As we wind up our Military Upended posts, we take a look at a show that debuted in fall of 1962 and was canceled after one season. This was a different concept of a military show. McKeever and the Colonel is the kid version of McHale’s Navy. Instead of the crew causing problems for Captain Binghamton, this one is set in a school where cadet Gary McKeever causes headaches for Colonel Blackwell.

McKeever (Scott Lane), the son of an Air Force officer, is a mischievous kid, but we often root for him because Colonel Blackwell (Allyn Joslyn) is an arrogant guy. Other characters included Sergeant Barnes (Jackie Coogan) who sympathized with the cadet, Nurse Warner (Elisabeth Fraser), and fellow cadets Monk (John Eimen) and Tubby (Keith Taylor).

While they make life difficult for the Colonel, he is fond of the boys and most of their pranks are innocent enough.

The show was on ABC on Sunday nights, which tended to be a family viewing night. It was on at 6 pm before another new military sitcom, Ensign O’Toole. Ensign O’Toole was up against Lassie, which was in the top twenty that year.

I think there were two main issues working against this show. Harvey Bullock talked about his time working on this show during his Television Academy interview. He said that he was one of the creators who developed the show. When NBC picked it up, they said they didn’t need the original writers because they had their own. After ten episodes, they called Bullock and the other writers and asked them to please come back because the show was failing miserably. Bullock said they did return, but things had gone too far, and the ratings were too bad to come back from.

In combination with the writing problems, on Sunday nights most families tended to tune in to watch Lassie, Dennis the Menace, and The Ed Sullivan Show, another top twenty series. Considering that and the fact that this show was not in the prime-time lineup may have kept it from finding the viewership it needed. Ensign O’Toole was also canceled, but ABC replayed the episodes a year later to replace another canceled show. When the fall of 1963 schedule appeared, 49 shows had been canceled from the previous year, so McKeever had plenty of company.

I wanted to like this show, but it didn’t do much for me. The episode I watched was “The Celestial Bells.” The cadets weren’t happy because a new course was added, and it was ballroom dancing. They get the idea that they can go to the infirmary and try to catch a disease from an older boy but then learn that he has a sprained ankle. When that fails, they go to the malt shop to gorge themselves on ice cream treats until they get caught by the colonel. The jokes seemed a bit flat. For example, one guy asked another cadet if he knew anything about girls, and he replied he had three sisters and they were all girls. Sergeant Barnes comes in to give the guys a pep talk about girls just as they are thinking about going AWOL. The colonel then arrives with a asst colonel who is there to make sure they change and show up at class. Of course, McKeever tries to escape into the equipment locker at the dance, but when he opens it, all the equipment falls out. Just as he’s ready to be punished, Miss Dixon, the instructor, says he will stay and dance with her and after a few minutes of dancing, he falls in love. Like I said, I really tried to like it, but given the shows on the air in 1965, this is not one I would have watched a second episode of.

The show inspired merchandise during its short time on the air. Three Dell comic books were published; Milton Bradley introduced a board game, Bamboozle; and Halco Toys issued a set that consisted of a belt with a canteen, pistol, holster, and hand grenade.

It’s not a show you hear about often anymore. The series occasionally shows up a streaming service but is not part of Netflix or Hulu. Your best bet is to watch a few episodes on YouTube.