Hank (TV)

 (1965-66)
Executive Producer William T. Orr
Starring Dick Kallman, Linda Foster, Howard St. John, Lloyd Corrigan, Katie Sweet.
IMDB Page

With a new show of this name set to premiere in the fall, it's time to remember the original, a funny and short-lived comedy starring the talented Dick Kallman.

The basic setup was far from ordinary.  Hank Dearborn (Kallman) was a young man with a dream to attend college.  But after the death of his parents, he could not afford it.  In the days where student loans were not the norm, he hit upon a plan:  he would "attend" the classes without enrolling and go through college that way.* 

Hank's attempts to get a free degree did not go unnoticed by the registrar, Dr. Lewis Royal (Howard St. John), who knew someone was attending classes without paying, but never could catch or even find him (Hank impersonated legitimate students who were out of class when roll calls were required).

Which was lucky for Hank, since his girlfriend Doris Royal (Linda Foster) was the registrar's daughter. So Hank had to juggle his job, his classes, his love life, and the care of his younger sister Doris (Katie Sweet).

The show was a genial comedy that saw Hank trying to avoid the snags that would take all his plans down.  Hank would often get into trouble by showing his athletic prowess, causing coach Ossie Weiss (Dabs Greer) to want to put him on the team.

It was all held together by the talent of Kallman, who had worked on Broadway and even recorded an album or two.

Unfortunately, it did poorly in the ratings and was canceled after one season.  Kallman never got a major role afterwards (his biggest TV role was as one of Catwoman's henchmen on Batman), and eventually left acting in 1975 to sell antiques. Sadly, he was murdered in 1980 during a robbery.

The show was certainly not a comedy classic, but it was a better than average show from the time with an appealing cast.

________________________________________________

*Don't point out the flaws.  I work at a college and know he couldn't get an actual degree this way.  But go with it.