Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

1964

Seasons & Episodes

  • 5
  • 4
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  • 1
7| TV-G| en| More Info
Released: 25 September 1964 Ended
Producted By:
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy Griffith Show on May 18, 1964. The show ran for five seasons and a total of 150 episodes. In 2006, CBS Home Entertainment began releasing the series on DVD. The final season was released in November 2008. The series was created by Aaron Ruben, who also produced the show with Sheldon Leonard and Ronald Jacobs. Filmed and set in California, it stars Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, a naive but good-natured gas-station attendant from the town of Mayberry, North Carolina, who enlists in the United States Marine Corps. Frank Sutton plays Gomer's high-octane, short-fused Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter, and Ronnie Schell plays Gomer's friend Gilbert "Duke" Slater. Allan Melvin played in the recurring role of Gunnery Sergeant Carter's rival, Sergeant Charley Hacker. The series never discussed nor addressed the then-current Vietnam War, instead focusing on the relationship between Gomer and Sergeant Carter. The show retained high ratings throughout its run.

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Comedy, Family

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Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Audience Reviews

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
MovieBuffMarine I grew up on the re-runs when local independent TV stations (known for mostly re-runs) were still common and later when TBS started showing the program. I got a lot of laughs from this show.I went on to serve in the real Marine Corps for ten years. While this show has many many technical military errors, I still get a good laugh of the comedy of the show. It's a great way to lighten up!The military aspect this show really gets right is the relationships between the sergeants and the junior enlisted men and/or the officers and the rest of the unit; for a funny show they kept that aspect believable of who was in charge and who was being led.Jim Nabors in the title role gave us a departure from the quintessential portrayals of Marines from that era; instead of a hard-charging, squared away, by-the-book hero, we got someone from the other end of the spectrum whose heart is in the right place when it comes to the military, but serves in a bumbling way! If you didn't take this show too seriously or (if you were in the service) if you weren't too gung ho, this show brought you the laughs that it should.While I echo some of the sentiments of the other reviewers like, "The Military Was Never this Funny" I also see that we have to step down and laugh a little too! Military service is serious business, hands down, but it don't mean we have to be mindless robots de-void of humor!Also. . .yes, Gomer didn't go to Vietnam, nor was it ever mentioned as the war went on as the show did; I saw in a documentary (about the military) that TV shows of the time avoided including Vietnam in their shows for fear of low viewership and ratings as that was an unpopular war. That war may have helped in its cancellation as well even if it wasn't mentioned as the American public wanted no reminders.No matter your view of the military, whether you served or not, this show provided many laughs so long as you didn't take it seriously.
yocsmotel There were two major reasons -- no, three, this cornball show succeeded.1. Like Gilligan's Island, it allowed the brain to switch off completely. 1/2 hour of this was equal to at least two hours of deep sleep.2. While the Vietnam War raged, these "Marines" focused on something that looked like an endless slow-paced boot camp, marching in formation and policing the area, doing field training ad nauseum, and shouting "GOLL-LY." It just made you feel good about how calm and placid things really were as American boys were getting their heads blown off by Charlie snipers.3. All the old Grandmas loved their boy Jim Nabors--oh his beautiful untrained operatic voice, his boyish grin, on and on. Even if they were a little secretly bothered that they heard something about Rock Hudson.
Conagher_1880 "Gomer Pyle, USMC" is the quintessential 1960's-era escapist service comedy. Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) was a naive Marine private (and later PFC) from North Carolina who joins the Marines to see the world. His DI is a tough, decorated (look at the rack of ribbons on his uniform to see just HOW decorated he is) Gunnery Sergeant named Vince Carter (Frank Sutton). Carter is Marine to the core (no pun), and Pyle is a, well....well meaning, shall we say.....but not too swift Marine. Oddly enough, although Pyle is a bumbler, he's apparently a good Marine. He follows orders to the best of his ability, looks out for his buddies, respects NCO's and officers, is a good shot (his marksmanship badge is that of Rifle Expert), and performs extra duties for the Corps. His sole drawback is that he's not exceptionally bright."Gomer Pyle, USMC" never makes mention of Vietnam, and indeed, the utilities worn by the Marines in the series have a very distinct WWII flair about them (they are the pre-McNamara era Marine Corps utilities, not the all-service OG-107s issued post-1962), and no one carries an M-14 or M-16...all rifles shown (except for the parade deck sequences where M-14s are visible) are M-1 Garands. None of the Marines in the series display Vietnam Service or Vietnam Campaign ribbons on either their khakis or their blues....and forest greens are nowhere to be seen. In a sense, it's as if the Vietnam War wasn't even taking place. (My own opinion is this: While I wouldn't mind having Pyle in my platoon if I were in someplace like Hue City or Quang Tri, I'm not so sure I'd want Gunny Carter in my platoon. If he couldn't get Pyle to be a bit more disciplined, I doubt he'd be much good under fire.)As I said, this was escapist comedy, and the shame of it is that it ultimately did a disservice to the Armed Forces. A good service comedy should show the military as being capable of humor, but not as being near incompetent. I could see MSgt. Ernie Bilko fighting the Japanese during WWII, and probably the Chinese in Korea....his wise-ass attitude showed a sergeant who was tough on the inside. Colonel Hogan was believable as a bomber pilot....heck, even "Major Dad" was believable as a Marine....and I could almost see Maj. Nelson on "I Dream of Jeannie" in the cockpit of an operational aircraft! The Marines on "Gomer Pyle," however, struck me as being a Boy Scout troop with M-1s.**SPOILER?** A couple years back, Jim Nabors was honored by the Marine Corps for his part in promoting a generally positive image of the Corps by having PFC Gomer Pyle promoted to Lance Corporal. Although Pyle was a buffoon, he at least tried to be a good Marine. And, he was a decent guy, so what's to complain about? Basically, my own military service wasn't as funny as Pyle's, but then....real life isn't a sitcom.
raysond "Gomer Pyle,USMC" ran for five seasons on CBS-TV from September 25, 1964 to May 2, 1969. In all 150 episodes were produced. The 26 black and white episodes for Season 1 ran from September 25,1964 until April 16,1965. The 124 Color episodes for Seasons 2 thru 5 aired from ran from September 17,1965 until May 2, 1969. "Gomer Pyle" aired on Friday nights for its first two seasons and later on the series was moved to Wednesday nights for Season 3 and for its last two seasons went back to Friday nights. Created by Aaron Ruben and produced by Sheldon Leonard, Edward S. Feldman along with Andy Griffith and Danny Thomas.The originally came for this series was during one of the episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" titled "Gomer Joins The Marines",where Jim Nabors' character of Gomer Pyle was being intitated into the United States Marine Corps where Gomer comes face to face with his drill Sargent,Vincent Carter played by Frank Sutton. But how in the heck did Gomer Pyle,a backwoods lack of common sense individual from the sticks of Mayberry,North Carolina go from a gas station attendant at Wally's service station to the title of a United States Marine? That is anybody's guess,but Gomer was one of the least brightest,if not one of the most nicest Marines you'll ever meet. But if you notice he acted femimine sometimes too especially around the barracks and most of the time giving Sargeant Carter one heck of a time putting them into one predicament after another. And if you thought of couldn't get any worse here comes Gomer after the end of each episode to either say something stupid in front of his platoon Sargent or to goof things up. Nice but stupid. Carter was always giving Gomer a hard time,but somewhere down the line,especially with the Marines he got it right,but still Carter shouts at him anyway. In some of the episodes,you would always find Gomer in a tight spot,but is always there to lend a helping hand,but there was episode I do recall where Gomer was messing around with a underage girl by taking her on a date. In this day and age,no servicemen in the Armed Forces wouldn't be caught dead messing around with an underage girl,and Gomer should know better. There was episodes were Gomer would occasionally goof-off but you still had his fellow recruits to help him and sometimes under the watchful eye of Sargeant Carter and also Colonel Gray who was on their case all the time. There was always a predicament in each of their escapades,but they sometimes before the end of the episode got it right.Even after five seasons,and when the show went off the airwaves in 1969, all of the buddies that live in the barracks were promoted and moved on from Sargeant Carter,but Gomer? He was still a private in the Marines,after five seasons. The show was created by the talent team of Sheldon Leonard,Ronald Jacobs,and sometimes produced by Sheldon Leonard and Aaron Ruben and also by Andy Griffith himself,who was the show's executive producer. The black and white episodes from the first season(1964-1965) including the forgotten pilot episode were very hilarious with Gomer getting into all kinds of mischief on the barracks and off the base,but the color episodes(1965-1969)were funny during its first two seasons,but faded after the show's fifth and final season. As for the rest of his barrack buddies who was with Gomer during their five years of service consisted of regulars and guest stars that appear on the show.................It also provided a brilliant showcase for Jim Nabors as well,since he had a great singing voice and he got the chance to sing in some of the episodes. But the show was a smash hit too due to the comical timing of Frank Sutton and Jim Nabors as well.Ted Bessell-played Pvt. Lombardi during the 1965-66 season. He went on to star opposite Marlo Thomas in "That Girl",also produced by Sheldon Leonard,Danny Thomas,and Ronald Jacobs.Larry Hovis-played Pvt. Gotschalk during the show's first season. He went on to star in the WWII sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" with Bob Crane.Allan Melvin- played Carter's buddy Sgt. Hacker and was a guest regular on "The Andy Griffith Show" and later on "All In The Family". Was also the voiceovers for several animated cartoons. Ronnie Schell-played Gomer's best friend Pvt. Duke Slater and would stay on throughout the show's entire run.Forrest Compton-played the head honco of the barracks-Colonel Gray.The guest stars on the roster? Everyone from Lucille Ball to Carol Burnett and even Sammy Davis,Jr. was on this show.After "Gomer Pyle,USMC" left the airwaves in 1969,CBS executives gave Jim Nabors has own hour-long variety series which lasted one season. Frank Sutton and even Don Knotts were guest regulars on the show.And in these days and times,never ever called a Marine a "Gomer",especially if your on a Army base full of Marines.