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| Hogan's Heroes | |
|---|---|
 Title card |
|
| Format | Military sitcom |
| Created by | Bernard Fein Albert S. Ruddy |
| Starring | Bob Crane Werner Klemperer John Banner Robert Clary Richard Dawson Ivan Dixon Larry Hovis Kenneth Washington |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 168 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Hollywood, California Culver City, California |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 17, 1965 – March 28, 1971 |
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. Starring Bob Crane as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, the show was set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp during the Second World War. The program featured Werner Klemperer as Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the camp; John Banner as the portly inept sergeant-of-the-guard, Schultz; and an international crew of Allied prisoners who assisted Hogan in running a Special Operations group from the camp.
Hogan's Heroes was produced by Bing Crosby Productions and CBS Productions.
The setting was a fictional version of Stalag 13, a POW camp for captured Allied airmen located north of the town of Hammelburg in the Bad Kissingen woods and run by the Luftwaffe. Its location was on the Hammelburg Road (now known as E45), on the way to HofburgStrasse and eventually Dusseldorf. One episode mentions they are 106 kilometers from Heidelberg, but that measurement is actually aviation miles; it would have taken 199 km by car.
Stalag 13 bore no resemblance to its real-life counterparts, Oflag XIII-B and Stalag XIII-C. The show's premise was that the POWs were actually active war participants, using the camp as a base of operations for Allied espionage and sabotage against the Germans or the German Armed Forces. The prisoners could leave and return almost at will via a secret network of tunnels and had radio contact with Allied command. They were aided by the incompetence of the camp commandant, Colonel Klink, and the Sergeant Of The Guard, Sergeant Schultz. Hogan would routinely manipulate the incompetent Klink and get Schultz to look the other way while his men conducted secret operations. Klink and Schultz were in constant terror of being transferred to the Russian Front, and Hogan took pains to keep the hapless German duo firmly in place. Klink had a perfect record of no escapes while he commanded the POW camp. Hogan actually assisted in maintaining this record, and made sure any prisoners who needed to be spirited away had been transferred to someone else's authority before their escape was enacted. The program for a sitcom was unique as it combined elements of surrealism and dynamic action/adventure storytelling. Other examples of programs of the era that combined genres while reflecting general social tensions are Mission: Impossible and The Wild Wild West.
American United States Army Air Force Colonel Robert E. Hogan (Bob Crane), senior ranking POW officer, is the leader of the group. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and is from Cleveland, Ohio. He was shot down while on a raid on Hamburg in an operation masterminded by Colonel Biedenbender, who was promoted to general for this achievement. In contrast to Colonel Klink, Hogan graduated third in his military class. The character was named by series creator Bernard Fein after his friend, the American soap opera and character actor Robert J. Hogan, who appeared in two episodes of Hogan's Heroes.
In the episode "Two Nazis for the Price of One", it is revealed by Major Hochstetter of the Gestapo that Colonel Hogan was the commander of the 504th bomb group that had been reassigned to the "Manhattan Project". In real life, the 509th Bombardment Group was in the group that dropped the atomic bombs (that were created under the code name "Manhattan Project") on Japan in August, 1945
Staff Sergeant James (aka Ivan) "Kinch" Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon) is primarily responsible for radio, telegraph, and other forms of electronic communications. In the series pilot, Kinchloe is introduced as Hogan's 'Chief Of Staff', and, in addition to his communications expertise, is observed speaking fluent French to LeBeau. This was a large step for a 1960s TV show, to have a black actor identified in such a manner. In a later episode, when it looks like Colonel Crittenden (Bernard Fox) was going to be the new Senior Prisoner Of War officer, Hogan introduces his men, with Kinchloe cited as 'Chief Of Operations'. A talented mimic, Kinchloe easily imitates German officers speaking over the radio or telephone. When Hogan needed a strictly audio impression of Adolf Hitler, the men generally agreed that Kinchloe was the better choice for the job over Sergeant Carter.[1]
Kinch was from Detroit and had worked for the telephone company. In one episode, he mentions that before the war he was a Golden Gloves boxing champion. In an episode that had General Burkhalter (Leon Askin) making reference to the Jesse Owens victories during the 1936 Olympics and Adolf Hitler not being happy that a Negro won events over German athletes, Kinchloe knocks out the heavyweight champ of Stalag 13 (Battling Bruno) while Burkhalter was in the camp. Kinchloe wound up fighting Bruno again, drawing out the fight in a delaying action while Hogan and the others accomplish their usual sabotage. Upon completion of the mission, Hogan yells to Kinch to end the fight, and Kinch laid the German out with one punch whereupon Hogan throws in the towel and surrenders the fight to prevent the obvious disaster of a black POW defeating the 'master race's finest boxer'. At the end of the episode, Hogan reminds Klink to tell 'Battling Bruno' that he is the winner, "when he wakes up".
As Kinchloe is black, his ability to participate in some undercover activities outside of the camp is limited. In one operation, Kinchloe plays the role of a doorman at a nightclub in Paris in order to get close to the owner. He also impersonated an African prince (also played by Ivan Dixon).
Following Dixon's departure from the show, the producers replaced his character in the sixth season with another black man, Sergeant Baker (Kenneth Washington). The tasks assigned to Sergeant Baker are identical to those of Staff Sergeant Kinchloe. However, Newkirk was elevated to the 'Chief Of Operations' role. The details of Kinch's departure were never explained on the show.
Like Kinchloe, Baker's ability to work outside the camp is limited (since he doesn't blend in racially), but he is able to assist the group on sabotage missions while managing communications.
American Technical Sergeant Andrew J. Carter [Lieutenant in the pilot episode] (Larry Hovis) is in charge of ordnance and bomb-making. He also shows talent in chemistry and can produce formulas as needed. Carter is often called on to impersonate German officers and, most convincingly, Adolf Hitler. Carter, as Hitler, responds to a group of German officers saying "Heil Hitler" with "Heil Me." While bright and enthusiastic at his specialties, Carter often shows a lack of common sense otherwise. He formerly worked at a drug store in Muncie, Indiana; in one episode, he bragged that he had won a snowman-building contest in Bullfrog, North Dakota. His awards include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Commendation Medal and Good Conduct Medal. Carter is a Native American; his Sioux name is Little Deer Who Goes Swift And Sure Through Forest. Hovis was married, and refused to remove his wedding ring while filming the show as the single Sergeant Carter. Thus, Carter is usually shown wearing gloves, and his left hand is rarely shown in the show.
French Air Force Corporal Louis LeBeau (Robert Clary) is a chef. LeBeau is also a master of covert operations, and has taken the precaution of befriending the camp's guard dogs. As a result, he is able to enter their compound through a secret entrance under a doghouse without the dogs raising the alarm. He also is able to hide in small spaces, such as the safe in Colonel Klink's office and crates. In many episodes, LeBeau bribes Schultz with food, especially LeBeau's apple strudel. Schultz and Klink (but mainly Schultz) refer to Le Beau as "Cockroach". In the first two seasons, LeBeau made the uniforms and suits, although this job increasingly went to Newkirk. In fact, by the fifth season episode "Gowns by Yvette", it is suggested that LeBeau cannot even sew a stitch, though he claims creative responsibility for the dress Newkirk eventually sews, but later he once again began to sew and mend the clothing alongside Newkirk. LeBeau suffers from hemophobia.
Royal Air Force Corporal Peter Newkirk [Lieutenant in the pilot episode] (British-born American actor Richard Dawson) is the group's conman, magician, pick-pocket, card shark, forger, bookie, lock picker, safe cracker and impersonator of German officers (and on one occasion, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during the war). He also is in charge of making uniforms and assisting in distracting the Germans to perform other sabotage. This series marked Dawson's second appearance on American TV (he had earlier appeared on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1963). Dawson auditioned for the role of Hogan, but was told he didn't sound American enough. In the version translated for broadcast in Germany, Newkirk's pronounced British accent was replaced by a simulation of stuttering. Newkirk is also a skilled tailor, often called upon to make or alter uniforms and other disguises. Newkirk was also teamed with Carter and his irritation at Carter's bumbling antics and lack of common sense was often used for comedic effect. Newkirk is called "The Englander" by Schultz and sometimes even Klink in some of the episodes.
Kommandant Oberst (Colonel) Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer) is an old-line Luftwaffe officer of aristocratic (Junker) Prussian descent, and a social climber. He was born in Leipzig, though he refers to Düsseldorf, where he attended the Gymnasium (high school), as his home town.[2] After failing the entrance exams to study law or medicine,[2] he received an appointment from Kaiser Wilhelm II to a military academy, through the influence of his uncle, the Bürgermeister's barber, and graduated 95th in his class - the only one who has not risen to the rank of general. He has fencing armor in his dining room and he sometimes wears a monocle. One episode has a brief shot of his office showing that Klink has a pompous coat of arms on his wall. In another episode when he thinks he is going to be rich, he claims his 500-year-old name will actually have some money as well. A veteran aviator of the First World War, Klink happily lives out the end of his military career in the relative comfort and safety of a prison camp commandant's billet - although in one episode he wished he was piloting a Heinkel bomber again. He has been stuck at the rank of colonel for 20 years with an efficiency rating a few points above "Miserable". In one episode, Klink tried to flatter Schultz, a businessman in civilian life, hoping to he hired as a bookkeeper with Schultz's toy company after the end of the war. Klink is portrayed as a vain, bumbling, self-serving bureaucrat, rather than as an evil Nazi. With his innate skills as a hustler, Hogan is able to manipulate Klink (which Klink doesn't really mind) through a combination of appealing to his vanity through a lot of flattery, and playing with Klink's fears of being sent to the frigid and bloody Eastern Front war with Russia, or of being hauled off by the Gestapo.
In one episode, Klink is told by "General Burkhalter" that to climb higher socially, he would need to marry into an important family. Burkhalter next tells him that his widowed sister and niece will be arriving at Stalag 13 soon. Klink initially thinks that Burkhalter's lovely niece is the one to whom Burkhalter is referring, but Klink finds out that it is actually Burkhalter's homely and gruff sister, Frau Linkmeyer, whom Burkhalter is trying marry off - and this becomes Klink's worst nightmare. Klink narrowly escapes from this fate with the help of Colonel Hogan. In a later episode, we find that the two other Stalag commandants under Burkhalter's command also narrowly escaped marriage to Frau Linkmeyer.
Colonel Klink had received the Citation of Merit-Second Class (fictitious) from General Stauffen during World War I. The general had visited Stalag 13 to get a briefcase from Hogan filled with explosives and a thirty-minute timer in a plot to murder Adolf Hitler, all under the unsuspecting eyes of Klink. This is typical of the scenarios in which Hogan would entangle Colonel Klink, where Klink's ego is used against himself. A running gag in Hogan's Heroes is that Klink gets doused in the face with water at times for comedic effect. Another running gag is that Klink is an inept violinist, too, and is only able to play The U.S. Army Air Forces Song (in real life, Werner Klemperer was a skilled violinist, and son of the famous orchestra conductor Otto Klemperer).
Another gag is that of Klink saving his most treasured possession: a World War I spiked Pickelhaube helmet that he keeps on his office desk. Yet another gag involves Hogan's stealing one or two of Klink's cigars from his desk during their (often brief) meetings, and also inquiring as to whether Klink would like one too.
Oberfeldwebel (Master Sergeant) Hans Georg Schultz, serial number 23781 (John Banner) is Klink's bumbling, highly unmilitary 295-pound Sergeant Of The Guard. Schultz is a basically good-hearted man who, when confronted by evidence of the prisoners' covert activities, will simply look the other way, repeating "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!" (or, more commonly as the series went on, simply "I know nothing–NOTHING!") in order to avoid being blamed for allowing things to have gotten as far as they already had-which might see him given a one-way trip to the Eastern Front. This eventually became a catch phrase of the series. Though generally shown as being borderline incompetent, he has (on occasion) proven his mettle, as can be seen in episodes such as "A Funny Thing Happened on the way to London", where he catches Hogan 'assisting' another man attempting to escape; he even goes so far as to stand up to Hogan, moving him along at gunpoint. Schultz, in the sixth season, receives a temporary promotion to Kommandant of Stalag 13. In the episode "Kommandant Schultz", Burkhalter brings an order from Berlin to all Luft Stalags to begin Officer training for their most senior non-commissioned officers. Schultz does so well in the job that Hogan and Klink have to join forces to discredit Schultz and get him reduced back to sergeant-of-the-guard. In another episode which was a satire on the movie/TV Industry a ego driven movie star with the US Armed Air Forces-his contact says that if captured he can be exchanged for 3 Generals-is sent to Stalag XIII and makes a propaganda movie-with Schultz as the Commandant and Klink as a Sergeant!
Like Klink, he is a veteran of World War I. His hometown is Heidelberg, and in civilian life he is the owner of Germany's biggest and most successful toy manufacturing company, The Schatzi Toy Company.[3] With the onset of war, Schultz was involuntarily recalled to military duty and lost control of his toy factory as it was converted to military use. He has a wife, Gretchen (played by Barbara Morrison in Season 2, Episode 24) and five children whom he sees only on infrequent leave. LeBeau once refers to Schultz as a Social Democrat, a party which the Nazis banned in 1933, and Schultz on several occasions is shown to be very disgusted by Hitler in particular and the Nazis in general. Schultz carries a Krag-Jørgensen rifle, which he never keeps loaded and tends to misplace or even hand to the POWs when he needs to use both hands ("Give me back my gun, or I'll SHOOT!"). He wears a fictitious version of the Iron Cross (4th Grade) awarded by General Kammler, a friend from World War I, who addresses Schultz by first name, and whom Schulz addresses as Lieutenant Kammler.[4] Schulz needs glasses to read[5] and is described by Klink as being "in his forties."[6] In reality, Banner was in his late fifties.
Fraulein Helga (Cynthia Lynn, 1965 to 1966) and Fraulein Hilda (Sigrid Valdis, 1966 to 1971) served as the secretaries of Colonel Klink. Both Fraulein Helga and Fraulein Hilda were portrayed as having ongoing flirting and kissing relationships with Colonel Hogan. Both also assisted Hogan and his men in various ways, including providing either tidbits of information, or access to official papers or equipment.
Sigrid Valdis and Bob Crane were married in 1970 on the sets of the filming studios in Culver City, Calif., where all of the interior and some of the exterior scenes of Hogan's Heroes were filmed. Nearly all of the crewmen and women, and all the cast members of the TV series were present, and Richard Dawson served as the "Best Man" to the groom.
The pilot episode, "The Informer", was produced in black-and-white.[7] As with many pilot episodes, there are several differences from the series proper, such as Burkhalter being introduced as a colonel, instead of a general. There were many changes to Larry Hovis's character of Carter. In the pilot, he was credited as a guest star and is shown as a lieutenant, rather than a sergeant. "Lt. Carter" had recently escaped from another camp and at the end of the episode, is en route to England.
Leonid Kinskey appeared in the pilot episode as Vladimir Minsk, a Soviet POW who specializes in tailoring. Kinskey ultimately turned down a contract to become a permanent character, contending that the subject matter was being treated too lightly.[citation needed]
In the pilot, Col. Klink's secretary is actually part of Hogan's team, and she has access to the tunnels. In the actual TV series, she is merely willing to look the other way in exchange for a warm kiss from Hogan, or some other form of affectionate gesture. Eventually, during the run of the TV series, it is implied that she and Hogan have a running romance, especially when she hints at getting a diamond engagement ring in exchange for her help.
The theme music for Hogan's Heroes was composed by Jerry Fielding, the drums being played by Bob Crane. The title of the theme music is "March" or "Hogan's Heroes March". There are lyrics[8] to the title music. While they were never sung in the show, they were performed on an album titled "Hogan's Heroes Sing The Best of World War II". On the album, the performed lyrics are as follows:
Heroes, heroes, husky men of war,
Sons of all the heroes, of the war before.
We're all heroes up to our ear o's,
You ask the questions,
We make suggestions,
That's what we're heroes for.
All good heroes love a nifty fight,
Open up the bomb bays, brighten up the night.
We earn laurels solving your quarrels,
You throw the roses,
We punch the noses,
That's what we're heroes for.
What's a hero do?
We're never gonna tell ya
Cause we wish we knew.
That's why we heroes are so few.
We've got a slogan,
From Colonel Hogan,
And Colonel Hogan's a hero too.
Never flinch, boys, never be afraid,
Heroes are not born, boys, heroes all are made.
Ask not why, boys, never say die, boys,
Answer the call, remember we'll all be heroes forever more.
Note: The lyrics printed in various publications of TV Theme music are slightly different than the performed lyrics.
The exact chronology of the series was never established, but references are made in certain episodes.
As with some other war-related series such as M*A*S*H, the TV program lasted much longer than the actual surrounding events had. While the series ran for six seasons, the American direct involvement in the World War II was less than four years (December 7, 1941 through September 2, 1945). Also, World War II in Europe ended on May 7, 1945, by the American calendar, May 8th by the European calendar.
During the end credits of Hogan's Heroes, a World War I Imperial German Spiked Pickelhaube Helmet has a World War II United States Army Air Forces officer's cap hanging on its spike.
The producers of the 1953 feature film Stalag 17, a World War II prisoner of war film released by Paramount Pictures (which now owns the DVD rights to Hogan's Heroes), unsuccessfully sued Bing Crosby productions for infringement.[9] In his book, My War, Andy Rooney, who was a friend of Don Bevan and Ed Trzcinski-the authors of the original Stalag 17 play-relates that "...someone at CBS apparently ripped off their idea and made a television series called Hogan's Heroes of it. The television program had too many similarities in character and plot to be coincidental, and when Don and Ed sued the network they won a huge award."[10]
In 2002, TV Guide named Hogan's Heroes the fifth worst TV show of all time. [11] The listing for Hogan's Heroes in particular accuses the show of trivializing the suffering of real life POWs and the victims of the Holocaust with its comedic take on prison camps in the Third Reich. However, the Luftwaffe, who had jurisdiction over captured enemy aviators and air crews (regardless of whether they belonged to their respective nation's army, air force, navy or other service) is generally agreed to have provided noticeably more comfortable and gentlemanly accommodations than the Wehrmacht or SS, stemming from their First War philosophy that aviators were "knights of the air" and to be treated with chivalry.[citation needed]
Comedian Tony Figueroa has offered a possible explanation for the disparate views of the program by modern audiences. He believes that some viewers look badly upon the show because they think it trivializes the atrocities of war or because they have fundamentally misapprehended the setting of the show.
These Hogan's Heroes critics who confuse the POW camps with the concentration/death camps speaks more about the quality of the general public's level of historical awareness than the quality of what William Shatner would call, "Just a TV show!"[12]
During the original run of the program, Hogan's Heroes was three times nominated for the Emmy for Best Comedy Series.[13] The television academy's faith in the show is generally confirmed by most modern viewers. As of 2008, online participants overwhelmingly deemed it a show that "never jumped the shark".[14] Likewise, about 93% of respondents at tv.com rated the show as "good" or better, as of 2008.[15]
The actors who played the four major German roles-Werner Klemperer (Klink), John Banner (Schultz), Leon Askin (Burkhalter) and Howard Caine (Hochstetter)--were Jewish. Furthermore, Klemperer, Banner, Askin and Robert Clary (LeBeau) were Jews who had fled the Nazis during World War II. Clary says in the recorded commentary on the DVD version of episode "Art for Hogan's Sake" that he spent three years in a concentration camp, that his parents and other family members were killed there, and that he has an identity tattoo from the camp on his arm. Likewise John Banner had been held in a (pre-war) concentration camp and his family was exterminated during the war. Leon Askin was also in a pre-war French internment camp and his parents were killed at Treblinka. Howard Caine (Hochstetter), who was also Jewish (his birth name was Cohen), was American, and Jewish actors Harold Gould and Harold J. Stone played German generals.
As a teenager, Werner Klemperer (Klink) (son of the great conductor Otto Klemperer) fled Hitler's Germany with his family in 1933. During the show's production, he insisted that Hogan always win over his Nazi captors. He defended his playing a Luftwaffe Officer by claiming, "I am an actor. If I can play Richard III, I can play a Nazi." Banner attempted to sum up the paradox of his role by saying, "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?" Ironically, although Klemperer, Banner, Caine, Gould and Askin play typecast World War II German types, all had actually served in the US Armed Forces during World War II – Banner[16] and Askin in the US Army Air Corps, Caine in the US Navy, Gould with the US Army, and Klemperer in a US Army Entertainment Unit.
Hogan's Heroes was not broadcast in Germany on German television until 1992. [Whether or not it was in Austria or Switzerland is unknown.] The original German-language dubbed version was titled Stacheldraht und Fersengeld ("Barbed Wire and Turning Tail"). The program was next re-dubbed and re-broadcasr in 1994 as Ein Käfig voller Helden ("A Cage of Heroes"), which gained considerable popularity.[citation needed] Hogan's Heroes had been broadcast over the American Armed Forces Network in Germany in 1974 for one or two episodes, but the German government strongly requested its removal, and the management of American Armed Forces TV complied with this request and took it off the air.[citation needed]
In the newer German-language version of Hogan's Heroes, the Germans and Austrians speak in various different accents. It amplifies the contrast between Colonel Klink (who portrays the Prussian stereotype but has an accent from Saxony) and Sergeant Schultz (who portrays the Urbayern Bavarian stereotype), which gives the German version of Hogan's Heroes another slapstick element. Furthermore, Klink's choice of vocabulary and memorable quotes add more gags that would not be possible in a direct translation of the original English-language version of Hogan's Heroes.
All of the American characters in Hogan's Heroes speak High German (Standard German). General Burkhalter speaks with strong Austrian accent, especially to go along with the fact that the actor who played this role, Leon Askin, was born in Vienna, Austria.
A major change to the German version of Hogan's Heroes is that Corporal Newkirk, who speaks with a British accent in the original, has his voice changed to that of an exaggerated stutterer in the German version. Another change that was made is in Sergeant Schultz's first name. This is "Hans" in the English version, but they changed this to "Georg" in the German version, for no apparent reason.
Apart from all of the above, there are numerous departures from the original stories, which introduce factors which are not present in the English Hogan's Heroes. Among other things, the German version introduces a new character, "Kalinke", who is Klink's cleaning lady and also his perennial mistress. Of course, she is referred to, but never seen, because she was nonexistent in the films of the TV program. Colonel Klink describes her as performing most of her cleaning duties in the nude.[17]
Universal HD broadcasts Hogan's Heroes in High Definition. [18]
CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released all six seasons of Hogan's Heroes on DVD in Region 1 as full season sets. The series was previously released by Columbia House as individual discs, each with five or six consecutive episodes.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | 32 | March 15, 2005 |
| The Complete Second Season | 30 | September 27, 2005 |
| The Complete Third Season | 30 | March 7, 2006 |
| The Complete Fourth Season | 26 | August 15, 2006 |
| The Complete Fifth Season | 26 | December 19, 2006 |
| The Sixth & Final Season | 24 | June 5, 2007 |
| The Complete Series | 168 | November 10, 2009 |
In Australia, all 6 series have been released by CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount), in Region 4.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The First Season | 32 | July 30, 2008 |
| Season 2, 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition | 30 | November 7, 2008 |
| The Third Season | 30 | March 5, 2009 |
| The Fourth Season | 26 | June 3, 2009 |
| The Fifth Season | 26 | August 4, 2009 |
| The Sixth & Final Season | 24 | September 30, 2009 |
| The Complete Series: Kommandant's Kollection | 168 | December 3, 2009 |
In a scene from the film Turistas, a character is seen watching the show on television.
Mad magazine #108 (January 1967) parodied the show as "Hokum's Heroes". An additional one-page parody called "Hochman's Heroes" took the show's premise to the next level by setting it in Buchenwald concentration camp.
In the Batman episode "It's the Way You Play the Game", Colonel Klink appears in one of the show's trademark window cameos as Batman scales the side of a building.
In 1974 the Stalag 13 buildings were used for the notorious concentration camp Nazi exploitation film Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS.
Colonel Klink (voiced by Klemperer himself) appears on The Simpsons in the episode "The Last Temptation of Homer", as a guardian angel assuming the form of a character Homer knows, who shows Homer what his life would be like without Marge. Throughout the episode Homer tells Klink of the tunnels and radio that were hidden from him throughout Hogan's Heroes.
The Simpsons episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" features a parody of the song "Kids" from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. One of the lines is "Adults! You run our lives like you're Col Klink!/Adults! You strut around like your farts don't stink!"
Furthermore, one of the Germans that buy Burns's power plant in The Simpsons episode "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk" alludes to the show: "The new owners have elected me to speak with you because I am the most non-threatening. Perhaps I remind you of the lovable Sergeant Schultz on Hogan's Heroes."
Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz appear in the Robot Chicken episode "Metal Militia", voiced by Seth Green. In a segment that parodies this show, Hulk Hogan and other wrestlers were in the place of Colonel Hogan and his inmates as they plan to make their escape at the time when Adolf Hitler pays a visit to Colonel Klink's Stalag 13 camp.
Recess; aside from the opening theme that musically resembles Hogan's theme, the general set of the story lines are derivative of Hogan's Heroes. In one episode, "The Old Folks Home", when a retiree, Logan, tells T. J. of his past in the war and a small flashback shows that the retiree's past clearly resembles Hogan's Heroes. Logan stands with his group in front of a barracks with the number 13 on it, and the commandant wears a monocle and carries Klink's military crop.
NFL running back Correll Buckhalter has been nicknamed "The General" by ESPN's Chris Berman after the General Burkhalter character. Berman will usually say his name followed by something like "Klink! You are an idiot!"
The Family Guy episode "Emission Impossible" sees character Cleveland Brown muttering Schultz's famous "I SEE NOTHING, NOTHING!" as he sees Stewie exit the body of a robot built to resemble Peter. On another episode, Chris is working at a golfing range, and his boss pops out of a tunnel in the ground with Chris's paycheck, and says to Chris, "Yeah it's a tunnel like Hogan's Heroes, you wanna fight about it?"
The Decepticon Blitzwing in Transformers Animated speaks in a German accent, and the face of his "Icy" persona has one optical sensor shaped like a monocle.
In an episode of Alf, Brian Tanner and Alf are reviewing Brian's World War II quiz. The question is "What German leader was responsible for the start of World War II?" When told that it wasn't Col. Klink, Alf replies that it must have been Sgt. Schultz, although he "didn't think he had it in him."
In the "Pop Art" episode of Good Eats concerning homemade popcorn, host Alton Brown is having trouble finding a name for the unpopped pieces. When he calls them 'old maids', an Old Lady appears and hits him with an umbrella. When he calls them 'little orphans' a Charles Dickens style orphan appears and kicks him in the shins. When he hesitatingly calls them 'bad kernels', a monocle wearing actor (actually camera operator Ramon Engle) portraying Col. Klink appears and says "Maybe you need to spend some time in the cooler, Mr Brown!" Alton offers him some popcorn to which he says "Nein!"
In the "Wings over Hooterville" episode of Green Acres, Lisa tells the locals how she and Mr Douglas met during WWII when he was shot down. During the flashback, we see him shot down and as he radios to his commander his situation, his Commander suggests "If the Krauts capture you, demand to be sent to Stalag 13. Ask for a chap named Hogan."
In the "It's Gerald's Way or the Highway" episode of The Goode Family, Gerald is sure his tough but tender talk and vegetarian stew will be enough to calm down some Nazi Skinheads. His daughter Bliss suggests to be on the safe side "...we should have Hogan's Heroes playing in the background so they can see the lighter, zanier side of Nazism."
In the 2002 pilot for a remake of The Time Tunnel the team goes back to World War II at the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. When the team is almost captured, two of them have switched to German uniforms and pretend to be Colonel Klink and (Sergeant) Schultz, complete with fake documents.
In 1965, Fleer produced a 66 trading card set for the series.
Between 1966 and 1969, Dell Comics produced 9 issues based on the series, all with photo covers.
In 1968, Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan Dixon, and Larry Hovis cut an LP record, Hogan's Heroes Sing the Best of World War II, which included lyrics for the theme song. The record did not sell well and as a result is today considered a collector's item.
In 1968, MPC (Model Products by Craft Master, Model Products Corp.) released a model jeep in 1/25th scale with spurious markings labeled as "Hogan's Heroes World War II Jeep". In 2003 another model (from the same mold, but with slightly different–though still spurious–decals) was released by AMT/ERTL. It cannot be built as a correct WW2 military jeep, regardless of markings, without body work due to the fact it has a tailgate opening; but it includes alternate parts to build a correct CJ-2A. A decal on the model read, "If found, return to Colonel Hogan".
Hogan's Heroes was an American television situation comedy that ran from September 17, 1965 to July 4, 1971 on the CBS network for 168 episodes. Starring Bob Crane as Colonel Robert Hogan, the show was set in a German prisoner of war (POW) camp for Western Allied prisoners during World War II.
[sometime later, Hogan walks back over with Klink to the ammunitions building; Klink is horrified]
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