In the early 60's, two men, Bernie Fein (co-starred in Sgt. Bilko) & Al Ruddy (an architect), wrote a sitcom pilot, neither having had any experience. If they knew how tough it was to sell a pilot, they never would have bothered. They came up with the premise of inmates in an American prison who outwit the lame warden & his guards while they are secretly running the prison. Instead of stamping licence plates & exercising in the yard, the cons manufacture cigarette lighters and engage in other money making schemes to bankroll escape attempts. The script was genuinely funny but when they had no takers, the realized viewers wouldn't identify with hardened cons escaping each week, let alone advertisers. "No one wanted to sponsor 'a night in the slam'", Ruddy said. The pilot could have died then, but Fein & Ruddy heard of a pilot called 'Campo 44' at NBC about an Italian POW camp and they thought, 'Perfect, rewrote the script & set it in a a German POW camp in 2 days.' NBC turned it down as did CBS at first because boss William Paley thought it 'reprehensible' but Ruddy actually acted out the first episode in Paley's office with sound effects & all and at the end, Paley bought the show & the rest is history. Now, the irony. When 'Campo 44' finally debuted on NBC (09/09/1967), critics denounced it as a 'Hogan's Heroes' rip-off, not realizing that it was really the other way around. A true 'Hogan's' fan, I would be interested to find on-line any episodes of 'Campo 44'. Inspired from page 121 of Uncle John's 'All-Purpose Extra Strength' 13th Bathroom Reader
