Sixty years ago, the 1965 fall television season had entered its second week. But already, the view from the couch was not promising. Critics were in a lousy mood. They seemed to hate everything they saw, from sitcoms to Westerns.
Jack Gould of The New York Times declared that “the new television season is being written off as the biggest yawn in the modern annals of broadcasting.” The new comedies bugged the critics most of all. A genie in a bottle? A World War II sitcom? A talking car?
Alas, their reviews are forgotten. The shows are not. One of the most memorable fall seasons in TV history was officially underway, and most of these reviled shows have endured — in repeat, then syndication, later on YouTube and streaming.
They made an immediate cultural impact back then, too, as a sunny countermeasure to the gathering darkness — a full-scale war underway in Vietnam, a Civil Rights struggle at home. These shows conspicuously ignored all that (which perhaps bugged the critics most of all).
Here are 7 shows that premiered in the fall of 1965 and the critical fate that greeted them:
F TROOP
The incompetent soldiers of Fort Courage and the adjacent Indian tribe (very politically incorrect by 2025 standards) was a spoof of the Western genre, in decline by then. The Boston Globe: “Everybody presses a little too hard in this newest military farce to hit the idiot box.” L.A. Times: “Unbelievably corny …” “F Troop” lasted two seasons, but forever in syndication, where it became a cult classic.
WHERE TO WATCH Rent on Apple TV or Prime Video
GET SMART
Tell the chief we’re tied up at the moment: Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 and Don Adams as Maxwell Smart in “Get Smart.” Credit: Everett Collection/CBS
The Mel Brooks/ Buck Henry spy spoof with Don Adams (Maxwell Smart) and Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) did largely escape the slings and arrows of outraged critics in 1965 but not entirely. The Hollywood Reporter: “It’s a lot of tomfoolery not to be taken seriously …”Meanwhile, a few of Smart’s expressions (“sorry about that chief,” “would you believe?” and “missed it by that much”) have entered the everyday language.
WHERE TO WATCH YouTube, rent on Prime Video
GREEN ACRES
Paul Henning (“The Beverly Hillbillies”), took out an ad in Variety to thank the critics who had praised his fish-out-of-water comedy about a New York lawyer (Eddie Albert) who wanted to be a farmer and his glam wife (Eva Gabor) who did not. But there couldn’t have been a lot of names to thank. The AP: “Albert and Miss Gabor plough brightly through this drivel … There really is no defense for these witless sitcoms.” “Acres” — six seasons, hugely popular over most of them, an iconic theme song — needed no defense at all.
WHERE TO WATCH: MeTV, weekdays at 2 p.m., starting Oct. 11, Tubi, Roku Channel, YouTube
HOGAN’S HEROES
Bob Crane, left, as Col. Hogan and John Banner as Sgt. (“I know nothing, nothing”) Schultz on “Hogan’s Heroes.” Credit: Album/Alamy Stock Photo/CBS TV/Bing Crosby Productions
Albert S. Ruddy (“The Godfather” producer) later recalled CBS Chairman William S. Paley telling him “I find the idea of Nazis as comic characters totally reprehensible” (but bought Ruddy’s show anyway). Newsday: “Perhaps the sickest humor [of the season] will be found in ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ …” The show was a breakout hit for a former L.A. radio talk show host, Bob Crane, while co-star Ivan Dixon was part of the first wave of Black actors in prime-time (Bill Cosby’s “I Spy” also launched that week.)
WHERE TO WATCH MeTV weeknights at 10, Pluto TV, Prime Video, YouTube
HONEY WEST
Anne Francis as the titular character (with her pet ocelot named Bruce) on “Honey West.” Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock
This early Aaron Spelling comedy-thriller starred big-screen star Anne Francis (“Forbidden Planet”) as a detective with some karate moves (also the first such show with a female lead.) The AP said …” an oblique commentary on the current bogged-down state of network entertainment …”.
WHERE TO WATCH MeTV+ (Optimum Ch. 84), Sunday at 11 p.m., YouTube
I DREAM OF JEANNIE
Barbara Eden and her “master,” played by a pre-“Dallas” Larry Hagman, on “I Dream of Jeannie.” Credit: Everett Collection
A genie in a bottle (Barbara Eden) is found by an astronaut (Larry Hagman) whose every wish is her command. Some critics screamed bloody murder. Hal Humprhey, the widely syndicated columnist, said another show had “just barely [nosed] out” his contenders for worst sitcom of the whole year — “My Mother the Car” and this one. “This bumper crop of idiotic new comedies … proves comedy writers have been under analysis for too long.”
WHERE TO WATCH: Antenna TV, weekdays at 1 p.m., Tubi
MY MOTHER THE CAR
Guest star Sonny Tufts, left, as himself and Jerry Van Dyke as Dave Crabtree take a spin in the 1928 Porter in “My Mother the Car.” Credit: Everett Collection/NBC
“If a horse can talk, why can’t a car?” asked Ann Sothern — voice of Mother — told a reporter before launch. (“Mr. Ed” was still on the air.) As with Ed, the talking horse, there was only one person (Jerry Van Dyke) who could hear his “Mother” (described as a 1928 Porter, but actually a 1924 Model T.) Critics tripped over themselves to hate on poor “Mother.” UPI: “Rather stupid.” AP: “Rather dismal stuff.” New York World Telegram and Sun: “Unspeakable vulgarity.” And still vividly remembered 60 years later.
WHERE TO WATCH YouTube
Verne Gay is Newsday’s TV writer and critic. He has covered the media business for more than 30 years.