Baa Baa Black Sheep (later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron) is a television series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. Its premise was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps aviator Pappy Boyington a... more »nd his World War II "Black Sheep Squadron". The series was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell. The opening credits read: "In World War II, Marine Corps Major Greg 'Pappy' Boyington commanded a squadron of fighter pilots. They were a collection of misfits and screwballs who became the terrors of the South Pacific. They were known as the Black Sheep."
Greg "Pappy" Boyington is the commanding officer of VMF-214, a group of fighter pilots based in the Solomon Islands during World War II. Pappy often intercedes in altercations at the base, but everyone seems to pull together when they are assigned missions in the air. "Pappy" likes to drink and fight a lot when not flying missions, and owns a Bull Terrier named "Meatball" which he claims belongs to General Moore in Flying Misfits, but General Moore says "he wouldn't own an ugly mutt like that."
The series premise was very loosely based on a portion of the real-life military career of Gregory Boyington, known as "Pappy" due to his "advanced" age compared to the younger pilots under his command. (He was 30 when he took command of VMF-214.) Boyington, who was a technical adviser for the series, commented that this was "fiction based on reality" and that no regular character in the series except for himself actually existed. In the documentary film Pappy Boyington Field Robert Conrad shares personal insight about Pappy from their time together during the television series.
Popular character John "Hutch" Hutchinson (Joey Aresco) was killed off in the episode Last One for Hutch and replaced as chief mechanic by GySgt. Andy Micklin (Red West), who had joined the squadron a few episodes earlier in Devil in the Slot.
Genre - Drama
Created by - Stephen J. Cannell
Directed by - Alex Beaton
Robert Conrad
Larry Doheny
Walter Doniger
Presented by - Disney Channel Original
Starring - Robert Conrad
Simon Oakland
Dana Elcar
James Whitmore Jr.
Dirk Blocker
W.K. Stratton
Robert Ginty
Joey Aresco
John Larroquette
Jeff MacKay
Larry Manetti
Narrated by - Robert Conrad
Theme music composer - Mike Post
Pete Carpenter
Country of origin - USA
Original language(s) - English
No. of seasons - 2
No. of episodes - 36 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) - Stephen J. Cannell
Producer(s) - Philip DeGuere
Editor(s) - Jerry Dronsky, Harvey Stambler
Location(s) - Channel Islands of California
Running time - 48 min
Production company(s) - Stephen J. Cannell Productions Universal Television
Broadcast
Original channel - NBC
Picture format - NTSC
Audio format - Monaural sound
Original run - September 23, 1976 April 6, 1978« less
