|
This page does not adhere to the layout guide.
Please help the ABC Wiki by editing this page to be conform the set layout guidelines. |
F Troop is an ABC network sitcom series created by Seaman Jacobs, Ed James & Jim Barnett.
The show aired from September 14, 1965 to April 6, 1967, lasting for two seasons & 65 episodes.
Plot[]
The accidentally heroic and chronically inept Wilton Parmenter is given command of Fort Courage, a dumping ground for the Army's least useful men, at the end of the Civil War.
There, Parmenter contends with the illegal business enterprises of crafty Sergeant O'Rourke and the local Indians, occasional mock (and even more occasionally real) battles, and the romantic attentions of Wrangler Jane Angelica Thrift.
Cast[]
- Forrest Tucker as Sergeant Morgan Sylvester O'Rourke
- Ken Berry as Captain Wilton Parmenter
- Larry Storch as Corporal Randolph Agarn
- Melody Patterson as Wrangler Jane Angelica Thrift
- Frank de Kova as Chief Wild Eagle
- James Hampton as Bugler Private Hannibal Shirley Dobbs
- Bob Steele as Trooper Duffy
- Joe Brooks as Trooper Vanderbilt
Production[]
"F Troop" relied heavily on character-based humor; verbal and visual gags, slapstick, physical comedy and burlesque comedy make up.
The entire series was shot on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California.
Melody Patterson had lied about her age to get the part of Wrangler Jane. She was 15 years old at the time of her audition, but turned 16 by the time filming started. As a result, the romance between Jane and Parmenter was kept very low key during the first season.
By the time production of the second season started, Patterson had turned 17 years old and Parmenter's affections were made stronger and Jane was made more sexually aggressive (Patterson was 10 days short of turning 18 years old when the last episode was aired).
The ratings for "F Troop" were still healthy after the second year (ranked #40 out of 113 shows for the 1966-67 season, with a 31.3 share), but according to Tucker, Warner Bros.' new owners, Seven Arts, discontinued production because they thought it was wasteful for so much of the Warner Ranch to be taken up by a single half-hour TV show.
Producer William Orr says the studio was also unhappy with the added costs of producing the show in color during its second season.