‘Heroes’ Provide Travelers’ Aid for Escapists

Quit taking “Hogan’s Heroes” for granted. You think that because you’ve seen some of the episodes you’ve seen them all. You haven’t.

The pilot, called “The Informer,” holds a few surprises. And a scheduling coincidence gives you two chances to see it today: KDOC-TV Channel 56 airs it at 7:30 p.m.; cable channel TV Land shows it at 2 p.m.

“The Informer” sets up the series: In 1942, Col. Hogan (Bob Crane) and his men--Frenchman LeBeau (Robert Clary, who was an inmate at a Nazi death camp), Briton Newkirk (Richard Dawson) and American Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon, who later became a director)--are POWs who want to be at Stalag 13 so they can get other captured Allied soldiers back to safety. (It’s sort of like “Robin Hood” combined with “The Great Escape” that has a happy ending.)

The operation--which Hogan refers to as a “travelers’ aid society”--provides contacts, forged papers and money and civilian clothes, as well as haircuts and manicures. The prisoners who stay put are also taken care of with gourmet meals--courtesy of LeBeau--and a steam room so the pounds they put on from those meals don’t make their captors suspicious.

Hogan’s 499th customer is Larry Hovis, who plays Sgt. Andrew Carter (Hogan’s demolitions expert) in the series. In “The Informer,” he’s a lieutenant just passing through.

Generally, things are the same as they are in the 1965-71 series. The bribe-taking barracks guard is Sgt. Schultz (John Banner), who knows nuh-THINK!, and Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) knows as little but won’t admit it.

The German shepherds are pussycats. Somebody is always screwing things up by making coffee in the coffeepot (it’s the speaker for a bug planted in Klink’s office). And, as Klink is forever reminding his superiors, there has never been a successful escape from Stalag 13.

DETAILS, DETAILS: Which “Hogan’s Heroes” stars were regulars on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”? Answer next week. The answer to last week’s quiz (What songwriter co-starred for a year on the western “Laramie”?): Hoagy Carmichael, who wrote “Star Dust” and “Georgia on My Mind.”