How did the show "Hogan's Heroes" ever get on television? This late-60s piece of shit was somehow popular enough with American audiences to enjoy a run of several years. It was about prisoners of war who were held by the Nazis during World War II. And it was a comedy. Sadly, my parents thought the show was funny, and thus, it was on the list of shows we watched weekly.

 All of the German officers spoke English, of course, but with an accent (so we'd know they're German), and the prisoners were a cross-section of what I suppose were the Allies: a French guy, a British guy, a black guy, an all-American boy, and Hogan the wise-cracking sly man in charge of the others. Each had a particular skill: cooking, code cracking, inventing cool weapons, communications, etc. Underneath the barracks that housed them was a series of tunnels that gave the prisoners full access to the entire prison camp, and even provided them with a way to get out of the camp entirely if they needed to. Of course, they always came back because they had important work to do, but the option was there. The barracks were immaculately clean, and featured wooden furniture and even a radio. Aided by bumbling and clueless Nazi officers and soldiers, this ragtag group of misfits seemingly helped to end the war sooner.

I find this show to be sickening. Disgusting. And so stupid that it barely deserves mention other than on this blog (to give me something to bitch about). And frankly, it's insulting and a slap in the face of the men and women who actually did live (albeit very briefly) and die in the actual German prison camps during World War II.

In high school, I had the opportunity to tour Dachau, one of the worst of the bunch. There was no furniture. The barracks were clean but only because the prisoners were beaten into submission and forced to clean them. Bunk beds were stacked ten or twelve high, assembled in rows, actually warehousing the prisoners. There was no heat. The real prisoners weren't allowed to keep their uniforms, winter coats or hats like on the show. They certainly weren't allowed to smoke cigarettes as were some of the "heroes." And there was no food being surreptitiously cooked either. These real prisoners were on the brink of death from the moment they got off the trains that brought them there against their will. Their chances of survival were minuscule. How could anyone think that this would make a good television show, and a comedy at that? How could people watch it for three or more years? Why is it in reruns forty years later?

This show makes my blood boil. It should be taken off the air and if anyone complains about it, they should be shown video from the real prison camps for about 24 hours and see what it was really like. My guess is that they would share the same sentiments I do.