A Podcast About the TV Show Black Sheep Squadron
Hey this one has a date!
Douglas MacArthur was really good at being MacArthur.
George Takei!
This one is stupid fun.
Nobody would have been that calm, on either side.
There's a magic B25 in this episode that changes livery.
There's stock footage from Tora Tora Tora in this one, and there's of course a Tor Tora Tora connection in this one.
Hey, also, directed by Ivan Dixon!
Repeat this with me, there was no Christmas Island campaign.
I wonder if what Pappy proposes is technically a war crime.
Some great stuff about carrier operations this week. That guy is in a dumb looking shirt and hat for a reason.
US Navy vs USMC rivalry is a real thing. Inter service rivalries are in general in every country with armed forces.
We get some proper toxic masculinity this week.
We both love Gutterman.
We also get the 'flying misfits vs the US armed forces' this week. I'm not complaining BTW.
Wait, Kent McCord and James Hong!
You don't send out active SONAR pings like that.
Also, why did Dobson speak Japanese when the Col speaks English?
There are some really great flight scenes in this one.
I wonder if any of the planes are still around.
Why would they be doing recon over an island they figure has nothing on it?
Some real Manchurian Candidate vibes in this one.
This is one of the most highly rated by fans, according to IMDB anyway.
There is a strong 'war, what is it good for' vibe in this episode.
Gutterman is about to snap, even more than usual.
Ping pong/table tennis is not Japanese, though what would he be good at, baseabll?
Hutch shows us the NCO vs officer tension that exists in most militaries.
Wow, the Japanese are about to attack Mexico!
TASK FORCE!
We both like this one a lot, inaccuracies and all.
Pappy Boyington wouldn't commit war crimes.
This one is pretty dark. We think of Baa Baa Black Sheep as a sort of swashbuckling 'isn't war fun' kind of show. And yes dear listener, it often is. But hidden in that brew of bullshit is often some great commentary on war. This episode is like that. Poor Doug has no life outside of being an Admiral's son, or being a jinx.
This one also talks about privilege and superstition, two things Pappy would have none of. He didn't care who you were, as long as you could fly, but of course, he'll take advantage of your position in life.
There are some wild historical inaccuracies in this one that we discuss.
James Whitmore Jr. kills in this episode.
This one is the classic 'guy gets shot down over enemy territory and has to figure a way out'. This has been seen in so many shows and movies. Be it, Star, both Wars and Trek, be it 12 O'Clock High, be it Combat! be it Piece of Cake, Wings (the 1977 one look it up) hell, I think there's a Hogan's Heroes like this! Still, a good one.
Rene Auberjonois is in this one and he's very good. There are a couple of scenes where he really shows his chops. Spoiler, he's a better actor than Robert Conrad. Another spoiler, Conrad keeps up.
Why are they on an island off the coast of Labrador?
Pappy was actually shot down of course and ended up in transit on Truk, where they attack on the show, and where at the end of the episode you will hear a real newsreel from the time that pappy is ctually in (you can't really easily make him out from the air, but he talks about it in Baa Baa Black Sheep).
This is, as usual, a fun one.
Whitmore steals every scene he is in, killer performance this week.
Charles Napier is always fun. He just chews scenes, and I love it.
I always wonder about two guys just playing straight poker with each other. Why not just flip a coin?
I would never get Jim Gutterman mad, I'd be afraid he'd snap. Whitmore did an excellent job with this character.
Bar fights that men bond over. It's a war movie trope.
Greg and Red both sucker punch each other in this episode.
In a lot of ways, this is the quintessential Baa Baa Black Sheep episode. It's got Col Lard, Gen Moore, Red fighting Pappy, some great dogfighting, some ground combat. Oh and lots of drinking and historically questionable bits...
Obligatory title comment, this one is not one of my better ones. Hey this one has a date! Douglas MacArthur was really good at being MacArth...
