"The Lieutenant"

[Slater]

Unless you're a senior citizen you probably don't remember this old TV series. I'm 61 and I never saw it during it's one (IIRC) season as I was three at the time. Unusually for that era, it dealt with topics not widely addressed such as racism and sexism. It was the product of Gene Roddenberry of "Star Trek" fame and in fact featured several "Star Trek" alumni as guests in several episodes - Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and Leonard Nimoy.

One episode concerned Lt Rice training some foreign military officers. This was 1963, before "Vietnam" became a household word in the US. In fact the name "South Vietnam" is never mentioned, instead "a foreign government" and "Southeast Asia" are used. Not sure if the Vietnamese uniforms and insignia shown are actually accurate, but the students training with M1 Garands and BAR's would be (I think) correct for the ARVN weapons in use at the time. Episode linked below.

Some episodes are available on Youtube, and I'm not sure if this series ever made it to reruns on network TV as only a few episodes were filmed. It does a good job of conveying the attitudes, biases, and national tone of the early 1960's.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p6Cs9mN7iE

[titsonritz]

It was the product of Gene Roddenberry of "Star Trek" fame and in fact featured several "Star Trek" alumni as guests in several episodes - Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and Leonard Nimoy.

Lt. Rice (Gary Lockwood) played Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell in the Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" the only one with phaser rifle in it and Pilar Seurat (Lt. Manisahn Joraka) was in the episode "Wolf in the Fold".

Ed Asner sure was a pup back then.

[3 AE]

What a coincidence! I came across the series episodes on YouTube two days ago and spent the last two days watching the nine or ten full episodes. I was hooked. Was refreshing to see the USMC fatigues back then were camo-free. If I want drama, i can watch this series. If I want comedy, I'll watch Gomer Pyle USMC! Ahhh... Life is Good.

ETA: My favorite episode so far is "The Proud and the Angry" starring Rip Torn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dEcZTTrvUI

[Averageman]

It popped up on YouTube for me also.
My Dad was in the service then, oddly enough it looks just like the old black and white pictures.
Talking about racisim, my Dad was a unique mix of Americana, he was kind of racially ambiguous looking and he caught some shit about it along the way. They couldn't figure out if he was half black, native American, Puerto Rican or Mexican.

[Hank6046]

Talking about racisim, my Dad was a unique mix of Americana, he was kind of racially ambiguous looking and he caught some shit about it along the way. They couldn't figure out if he was half black, native American, Puerto Rican or Mexican.

That's funny, I can picture his fellow troops trying hard to make joke that would also clarify his decent. My grandfather is half Mandan Indian (Numakiki) from Mandan ND, when he went to Korea he was a forward Artillery observer for a unit out of New York, everyone thought that his baby face, natural tan and jet black hair made him Italian

[duece71]

I saw the episode with Rip Torn as a Marine DI. Really good, Rip Torn was awesome. It was recommend by the YT algorithms as well. I will definitely be watching more episodes.

[chuckman]

Been watching them in the hospital. The Rip Torn episode is my favorite so far. Enjoyable.