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YMMV / The Phil Silvers Show

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  • Alternate Character Interpretation: The Revolutionary War flashback episode has some ambiguity about whether Joshua Bilko was a British spy or merely a selfish bum who aided the British by accident (in which case his medal from King George may have been a sarcastic, mocking gesture).
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Pvt. Doberman became so popular that Maurice Gosfield used to get more fan mail than Phil Silvers.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite being largely forgotten in North America, the show is still hugely popular in the UK, thanks to perennial reruns on the BBC.note  In fact, it is even considered one of the top few classic sitcom imports there. Some attribute this to the British affection for the "loveable rogue" archetype, which Bilko fits to a tee, and he could be considered a forerunner to popular British TV characters like Arthur Daley and Del Boy. The show was so iconic in the UK that Silvers became the only American comedian to appear in a Carry On movie (Follow That Camel.note )
  • Iconic Character, Forgotten Title: Far more people are familiar with the name "Sgt. Bilko" than Phil Silvers, and the show was in fact often renamed after the main character in reruns.
  • Once Original, Now Common: At times, the humor can seem formulaic, but it was groundbreaking in The '50s.
  • Retroactive Recognition:
    • A pre-Munsters Fred Gwynne appears in a couple of episodes.
    • Al Lewis, aka Grandpa Munster, also appears in an episode.
    • Murray Hamilton, Mayor Vaughn from Jaws, features in the episode "The Eating Contest".
    • Two future Catwomen: Julie Newmar appears in "The Big Scandal" and Lee Meriwether in "Cyrano de Bilko".
    • A young Dick Van Dyke appeared in two episodes.
    • Alan Alda plays a Starving Artist from a wealthy family in "Bilko the Art Lover".
    • George Kennedy features as a background character in several episodes.

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