Gomer Pyle - USMC
1 9 6 4 - 1 9 6 9 (USA)
150 x 30 minute episodes
The character of Gomer Pyle was first seen in the third season
of The Andy Griffith Show. Gomer was the local mechanic in
Mayberry who was sweet and honest, but as thick as a brick (a kind
of prototype for Forest Gump).
Gomer was a constant source of frustration for Sheriff Andy
Taylor and Nabors was offered his own series after a year.
The pilot was aired as an episode of Andy Griffith, in
which Gomer decides to enlist in the Marine Corps
Stationed at Camp Henderson in California, Gomer finds himself
in hot water with his drill instructor, Sergeant Vince Carter.
Carter is a tough leather-neck perpetually on the verge of a
nervous breakdown, who initially wants to mould Pyle into a model
Marine, and then to simply get rid of him from his platoon.
 The tough
D.I. is a confirmed bachelor (later developing a
relationship with a local girl named Bunny Olsen) and eventually
forms quite a special friendship with Pyle.
Gomer's best friend is Private Duke Slater (who does great
imitations and once did a nightclub act impersonating the
irascible Sgt Carter) but he gets along well with most of the
members of his platoon (including Corporal Chuck Boyle, Frankie
Lombardi, Lester Hummel and Sgt. Hacker).
Gomer also ultimately finds a girlfriend in Lou Ann Poovie, an
aspiring (bad) singer and waitress at a restaurant near the base.
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