MovieBuffMarine I grew up on the re-runs when local independent TV stations (known for mostly re-runs) were still common and later when TBS started showing the program. I got a lot of laughs from this show.I went on to serve in the real Marine Corps for ten years. While this show has many many technical military errors, I still get a good laugh of the comedy of the show. It's a great way to lighten up!The military aspect this show really gets right is the relationships between the sergeants and the junior enlisted men and/or the officers and the rest of the unit; for a funny show they kept that aspect believable of who was in charge and who was being led.Jim Nabors in the title role gave us a departure from the quintessential portrayals of Marines from that era; instead of a hard-charging, squared away, by-the-book hero, we got someone from the other end of the spectrum whose heart is in the right place when it comes to the military, but serves in a bumbling way! If you didn't take this show too seriously or (if you were in the service) if you weren't too gung ho, this show brought you the laughs that it should.While I echo some of the sentiments of the other reviewers like, "The Military Was Never this Funny" I also see that we have to step down and laugh a little too! Military service is serious business, hands down, but it don't mean we have to be mindless robots de-void of humor!Also. . .yes, Gomer didn't go to Vietnam, nor was it ever mentioned as the war went on as the show did; I saw in a documentary (about the military) that TV shows of the time avoided including Vietnam in their shows for fear of low viewership and ratings as that was an unpopular war. That war may have helped in its cancellation as well even if it wasn't mentioned as the American public wanted no reminders.No matter your view of the military, whether you served or not, this show provided many laughs so long as you didn't take it seriously.

ptaddw Inspired by the storyline of Andy Griffith's hit motion picture "No Time For Sergeants" and fueled by the popularity of the "Andy Griffith Show's" delightfully naive gas station attendant, Gomer Pyle, it was a natural turn of events, having this erstwhile hayseed enter the United States Marine Corps -- at the Corps' (chuckle) peril. "Gomer Pyle USMC" is one of the symbols of an era which took pride in its military and enjoyed the good natured innocence and honesty of the show's main character. I have no doubt there are many of us who wish that state of mind could still exist in the twenty-first century, unburdened by the threat of terrorism on the American home front.

Brian Washington This was one of the funniest shows of the 1960's. This took the premise of putting the very innocent and naive Gomer Pyle from the Andy Griffith show and putting him into the the greatest killing machine ever. The thing that made this show great was not only his interaction with Sergeant Carter, but with other people as well. The situations that Gomer would get into as a result of his naive nature helped to make this show the classic that it was. Also, Frank Sutton created one of the classic characters in the history of television in Sergeant Carter. Not only could Carter be easily exasperated, but in a lot of instances he also could be seen as more of a big brother to Gomer as he bumbled his way through his hitch in the marines.

reaness46 I been a fan of this show ever since it's debut in 1964, I was ten years old. I sure did laugh at all the things that Gomer got into and even though Sergent Carter yell at Gomer alot, I knew that deep down inside he really like the country boy from Mayberry North Carolina