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1970's short lived series "ROLL OUT"


Bulldog
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Where are they now?

 

 

Original run October 5, 1973 (1973-10-05) – January 4, 1974 (1974-01-04)

Roll Out is an American sitcom that aired Friday evenings on CBS during the 1973-1974 television season. Starring Stu Gilliam and Hilly Hicks, and featuring Ed Begley, Jr. and Garrett Morris, the series was set in France during World War II and was loosely based on the 1952 film Red Ball Express.

 

One of the early episodes of M*A*S*H, titled "White Gold," cast Hilly Hicks as an opportunistic truck driver. This became the template for Roll Out!, and Hicks was teamed with TV and nightclub comedian Stu Gilliam.

 

Actor Jimmy Lydon, familiar as a juvenile lead in the 1940s, was cast as an Army captain. His character's name was Henry Aldrich: the same name he used in Paramount's comedy features of the forties.

 

 

In an effort to cash in on the success of M*A*S*H, CBS decided to air another Army comedy. Instead of Army medics, Roll Out highlighted the pratfalls of the supply drivers of the 5050th Quartermaster Trucking Company of the U.S. Third Army's Red Ball Express, whose staff was mainly African American. The series attempted to use the World War II setting as a commentary on race relations, just as M*A*S*H's Korean War setting was also a commentary on the Vietnam War.

 

The show aired opposite ABC's sitcom, The Odd Couple. Subsequently, Roll Out failed to win its timeslot and was canceled after one season. It was replaced on January 11, 1974, by the 13-week Dirty Sally, a half-hour western starring Jeanette Nolan and Dack Rambo.

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Hicks was a medic in that MASH episode, not a truck driver. I remeber this as a Kid. I think it was hicks who yells out From the Frontlines to the Frauliens....... ahh yes remember asking Pop what fraulien was and Mom Glaring at him as he tried to explain (Pop spent many tours in Germany before I was born).

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  • 4 years later...

There is an online reference to an unofficial three DVD set and on youtube there's a 15 minute excerpt:

 

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