# Gomer Pyle - Similar Show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962 "2012-03-16T14:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deanism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Deanism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deanism)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/1 "2012-03-16T14:08:45Z")
Sixties TV sit-com ‘Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.’ was a popular show about a bumbling but lovable young marine starring Jim Nabors. I’m sure there was a similar, but inferior competitor to this show made around the same time but I just can’t think of the title. I’ve looked on a number of special TV fan sites for lists of TV shows about the military (there’s a heap!) but couldn’t spot the show I’m trying to remember. I was only a kid in the sixties but I still remember this show because the lead actor was unintentionally obnoxious! ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/2 "2012-03-16T14:21:32Z")
Unless you’re thinking of Phil Silvers, Sargeant Bilko, McHales Navy. I always thought Gomer Pyle was loosely based on the movie “No Time For Sargeants”. Andy Griffith was in that movie… Actually, pretty funny - especially when the sargeant tries to get him flushed out for being drunk by drinking the recruit under the table, only to discover several bottles later that “I never touched liquor” did not include pappy’s corn juice. > **[No Time for Sergeants (1958) ⭐ 7.5 | Comedy, War](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052005/)** > > 1h 59m | Approved Looks like they turned it into a loser TV series: > **[No Time for Sergeants (TV Series 1964–1965) ⭐ 7.0 | Comedy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057776/)** > > 30m Maybe that’s what you were thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/3 "2012-03-16T14:22:52Z")
Might you be remembering the movie _No Time For Sergeants_, starring Andy Griffith? edited to add: Looks like **md2000** might have nailed it with the TV series version. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/4 "2012-03-16T14:34:43Z")
Golly! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/5 "2012-03-16T14:37:08Z")
The similarity ought to be pretty close – the movie **No Time for Sergeants** starred Andy Griffith and Don Knotts. Andy Griffith, of course, went on to star in **The Andy Griffith Show** \*, which co-starred Don Knotts. Working at the filling station in town was Gomer Pyle. They spun off the series about a good ol’ naive but not-stupid boy in the Marines as **Gomer Pyle, USMC** , and it’d be surprising if they didn’t have No Time for Sergeants in mind when they did it. Goober (George Lindsaty) stepped in to fill Gomer’s old role. \*Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor first had a tryout on Danny Thomas’ TV show, The Danny Thomas Show/Make Room for Daddy. The ways of TV relations are interesting and strange. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/6 "2012-03-16T15:19:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > \*Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor first had a tryout on Danny Thomas’ TV show, The Danny Thomas Show/Make Room for Daddy. The ways of TV relations are interesting and strange. Multi-generational spin-off family trees are unusual, but they happen in other cases. For instance, All In The Family to Maude to Good Times. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/7 "2012-03-16T17:34:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Might you be remembering the movie _No Time For Sergeants_, starring Andy Griffith? > > edited to add: Looks like **md2000** might have nailed it with the TV series version. There was a very similar book (and maybe movie) called “See Here, Private Hargrove!” written by a guy who became a writer for TV and movies. Movies about bumbling recruits were fairly popular in the late '40s and '50s since so much of the audience had been in the armed services. McHale’s Navy and Bilko were more about people scamming the system rather than being befuddled by the system. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/8 "2012-03-16T17:38:00Z")
Moved GQ --\> Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/9 "2012-03-16T18:13:43Z")
You might be thinking of the TV version of No Time for Sergeants which featured one of the the Stockwell boys IIRC. ETA: [Here it is](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057776/). Not a Stockwell though. I may have been thrown by the character’s name. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/10 "2012-03-16T19:08:10Z")
Actually, **No Time for Sergeants** was not a bad TV show, and certainly better than **Gomer Pyle**. The main difference was that Gomer was not particularly bright, but Will Stockdale usually succeeded by being either smart or by using his knowledge and skills. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/11 "2012-03-16T19:29:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Actually, **No Time for Sergeants** was not a bad TV show, and certainly better than **Gomer Pyle**. The main difference was that Gomer was not particularly bright, but Will Stockdale usually succeeded by being either smart or by using his knowledge and skills. I can only recall one scene from the show. I believe the unit was in survival training, and couldn’t find any food. Stockdale rubbed his hands on some berries, then washed his hands in a pond, and fish began floating upside down on the surface. Gomer would have accidently pulled the pin on a handgrenade, and then Sgt. Carter would have grabbed it and thrown it in the pond. Same result, way different approaches. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/12 "2012-03-16T21:58:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Unless you’re thinking of Phil Silvers, Sargeant Bilko, McHales Navy. > I always thought Gomer Pyle was loosely based on the movie “No Time For Sargeants”. Andy Griffith was in that movie… Actually, pretty funny - especially when the sargeant tries to get him flushed out for being drunk by drinking the recruit under the table, only to discover several bottles later that “I never touched liquor” did not include pappy’s corn juice. > [No Time for Sergeants (1958) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052005/) > > Looks like they turned it into a loser TV series: > [No Time for Sergeants (TV Series 1964–1965) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057776/) > Maybe that’s what you were thinking of. I think I saw this movie a _looong_ time ago on late night TV. It contains a scene were Griffith rigs all the toilet seats to flip up at attention for inspection by some officer, right? Was pretty funny… ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/13 "2012-03-16T22:07:58Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I think I saw this movie a _looong_ time ago on late night TV. It contains a scene were Griffith rigs all the toilet seats to flip up at attention for inspection by some officer, right? Was pretty funny… That’s the one. Occasionally when something electronic is acting up, I’ll pretend to spit on it, whack it on the top, and holler “Hello!” And then wonder why people are looking at me so strangely. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/14 "2012-03-16T22:38:57Z")
There was also a short lived sitcom that starred Don Rickles as a Navy boot camp leader called **CPO Sharkey**. You can’t get more obnoxious than Don Rickles. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/15 "2012-03-16T23:34:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The main difference was that Gomer was not particularly bright, but Will Stockdale usually succeeded by being either smart or by using his knowledge and skills. Mu memory is that the TV version of NTFS had Will Stockdale as a near superhero. He didn’t fight crime but he had “country strength” let him lift two guys up by their collars, raise cars without a jack, or bend steel bars. As a kid, I dug that, and wanted the show to play it up more. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/16 "2012-03-17T01:57:38Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > There was also a short lived sitcom that starred Don Rickles as a Navy boot camp leader called **CPO Sharkey**. You can’t get more obnoxious than Don Rickles. Sharkey was in the late 70s. The one I though of is **Rango** , starring Tim Conway as a bumbling Texas Ranger in the 1800s. This show aired in the 60s. mmm ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/17 "2012-03-17T06:40:11Z")
I have nothing to add, other than to chip in one of my favorite bits of trivia: The screenplay for _No Time For Sergeants_ was based on a stage adaptation by Ira Levin, who became better known for later works like _Rosemary’s Baby_, _The Stepford Wives_, and _The Boys From Brazil_. I guess it took him a while to find his niche. ---
**Author:** ![Deanism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Deanism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deanism)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/18 "2012-03-17T10:10:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Might you be remembering the movie _No Time For Sergeants_, starring Andy Griffith? > > edited to add: Looks like **md2000** might have nailed it with the TV series version. Genius! That’s it. Yes, I couldn’t remember that being the title but when I checked it on YouTube the first scene on the list was exactly the one I remembered. Strange, he doesn’t seem as obnoxious as I remember - but perhaps that’s just because so many ‘celebrities’ today are obnoxious anyway. Thanks for all the other posters with extra suggestions and info. I love you all. I’m gunna cry. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gomer-pyle-similar-show/615962/19 "2012-03-17T11:46:56Z")
_Car 54 Where Are You_ was almost the same show as Gomer. Substitute Police uniforms for Marine uniforms. Police cars for jeeps. Car 54 starred Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis before they made the Munsters.