ruffy-43-99630 Anyone over the age of 70 today, 2015, and most educated people of any age, myself included, (I am not calling you uneducated Mr. Washington) would have a very difficult time finding any humor vis-á-vis WWII POW camps, Hitler, Nazis, etc. The ridiculous plot lines, the prisoners come and go as they please, is so far fetched there is no humor in it. I have a terrific sense of humor, so that's not the case why I have this opinion. Even making the Nazis look like a bunch of bumbling, neurotic idiots, which they were a far cry from, just doesn't cut through the horrors of a war in which I lost an Uncle in 1944 (I wasn't born yet). John Banner's I KNOW NO-TINK! line is silly, not even campy-funny. The show makes me nauseous. Ivan Dixon deserves far more accolades than he got, he was the best actor on the show, it's unfortunate he had to even be involved with his immense talent and good looks could have been put to better use elsewhere.** Edited in a few hours later: After reading many many other reviews, it seems I am in the minority. OK, But "Funniest Show Ever?" WHAT? Paraphrasing one review, sums up my take: Some things are just not funny. And I stand by that. And why was it always winter, with Eucalyptus trees in the background? Talk about a goof...

SanteeFats I have the entire series and I find it to be extremely funny. Yes almost everything is totally unbelievable concerning the characters, the escapes, etc. Just put that aside because this is really a fantasy based during WWII in a stalag. This stalag is lead by an imbecile colonel and the sergeant of the guard is a fat moron. Between the two the camp is a hollow escape route for prisoners, underground, and German defectors. I find it rather amusing that several of the main Nazi characters are played by Jews. Two of whom where actually in concentration camps during the war. They had no problem playing their characters as long as they were comedic idiots. I like that. Some people have panned this series as wrong or bad because of the portrayal of the entire POW and Nazi in such a humorous light. Dang the PC people just need to lighten up. This show was done over thirty years ago. Times where much more forgiving and people where not so anal.

didi-5 Hogan's Heroes was a great series which still stands up today, as funny as it ever was. Mainly due to the great interplay between Bob Crane as Colonel Hogan, head of the US prisoners of war, and Werner Klemperer as Colonel Klink, commandant of Stalag 13 (where there have never been any escapes, ever), this series really does succeed.Zany, improbable, inventive, silly, and hugely influential on many comedies which followed, this showed the Germans constantly outsmarted while not presenting them as mindless psychotic thugs - although it was clear who was on the 'right side', as Hogan and his troops prove with their underground operation, beautifully showcased in a couple of the early episodes.

Thomas_Veil I won't waste time going over the premise of the show; that has already been done more than adequately by nearly every reviewer here.I will agree that the argument the show being "offensive" is weak. As others said, it was a POW stalag, not a concentration camp. And I'll add that "Hogan's Heroes" played during a period of multiple service comedies, yet it was the best of them, not the worst. Sgt. Bilko was a film-flam man. Cmdr. Quinton McHale occasionally did battle with the Japanese, but you never got the feeling that he or his crew were in danger from anyone but their immediate superior, Capt. Binghamton.The POWs of Stalag 13, however, were another story. Yes, 95% of the time the focus was on Hogan and his men pulling scams on the Nazis and having fun sabotaging their work, but the remaining 5% of the time things could get uncomfortable. A decent number of stories contain scenes in which Hogan's life (or those of his men) are in peril. And as the show went on, characters like Maj. Hochstetter did not fail to notice that many of the Nazis' worst defeats were centered around Stalag 13. Of course, this being a '60s sitcom, you know and I know that nothing really bad is going to happen to Hogan or his crew. Yet these moments always had a genuine tinge of tension to them.But overwhelmingly the focus of the show was around conning the Nazis, disrupting their war plans and in general making fun of them. Bob Crane played Col. Hogan as a born con artist, able to come up with bold, brash scams at the drop of a hat. However, as many actors can tell you, playing the villain is infinitely more fun than playing the hero, and that seems to go doubly well for comedies.How Werner Klemperer must have loved playing the pompous, cowardly Col. Klink! And John Banner as the pacifist, food-loving teddy bear, Sgt. Schultz...watching the two of them together (or separately with Crane), you begin to realize that it was they, not Bob Crane, that had the best roles in the show. Watch Schultz say something lovably idiotic, and Klink snap from a smile to a frown in an instant barking, "Dummkopf!"It is these two, and to a lesser degree the various actors who played the heroes, that made the show so good, I am convinced. Each week Klemperer and Banner virtually put on a comedy acting clinic -- they were that good. And when you added the piggish Gen. Burkhalter and that ultimate Angry White Man, Maj. Hochstetter, things only got funnier. All of these characters were played so well that they remain hysterically memorable more than 40 years later.Try not to concentrate on the inherent absurdity of pulling this stuff off on the Nazis week after week, year after year, and getting away with it, and concentrate more on the exquisite comedic performances, and you will have yourself one hell of a good time.