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CPO SHARKEY was hilarious and deserved a better fate. It was the sitcom that came closest to matching the man's comedic gifts with the material.
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Undaunted by his earlier failures, Rickles was back in his third television series in 1976. “CPO Sharkey” starred Rickles as “U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Otto Sharkey,” an abrasive, sharp-tongued veteran in charge of a company of new seaman recruits on a San Diego naval base. Rickles (who in real-life served in the Navy during World War II) was famous for his jokes about various ethnicities, and the show was designed to let him do what he did best. Towards that end, the young company of recruits consisted of “Daniels,” an African-American; “Kowalski,” a Polish-American; “Skolnick,” a Jewish-American; “Mignone,” an Italian-American; and “Rodriguez,” a Puerto Rican. Sharkey's best friend on the base was “CPO Dave Robinson” (Harrison Page), who was African-American. Sharkey's assistant, “Seaman Lester Pruitt” (Peter Isacksen), was a 6' 7" Southerner who shared his simple-minded homilies to the uninterested CPO.
“CPO Sharkey” premiered for NBC on Wednesday, 1 December 1976, as a mid-season replacement for the failing sitcom “The Practice,” which had starred Danny Thomas and David Spielberg as a father and son doctor team in New York City. For its first seven episodes, “CPO Sharkey” was up against the popular shows “The Bionic Woman (#14) on ABC and the Jimmy Walker sitcom “Good Times” (#26) on CBS. For its second seven episodes, NBC moved the series to an hour later at 9 PM. That placed it opposite the even more popular shows “Baretta” (#8) on ABC and “All In the Family” (#12) on CBS. Facing this level of competition, it wasn’t surprising that “CPO Sharkey” did not appear on NBC’s fall schedule for the 1977-78 season. But the network kept the show in reserve.
In a strange turn of fate, NBC’s ratings juggernaut “Sanford and Son” (which had crushed Rickles' prior CBS sitcom) fell on hard times when its co-stars Redd Foxx (“Fred”) and Demond Wilson (“Lamont”) both decided to leave the show after the 1976-77 season. In hopes of keeping the show alive, NBC reformatted the show as “Sanford Arms,” explaining that Fred and Lamont had moved to Phoenix, and that their property had been purchased by new owner Teddy Wilson (as new character “Phil Wheeler”). Much of the rest of the cast remained (Whitman Mayo, LaWanda Page). But “Sanford Arms” was no “Sanford and Son,” and it faltered against the competition: “Donnie and Marie” on ABC and Lynda Carter’s “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman” on CBS. “Sanford Arms” aired only 4 episodes before it was cancelled.
Riding to NBC’s rescue to replace “Sanford Arms” in the 8PM Friday time slot was “CPO Sharkey.” Because it started its replacement duties so early in the season (21 October 1977), the show had a full 22 episode run in its second season. But it still did not provide NBC with a winning formula for its time slot, and “CPO Sharkey” was cancelled for good after its second season.
And does anybody remember the time when Johnny Carson stormed onto the set of "C.P.O. Sharkey" to complain about when Rickles broke his cigarette box when Bob Newhart hosted the show? My all time favorite bit with Rickles from "The Tonight Show"!!!
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Rickles was the voice of a frog in the 2011 Kevin James comedy ZOOKEEPER. Frank Coraci directed the film. The score by Rupert Gregson-Williams did not get a release.
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Posted: |
Apr 8, 2017 - 11:50 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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On Wednesday, November 19, 1975 at 10:00 PM, CBS presented a one-hour special simply called "Rickles". This special featured Don Rickles, along with a distinguished pack of celebrities and friends, performing what Rickles described as "a book show and the most outspoken thing I've ever done with my humor. I don't pull any punches. It's Don Rickles as seen through an alter ego as he tries to gain admission to heaven." Highlights of the show included the following:
as Rickles makes his way to the stage, he becomes upset with the music the orchestra is playing;
his alter-ego who is backstage makes sure he doesn't mess up or prolong a joke too long;
Rickles harasses a man of Arabian heritage who is sitting in the crowd;
the host, with the help of some of his celebrity friends, sings a song entitled "I'm a Nice Guy" about his personality on and off the stage;
Rickles demonstrates a ceremonial praying session;
he talks about his wife and the ugly women in the audience;
Rickles joins Michele Lee in a song and dance number through the streets of Las Vegas entitled "It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish" from the Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields musical "Seesaw";
he has a vision of what heaven is like and how much trouble he will have getting in;
after realizing the struggle of getting into heaven, he turns to hell and even has a problem getting in there;
the program concludes with Rickles and Jack Klugman giving a dramatic interpretation of a scene from "Inherit the Wind."
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Posted: |
Apr 9, 2017 - 12:14 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In 2007, John Landis directed a documentary about Rickles' life and comedy. The film, MR. WARMTH: THE DON RICKLES PROJECT, consisted of tape of Don's stage show (never seen before), interviews with Don's contemporaries, (Steve Lawrence, Bob Newhart, Debbie Reynolds), established comedians (Billy Crystal, Rosanne Barr, Robin Williams, Chris Rock) and young comedians (Jeff Atoll, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman). The filmmakers interviewed over 30 people including actors, directors (John Landis, Christopher Guest, Sidney Poitier, Jay Leno) and various people in Don's life (his composer, orchestra, manager, etc.). They also used some of Don's home movies, clips from the Tonight Show, various TV shows, and movies, in order to provide a portrait of one of the last great comedians of his era.
The documentary aired on Home Box Office on 4 December 2007. Rickles won an Emmy Award for the film, for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program."
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