Question: Okay, Mr. TV... a ...

Question: Okay, Mr. TV... a co-worker of mine keeps insisting (and I say he's making it up) that reruns of Hogan's Heroes are really popular in Germany. I say he's pulling my leg. Who's right? — Lee Seebach

Televisionary: I know nothing — nothing!

						 Okay, I'll amend that. I don't know much, but I've got a head full of TV-related junk and I'm willing to share it with y'all 'cause I'm a card-carrying member of the helluvaguy club.

Your pal is correct, Lee. Strangely enough, episodes of Hogan's Heroes have indeed done very well in Germany, especially among younger Germans. And while one might question the implications of that at face value, rest assured that those responsible bent over backward to avoid glorifying the Nazis. In fact, while Stalag 13 commandant Colonel Klink (Werner Klemperer) and others in the German military were portrayed as complete dunces in the comedy, which ran on CBS from 1965-'71, the scripts were overhauled to make the Nazis look even more inept in the German broadcasts.

Still, the concept of a comedy based in a World War II prison camp is one that makes people rather squirmy — and understandably so. As a young Televisionary, for example, friends of mine weren't allowed to watch violent cartoons while the only show banned in my house was — you guessed it — Hogan's Heroes. My mom didn't want me growing up thinking Nazis were merely harmless bumblers and clowns.

For the life of me, I can't imagine how they got that show on a major network just 20 years or so after the war. Try pitching a similar concept and see how many meetings you get. ("You see... they're SS officers, but they're hilarious S.S. officers! Think of all the jokes we can mine from the Russian front alone!")

Yeesh.

Still, humor is a tricky topic for debate. While many decry what they see as the series's insensitivity, it's worth noting that Klemperer is Jewish and as a child was forced to flee Germany with his family when Hitler came to power. John Banner (Sgt. Schultz) was Jewish, as is Robert Clary (LeBeau), who is a concentration camp survivor.

For his part, Klemperer laid down some ground rules before agreeing to play Klink. "I had one qualification when I took the job," he told The Houston Chronicle last year. "If they ever wrote a segment whereby Colonel Klink would come out the hero, I would leave the show."