps, I went into law enforcement and spent more time in front of a TV camera than I cared to. I'm now retired and enjoying life to the fullest.

I been a fan of this show ever since it's debut in 1964, I was ten years old. I sure did laugh at all the things that Gomer got into and even though Sergent Carter yell at Gomer alot, I knew that deep down inside he really like the country boy from Mayberry North Carolina