pensman
A true waste of a potential great cast. I have to blame the writers here. This sitcom seemed to have weekly shows minus its two chief attractions: Dean Jones and Jack Mullaney. There were several episodes that didn't even have the cast in them, just the guest star. One almost has the feeling that the cast were all waiting for their real shows to turn up. Maybe the writers sensed that and decided not to bother about scripts. Unfortunately, while most of the cast had careers, no one really made super star status. Dean Jones cranked out some Disney films but never had that one role. If anyone came close it was probably Beau Bridges. Among several service comedies, Ensign O'Toole found itself just another casualty. The show was in good company. Hennessey with Jackie Cooper, Abby Dalton, and Roscoe Karns was probably the success. Broadside with Kathleen Nolan, Mr. Roberts with Roger Smith, and Operation Petticoat with John Astin, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jim Varney ( Hi there Vern)-just sank. A few out there might recall C.P.O. Sharkey with Mr. Warmth himself, Don Rickles only set sail for two seasons. Maybe Navy comedies aren't right or write for TV. You might catch Ensign O'Toole sailing the shores of MeTV or Cozi or Decades for a few episodes and be able to try and figure out what might have been.
jimbo97-1
The only episode I can remember involved a little runaway girl who stowed away on the ship. Dean Jones sang (not bad really!) "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" to her.Great supporting cast with Jack Albertson as the captain, Harvey Lembeck, Jay C. Flippen, and even Beau Bridges (I knew I'd seen him somewhere before). :-)
winplaceshow
I do remember the Stubby Kaye episode, but I think my favorite was the "destroyer syndrome" story.IIRC, a martinet transferred in from a carrier and immediately started upsetting the natural order of the ship with his demands for excessive military order and discipline. The crew, even O'Toole, decided he had to go and they immediately started going to great lengths to convince him that spaces in a destroyer were actually much smaller than they really are, in the hope that he would request transfer back to carrier service. Of course it worked.
Ben Burgraff (cariart)
Service comedies have always been a television staple, with "Sgt. Bilko" defining the genre in the 50s, and "M.A.S.H." adding tragedy to the formula in the 70s, but the true halcyon years for military humor were, undoubtedly, the 60s, a decade that produced "Gomer Pyle, USMC", "No Time for Sergeants", "McHale's Navy", "Broadside" (a women-in-uniform comedy whose title would have feminists reeling, today), "Mister Roberts", and this 1962 entry, "Ensign O'Toole", a light but very pleasant NBC comedy that ran a little over a season before being 'discharged'.Starring a young Dean Jones as O'Toole, before he replaced Fred MacMurray as Disney's favorite leading man, the shipboard adventures generally involved schemes, concocted by rich but befuddled Lt. Rex St. John (Jack Mullaney) or conniving but likable Seaman Gabby Di Julio (Harvey Lembeck), that would inevitably fall apart, and require O'Toole's quick thinking to prevent discovery and retribution by Lt. Cmdr. Virgil Stoner (Jack Albertson, long before "Chico and the Man"). While the basic formula was predictable, veteran producer Jack Sonntag was not unwilling to experiment, occasionally offering a musical-themed episode, or a storyline geared to a guest star.A favorite episode featured guest Stubby Kaye as an obese sailor facing discharge unless he shed his excess weight. Despite O'Toole's diet and exercise regimen, the sailor seemed to be gaining weight, not losing it (he had stashed goodies all over the ship). Finally, O'Toole, realizing he couldn't 'force' Kaye to lose weight, gave him an "It's up to you" speech, which hit home. Kaye started dieting and exercising in earnest, and passed his physical, then transferred to submarine service. "If I gain weight there," he quipped, "we'll submerge!"Lacking the "Country Boy vs. Tough D.I." comic opportunities of "Gomer Pyle", or the 'Bilko'-like shenanigans of "McHale's Navy", "Ensign O'Toole" was, perhaps, too sweet-natured to become a hit series, but it could bring a smile, and was as affable as it's good-natured star.
