Operation ‘F Troop’

Is there anyone out there who admits to watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island”? Or “Green Acres”? What about “I Dream of Jeannie”?

Yet those series all live on healthily in syndication. It’s clear that someone is tuning in, if in secret.

Well, it’s guilty pleasure time once more. Nick at Nite has unearthed F Troop, one of the dumbest, silliest comedies from the 1960s. And probably every baby boomer in TV Land watched it religiously the first time around. “F Troop” marches into the Nick lineup Saturday.

“F Troop,” which aired on ABC from September, 1965 to August, 1967, wasn’t a major hit and never cracked the Top 25 during its two years on the air.

The series, which can be described as sort of a “Dances With Buffoons,” followed the post-Civil War antics of the soldiers of Fort Courage, which was located somewhere west of the Missouri River.

Before his “Mayberry R.F.D.” days, Ken Berry starred as the Troop’s bumbling C.O., Capt. Parmenter, who has been promoted during the waning days of the Civil War after he accidentally led a charge in the wrong direction--toward the enemy. Veteran character actor Forrest Tucker played Sgt. Morgan O’Rourke, who had secretly negotiated a treaty with the Hekawi Indians to sell their souvenirs to tourists. Comic-impressionist Larry Storch was on hand as Cpl. Randolph Agarn, O’Rourke’s aide, and perky Melody Patterson was Wrangler Jane, who had her heart set on marrying Parmenter.

“‘F Troop” featured a a stable of comedic legends in guest-starring roles, including Edward Everett Horton as Roaring Chicken, Don Rickles as Bald Eagle, Milton Berle as an Indian detective named Wise Owl, Paul Lynde as singing Mountie Sgt. Ramsden and a pre-”Laugh-In” Henry Gibson as a jinxed trooper called Wrongo Starr.

“F Troop” airs Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. and Sundays at 9 p.m. on Nickelodeon.