# What was the best episode of McHale's Navy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 14, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115 "2016-02-14T14:26:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/1 "2016-02-14T14:26:35Z")
In response to Cicero’s post in the “Gilligan’s Island” thread.
Maybe the one with “He’s the Tiger of the Pacific, Quentin McHale!”
_“You’re not from Massachusetts, are you?”_ :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/2 "2016-02-14T14:54:39Z")
“Mchale, Desk Commando”. Raquel Welch in a bathing suit (she plays a nurse).
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/3 "2016-02-14T14:58:17Z")
The one(s) where they build a bar out of an abandoned outpost.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/4 "2016-02-14T15:01:07Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#):
>
> “Mchale, Desk Commando”. Raquel Welch in a bathing suit (she plays a nurse).
I’m partial to the one where Sue Ann Langdon plays a Russian officer in a sarong. :o
_“No Sherman tank was ever built like **that**!”_
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/5 "2016-02-14T15:02:21Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#):
>
> The one(s) where they build a bar out of an abandoned outpost.
Too specific. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/6 "2016-02-14T15:31:59Z")
The one where Gruber broke the rules and McHale had to keep Lead bottom from finding out.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/7 "2016-02-14T18:41:19Z")
Rule Number Seventeen of 1960s sit-coms:
“The episode where the mad scientist switches their brains all around is _de facto_ the best episode of the series.”
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/8 "2016-02-14T19:01:01Z")
I liked the one where Tim Conway acted like a dufus and Joe Flynn did an extended slow burn.
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### Author:  [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/9 "2016-02-15T16:56:00Z")
> [@Scumpup](#):
>
> I liked the one where Tim Conway acted like a dufus and Joe Flynn did an extended slow burn.
Isn’t that the one where Gruber tries to pull a shady deal and McHale ends up getting the guys out of trouble?
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/10 "2016-02-15T17:08:52Z")
I kind of liked the episode where Fuji got to go off with the Japanese American unit in Europe. I was worried what would happen to him when they were in Italy. Was that the last episode?
It was a silly, formulaic show, and I loved watching it when I was a kid. I loved Tim Conway doing his shtick, and pretty much all of the guys, great comedy because it was all about the laughs, no time wasted on character development. Simple but pure comedy.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/11 "2016-02-15T17:51:08Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#):
>
> Isn’t that the one where Gruber tries to pull a shady deal and McHale ends up getting the guys out of trouble?
I think you got that confused with the episode of \*F-Troop \*where Agarn tries to pull a shady deal and O’Rourke ends up getting the guys out of trouble.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/12 "2016-02-15T18:04:23Z")
What ep did the Man From Atlantis show up in?
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/13 "2016-02-15T18:25:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> I think you got that confused with the episode of \*F-Troop \*where Agarn tries to pull a shady deal and O’Rourke ends up getting the guys out of trouble.
No, you’re confusing it with that episode of I Dream of Jeannie where Roger tries to pull a shady deal and Tony ends up getting everybody out of trouble.
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### Author:  [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/14 "2016-02-15T19:02:35Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I kind of liked the episode where Fuji got to go off with the Japanese American unit in Europe. I was worried what would happen to him when they were in Italy. Was that the last episode?
>
> It was a silly, formulaic show, and I loved watching it when I was a kid. I loved Tim Conway doing his shtick, and pretty much all of the guys, great comedy because it was all about the laughs, no time wasted on character development. Simple but pure comedy.
“War, Italian Style”. It was the 1st episode of the 4th season when the PT command was transferred to Italy. Fortunately Fugi had a 2nd cousin with the 442nd Japanese-American “Go for Broke” Regiment
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/15 "2016-02-15T19:35:23Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> In response to Cicero’s post in the “Gilligan’s Island” thread.
>
> Maybe the one with “He’s the Tiger of the Pacific, Quentin McHale!”
>
> _“You’re not from Massachusetts, are you?”_ :dubious:
I came here to post that one. Especially loved Binghamton in the chorus singing his heart out, after they’d changed the lyrics to make sure McHale _wasn’t_ selected:
_McHale’s worse than Captain Bligh
He’s a low-down creep, rotten guy_
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/16 "2016-02-15T19:38:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> It was a silly, formulaic show, and I loved watching it when I was a kid. I loved Tim Conway doing his shtick, and pretty much all of the guys, great comedy because it was all about the laughs, no time wasted on character development. Simple but pure comedy.
I wouldn’t say there was no character development. We gradually learned things about the different characters (Christy’s fiancee, Gruber’s background as a con man, McHale’s past with Molly, Parker’s family back home, and so on) as time went by, just as in real life.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/17 "2016-02-15T19:41:08Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#):
>
> I came here to post that one. Especially loved Binghamton in the chorus singing his heart out, after they’d changed the lyrics to make sure McHale _wasn’t_ selected:
>
> _McHale’s worse than Captain Bligh
> He’s a low-down creep, rotten guy_
I also particularly liked the one with the Brits, where they kept calling Old Leadbottom “Captain BingHAMPton.”
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/18 "2016-02-15T20:57:02Z")
Citing ‘best’ episodes of 60’s sitcoms is akin to keeping track of slow pitch softball league game stats, discussing vintage years of RC cola, or making urination a Nobel Prize category.
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### Author:  [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/19 "2016-02-16T03:33:48Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Citing ‘best’ episodes of 60’s sitcoms is akin to keeping track of slow pitch softball league game stats, discussing vintage years of RC cola, or making urination a Nobel Prize category.
Citing ‘best’ episodes of 21st century sitcoms is like trying to figure out which Kardashian is the least sleazy.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-best-episode-of-mchales-navy/746115/20 "2016-02-16T04:53:47Z")
The one where they torpedo the Japanese sub and it busts in two on the surface. That one was amazing!
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