McHale's Navy: Season One

A bafflingly successful 1960s sitcom, McHale's Navy was more amiable than funny during its four-season run; 40-plus years later, it feels the same. Set in the South Pacific during World War II (a fact easy to forget, given how little time is devoted to fighting the Japanese), McHale's Navy starred Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale, the good-natured skipper of Navy PT boat 73 and ringmaster to a crew of seafaring clowns led by bumbling Ensign Charles Parker (Tim Conway). Passing the time on their own private island, these fun-loving sailors are less worried about the enemy than they are about their blustery commanding officer, Captain Wallace Binghamton (Joe Flynn), who's determined to get rid of McHale and his discipline-challenged men. And that's about the long and short of it: this five-disc boxed set includes all 36 episodes (each remarkably similar) of the 1962-63 season, as well as a reunion featurette with the crew. Optional. (E. Hulse)