Not only is this one of the funniest sitcoms in broadcast history, it is also one of the most astutely written. This is because the conflict between Captain Binghamton, wonderfully played by Joe Flynn, and Commander McHale, played by the incomparable actor Ernest Borgnine, which drives the plot, is anything but a contrivance. Anyone who has any experience working in huge bureaucracies will understand and appreciate this show. First, there is the hapless Captain Binghamton, who is trying to "play by the rules" and thereby gain favor with his superiors, and then there is Commander McHale who in every episode thumbs his nose at the Captain who can only become infuriated since McHale is protected by the same superiors from whom Captain Binghamton is currying favor. That is, higher command has given McHale and his crew carte Blanche to do whatever they want provided that they are successful in carrying out their military missions while the Captain will be held accountable if McHale fails. It is a no win situation for the Captain and a win-win situation for McHale who gains all the glory but can always use the Captain as a scapegoat of he fails. The fact is that McHale and his crew are no more then civilians dressed up as Navy personnel, and given that, why would anyone expect McHale to conform to Navy rules? Yet Captain Binghamton must conform to Navy rules, rules that he cannot enforce because higher command won't let him. This creates conflict which is the stuff of both comedy and drama. There are few characters in the history of American television that are more pathetic than Captain Binghamton, who was brilliantly played by the Joe Flynn, who manages to combine buffoonery with a fatalism ("Why me? Why is it always ME?" the Captain asks plaintively every episode) that produces laughter as the outclassed and outmaneuvered Captain struggles against all odds to control the uncontrollable, Commander Quinton McHale.
Review of McHale's Navy
