As we continue with our theme of Military Upended where we are taking a lot at several military sitcoms, today we delve into Mister Roberts.

This series was based on a novel of the same name from 1946. The novel became a play in 1948 and a movie was released in 1955. A decade later, it hit the television air waves.

The show was set in World War II and follows the crew of the USS Reluctant AK-601 cargo ship, which the men called “The Bucket.” Like F-Troop that we discussed last week, it was a Warner Brothers show, produced by William T. Orr.

Lieutenant Roberts (Roger Smith) wasn’t happy on a cargo ship and wanted to be directly involved in the war. Ensign Pulver (Steve Harmon) tried to make things fun on the ship. Like McHale’s Navy, the entire crew was happy to stymie Captain Morton (Richard X. Slattery) in all of his efforts. Roberts wrote letters asking for reassignment to active duty, but they were all intercepted by Captain Morton and never sent.

Rounding out the cast was Doc (George Ives), Seamen Reber (Ray Reese), D’Angelo (Richard Sinatra), and Mannion (Ronald Starr).

The theme song was composed by Frank Perkins. Perkins had more than 70 music credits; he composed all the music for Hawaiian Eye.

The show debuted on NBC on Friday nights. Its competition was The Smothers Brothers Show and The Farmer’s Daughter. The Smothers Brothers Show followed three very popular shows. The Wild Wild West (a top 40) began the night, with Hogan’s Heroes and Gomer Pyle USMC, both top ten shows, following. I’m guessing many viewers stayed with CBS all evening, and if they did not, perhaps after watching two military sitcoms, they were ready to watch something different the rest of the night.

It sounds like this show could not draw viewers and could never it the same quality that the movie provided, so it was cancelled after the first season. Jack Lemmon won the Oscar for his role in the big-screen version. In 1984 a made-for-television movie was aired based on the play. I guess they just wanted to make it successful somehow. Currently, it’s not available for streaming. If you do have fond memories of this one, let me know.