C.P.O. Sharkey

C.P.O. Sharkey
Sharkey winds up in a Tijuana jail after trying to bail out his men.
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Aaron Ruben
Starring	Don Rickles Peter Isacksen Elizabeth Allen Harrison Page Richard X. Slattery
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	37
Production
Executive producer(s)	Aaron Ruben
Producer(s)	Aaron Ruben Gene Marcione
Running time	approx. 0:30 (per episode)
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	December 1, 1976 – April 28, 1978

C.P.O. Sharkey is an American sitcom created by Aaron Ruben that aired on NBC from December 1, 1976, to April 28, 1978. The series starred Don Rickles in the title role, with Peter Isacksen, Elizabeth Allen, Harrison Page and Richard X. Slattery as supporting players.

Premise

The series starred Don 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) is famous for his jokes about various ethnicities, and the program provided him with a vehicle for his politically incorrect humor. Sharkey, however, was really a nice guy beneath his harsh exterior and often went to extreme measures to help his recruits with their problems.

The young company 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 C.P.O. 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 C.P.O. Sharkey's immediate superior was the smug and buck-toothed Lt. Whipple (Jonathan Daly). The base commander in the first season was the female Capt. Quinlan (Elizabeth Allen), whom Sharkey never insulted to her face. In the second season, Capt. Quinlan was replaced by Capt. Buck Buckner (Richard X. Slattery), a by-the-book former submarine captain.

The series featured an early American prime time TV depiction of punk rock, with San Fernando Valley punk rock band, The Dickies, making a guest appearance.^[1]

Coincidentally, Rickles portrayed a different C.P.O. in the 1961 episode "Professional Sailor" of the CBS military sitcom/drama, Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper.

Running gags

• The 6' 7" Pruitt would often stand right next to the 5' 6" Sharkey to speak to him. Sharkey would find it difficult to speak to Pruitt this way and would make a snide remark about Pruitt's height. Pruitt's girlfriend was Evelyn (Rhonda Bates), a 6' 2" Southerner with the same mannerisms, especially their laughter.
• Lt. Whipple would often lecture Sharkey. When he left the room, Sharkey would look in the camera and imitate Whipple's buck-teeth.
• In the second season, Buckner would yell orders in a tirade directly in Sharkey's face making the usually verbose Sharkey speechless.

The cigarette box incident

The series is often remembered for an incident that occurred on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during December 1976. Rickles appeared on The Tonight Show, speaking with guest host Bob Newhart. During the segment, Rickles slammed down the cigarette box Carson kept on his desk while joking with Newhart, and broke the box when he was doing a routine where he was pretending to stamp passports while pretending to be an immigration agent, using the box as the stamp. When Carson returned the following night to the show and discovered the broken box, he took a camera crew to the adjacent studio where Sharkey was being taped. Carson disrupted the taping in order to tease Rickles about it, to the delight of the studio audiences of both shows. Carson imitated Rickles' insult comedy style by calling him a "big dummy" and teasing Harrison Page by speaking to him in an exaggerated jive accent. As Carson prepared to exit the stage, Rickles looked at the audience and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Carson!" With mock exasperation, Carson glared at Rickles and stated, "They know who I am!"

The incident was often replayed in Tonight Show retrospectives and was considered a highlight of the 1970s era of the show, and the incident was also featured in the documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.

Reruns

Reruns aired on Comedy Central in the early 1990s.^[2]

DVD release

On May 19, 2015, Time Life released C.P.O. Sharkey - The Complete Season 1 on DVD in Region 1.^[3]

On September 22, 2015, Time Life released C.P.O. Sharkey - The Complete Season 2 on DVD in Region 1.^[4]

Episodes

Season 1 (1976-77)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Oh Captain! My Captain"	TBA	TBA	December 1, 1976
The chauvinistic chief must adjust to the fact that his new commanding officer is a woman.
2	2	"Shimokawa Ships Out"	TBA	TBA	December 8, 1976
An enlisted man thinks Sharkey is discriminating against him because he's Japanese.
3	3	"The Dear John Letter"	TBA	TBA	December 22, 1976
Chief Robinson suspects that Sharkey is a real ladies man when he accidentally sees a "Dear Jane" letter in the typewriter.
4	4	"Goodbye Dolly"	TBA	TBA	December 29, 1976
The men try to hide an inflatable female doll in the barracks without Sharkey's knowledge.
5	5	"Skolnick in Love"	TBA	TBA	January 12, 1977
Shy recruit Skolnick decides to marry a cocktail waitress after a two-day courtship, much to everyone's surprise.
6	6	"Mignone's Mutiny"	TBA	TBA	January 19, 1977
Recruit Mignone's unhappiness with the rigors of boot camp spreads to the other men.
7	7	"Kowalski, the Somnambulist"	TBA	TBA	January 26, 1977
Recruit Kowalski experiences repeated bouts of sleepwalking, which Sharkey desperately tries to find a cure for, or the young man may face a medical discharge.
8	8	"Sunday in Tijuana"	TBA	TBA	February 9, 1977
Sharkey's romantic plans with Natalie are wrecked when his recruits get arrested in Tijuana, Mexico.
9	9	"Rodriguez and His Mamacita"	TBA	TBA	February 16, 1977
Recruit Rodriguez is just one of the sailors who get in trouble with Sharkey and the top brass for sneaking women into the barracks.
10	10	"Sharkey Boogies on Down"	TBA	TBA	February 23, 1977
Chief Robinson takes Sharkey to a disco to celebrate his 45th birthday.
11	11	"Sharkey Finds Peace and Quiet"	TBA	TBA	March 2, 1977
The chaos of barracks life leads Sharkey to dream of moving off-base to his own apartment.
12	12	"Sharkey the Marriage Counselor"	TBA	TBA	March 9, 1977
Sharkey attempts to help a fellow sailor with his marital problems.
13	13	"Sharkey's Secret Life"	TBA	TBA	March 16, 1977
The recruits are convinced Sharkey is gay after his clandestine meeting with an effeminate toupee salesman.
14	14	"The Pizza Party"	TBA	TBA	March 23, 1977
Pruitt plans a pizza party to celebrate the end of boot camp, but does not consult Sharkey.
15	15	"A Wino is Loose"	TBA	TBA	March 23, 1977
Sharkey must remove a wino who spent the night in the barracks right before a major inspection.

Season 2 (1977-78)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
16	1	"The New Captain"	TBA	TBA	October 21, 1977
The new captain proposes to shape up "the chief with the biggest beer belly," a pretty fair description of the outraged Sharkey.
17	2	"Operation Frisco"	TBA	TBA	November 4, 1977
Being assigned to submarine duty interferes with Sharkey's plans to have fun in San Francisco.
18	3	"Sharkey Flies over the Cuckoo's Nest"	TBA	TBA	November 11, 1977
A case of mistaken identity ensues when Sharkey reports to the base hospital for his routine physical and is mistaken for a mental patient.
19	4	"Don't Make Waves"	TBA	TBA	November 18, 1977
Comic chaos ensues as Sharkey's barracks is chosen for an experiment in coed Navy living.
20	5	"Natalie's Ultimatum"	TBA	TBA	December 2, 1977
Sharkey' long time girlfriend, Natalie, tires of waiting and gives him an ultimatum about marriage in their relationship.
21	6	"Sharkey the Actor"	TBA	TBA	December 9, 1977
Sharkey lands the lead in a Navy training film.
22	7	"Barracks Baby"	TBA	TBA	December 30, 1977
Sharkey must hide a pregnant Mexican woman from INS officials in this Christmas themed episode.
23	8	"Seven-Eleven Sharkey"	TBA	TBA	January 6, 1978
Sharkey turns to the dice to help recruit Kowalski win back the money for his Mother's trip to Poland that the young man had lost in a craps game.
24	9	"Forget Pearl Harbor"	TBA	TBA	January 13, 1978
The behavior of a visiting CPO from the Japanese Navy causes Sharkey to think that he may be a spy.
25	10	"Close Encounters of the Worst Kind"	TBA	TBA	January 27, 1978
Sharkey's girlfriend, Natalie, accuses him of being insensitive.
26	11	"Pruitt's Paradise"	TBA	TBA	February 10, 1978
Pruitt has been showing signs of lethargy and Sharkey suspects it is due to a wild night life.
27	12	"Sharkey Meets Pruitt's Sister"	TBA	TBA	February 17, 1978
Sharkey and the men try to scrounge up a woman to represent their barracks in the Navy's Miss Topside beauty contest.
28	13	"Sharkey's Back Problem"	TBA	TBA	February 17, 1978
Sudden back pains lead Sharkey to worry that he will be ineligable for the "CPO of the Year" competition.
29	14	"It Happened One Night"	TBA	TBA	March 3, 1978
A bomb scare in the female recruits barracks forces them to be housed in Sharkey's building.
30	15	"Tell It to the Marines"	TBA	TBA	March 10, 1978
Visiting Marines cause havoc at the training base as their behavior tests the patience of Sharkey and the other sailors.
31	16	"Sharkey and the South American Way"	TBA	TBA	March 17, 1978
Sharkey must instruct a visiting South American sailor in the ways of the United States Navy.
32	17	"Punk Rock Sharkey"	TBA	TBA	March 24, 1978
Sharkey ventures into a punk-rock night spot to stop a fight, and comes out with a loose filling and the affections of a teen-age runaway.
33	18	"Pruitt, the Russian Flu-Carrier"	TBA	TBA	March 31, 1978
Pruitt infects Sharkey and most of the recruit company with Russian flu and Sharkey is overwhelmed by home-spun remedies.
34	19	"Captain's Right Hand Man"	TBA	TBA	April 7, 1978
Much to both of their chagrins, Captain Buckner is forced to make Sharkey his personal aide.
35	20	"Fear of Flying"	TBA	TBA	April 14, 1978
Sharkey reveals that he has a fear of flying and is terrifed at an upcoming flight he is required to take because of Navy business.
36	21	"The Even Couple"	TBA	TBA	April 21, 1978
Sharkey moves off-base into an apartment in order to spice up his social life. His plan backfires when the recruits all show up just before a "last chance" date with Natalie yelling loud enough about problems that Sharkey gets tossed by his landlord.
37	22	"The Used-Car Caper"	TBA	TBA	April 28, 1978
Sharkey must come to the rescue when his recruits are swindled by a sleazy car salesman into buying a lemon.

References

1. "Punk Pix, 1976-1980 & New Wave, Power Pop & Rock Classic Archive, Rare Photos: Dickies". JennyLens.com. Archived from the original on August 22, 2006.
2. McKerrow, Steve (1991-12-02). "Comedy Central offers dusty laughs". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
3. Official Time Life Press Release for 'The Complete Season 1'
4. CPO Sharkey - 'Season 2,' 'Best of Season 1' and 'Mr. Warmth: The Ultimate Don Rickles TV Collection

External links

• C.P.O. Sharkey at the Internet Movie Database

Further reading

Brooks, Tim; Earl Marsh (2003). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.