December 28, 2003

Time to tackle one of the vital questions of television history. This was sent to me by "BradW8" and it's about Hank, a one season (1965) sitcom on NBC...

This has been bothering me, and I know you've written about the show, which is why I'm asking you: What was Hank thinking?  I saw the show when it first ran, and found it pleasant enough.  Like you, I found it unusual for any TV series of that time to have a final episode that wrapped everything up.  But a lot of it went over my grade school head, and it's only after thinking back to my own college years that it hits me: How did Hank expect to graduate, if all his credits were taken under aliases?  If his intel hadn't been faulty, and those two students not shown up when he was impersonating them, presumably he'd have gone on his merry way until he got enough credits to graduate.  But how could he claim them?  This may have been covered somewhere and I just missed it, but I can't seem to find it.  I realize it's probably some time since you last saw the tapes, but if you happen to recall I'd sure appreciate it.

For those who don't recall the show, I'd better explain the underlying storyline: Dick Kallman played Hank Dearborn, a fellow of college age who couldn't afford to go to college due to lack of funds and the need to raise his younger sister.  They were orphans and though he was old enough to be on his own, there were social workers who felt that sis Tina, who was around twelve, should be in an orphanage.  Neither Hank nor Tina wanted that so Hank had to keep proving he could support her, which he did by holding down a stunning array of odd jobs: Delivering dry cleaning, driving an ice cream truck, etc., most of these done at or around the local university.  At the same time, he wanted to get a college education so he'd dress up in different disguises which he kept in the back of his delivery van and sneak into classes, eluding the campus police.  As if that wasn't complicated enough, he was also trying to date a girl who was, you guessed it...the daughter of the Dean.

A little premise-heavy, wouldn't you say?  The producers apparently agreed.  They did a whole year of episodes about Hank almost getting caught and Tina almost getting put in that orphanage before deciding that it was all too gimmicky.  So in the last episode of the season, Hank was caught impersonating one real (absent) student and then another, and his whole racket was exposed.  The authorities were ready to send Tina to the orphanage and Hank to jail for impersonating a freshman or something of the sort...but throughout the year, he'd done so many good deeds that the Dean was flooded with requests to forgive.  I forget how it was all resolved but I think it was argued that in an era of so many students "dropping out," Hank should not be punished for "dropping in," plus professors came forth to say he was a great, if unregistered, student.  It all came down to Hank taking a final exam and if he passed, the charges would be dropped and he'd have proven he was fit to keep raising Tina...and it had a happy ending.

The show had marginal ratings and as they neared the end of the first season, the producers realized that the premise was dragging the show down.  They told sponsors and the network that they'd get rid of it and set up a new, simpler life for Hank Dearborn.  When they did the last show of Year One, they closed off the "drop-in" gimmick and, hoping for Year Two, set up a more organic format.  But since the show was then cancelled, that last episode wound up actually "ending" the series, which brings us to BradW8's question: How did Hank figure that attending classes under false identities would get him his degree, which they said in the theme song was his ultimate goal?

I actually put that question to the late Martin A. Ragaway, who was one of the show's writers.  He said, approximately: "The guys behind the show thought the gimmick was so great that it would run for years and they'd all be very rich and on to other things before anyone had to worry about that.  They thought Hank would be in college forever.  They were actually discussing how long Dick Kallman would be able to pass for a college student.  In other words, it didn't make sense and they knew it.  The producers didn't have a long-range plan but they assumed viewers would assume Hank, being such a clever and resourceful guy, did."  I always assumed that his goal was the education, not the actual degree but you're right, BradW8.  They did say he planned to somehow get a diploma out of the deal but there was no obvious way in which that could have happened.  If and when someone chooses to rerun those shows, maybe we'll spot a line or something that one of the writers snuck in to give a hint of what Hank was thinking. But if we believe Marty Ragaway, there was no conscious plan.  It was just one of those plot holes in which sitcoms of the sixties (and before and after, I suppose) abounded.

I wish someone would rerun Hank.  In the meantime, over at TV Party, they have a terrific page on the series, complete with video clips.  Look for the one that will let you watch about a minute of the show, theme song included.  The show had a great theme song, complete with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.