Once upon a time, TV networks kept trying to find a weekly series to star Don Rickles. Johnny Carson said, "Don's had his finger in more pilots than an Air Force proctologist." Some projects never made it onto the air. Others were on but not for long. His longest run was as the title character of C.P.O. Sharkey, which was producer Aaron Ruben's brainstorm. Ruben had worked on Sgt. Bilko and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (among others) so I guess he thought military sitcoms were lucky for him or something.
I was a big fan of Mr. Rickles but the first few episodes of C.P.O. Sharkey did not inspire me to watch more and I don't think it was the show. I think it was putting Rickles into any scripted format where he played someone other than Don Rickles. It was not him doing what he did best. Still, I'm glad they're putting the series out on DVD and I'll probably get around to purchasing it after I work my way through about seven other sets of other shows I have sitting here. If you want it now, here's an Amazon link.
The set includes the video from The Tonight Show — the famous moment when Johnny Carson went across the hallway at NBC with his camera and barged in on a C.P.O. Sharkey taping. I've written about it there a few times, most recently here. I'm pretty sure it was planned in advance but Mr. Rickles did not know. He says that in today's New York Times in this brief interview about the new DVD release.
Later this week, I'm going to write about my favorite TV show that has never been released on DVD. And no, I was not among its writers.