1962: 'McHale's Navy' Launches on ABC
On this day in 1962, ABC introduced the sitcom McHale's Navy, which starred Ernest Borgnine as the commander of a WWII Navy PT boat. The cast included Tim Conway, Joe Flynn, Carl Ballantine, Gary Vinson, Billy Sands, Edson Stroll, Yoshio Yoda, John Wright, Bob Hastings and, for two seasons, future Love Boat captain Gavin MacLeod.
The series was loosely based on a 1962 episode of the ABC anthology, Alcoa Presents. In the dramatic presentation, called Seven Against the Sea, Borgnine also portrayed the character of Quinton McHale. By the time McHale's Navy hit the airwaves, the drama had morphed into a comedy.
The series, which ran four years, also spawned two spin-off films, McHale's Navy and McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force, the 1964 spin-off sitcom Broadside (which was essentially a female version of McHale's Navy starring Kathleen Nolan) and a 1997 remake starring Tom Arnold as McHale's son, with Borgnine reprising his role in a cameo performance.