Hogan's Heroes: The Informer

Hogan's Heroes: The Informer
CBS
September 17, 1965
Sitcom, Historical Comedy
DVD
D+

This was a series I watched as a kid, but probably even less than Gomer Pyle.  It's impossible to come to it with an open mind, to try to see a German POW camp as just another wacky sitcom setting.  Still, it's not as ghastly as I expected, except for the hyper laugh track.  I'm tagging Crane as star as the show, and Dawson because I'm a Match Game fan.  Also, I have to point out that Noam Pitlik, who plays the spy Wagner, would have a recurring role as Mr. Gianelli on The Bob Newhart Show, while I recognized Leonid Kinskey's name as both the Sylvanian Agitator in Duck Soup and Sascha in Casablanca.  (He was 62 at the time of his guest shot as a Russian here.)  Robert Butler directed four more episodes.

Note that this black & white pilot is set in '42, but the series ran for six seasons, which I guess makes it half as bad as M*A*S*H in that respect.