The BEST episodes of The Phil Silvers Show season 1
Every episode of The Phil Silvers Show season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Phil Silvers Show season 1!
Classic military comedy set on the fictional Army base of Fort Baxter in Kansas and starred Phil Silvers as Sgt. Ernest Bilko, a fast-talking sharpster who would do anything to make an extra buck. Paul Ford co-starred as Colonel Hall, Bilko's harried commanding officer who often found himself stuck in the middle of Bilko's schemes.
#1 - Bivouac
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/29/1955
When maneuvers come round again the Colonel is interested in which illness Bilko has in order to miss out on the joys of marching through the countryside. In order to make him go the Colonel uses reverse psychology
#2 - The Court Martial
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/6/1956
When Zippo the ape is accidently inducted into the army the only way to get the army off the hook is to get Bilko as defense council and court martial the ape before anybody finds out
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#3 - Hollywood
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/3/1956
Hollywood plans a film of the "Battle of Kabuchi" and they hire Bilko as the technical adviser, but after a couple of days he has taken over the whole production, and the film people want shot of him.
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#4 - The Transfer
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/31/1956
When the Colonel makes life difficult Bilko decides to bluff and puts in a transfer, but the Colonel calls the bluff and Bilko is on his way, but at his new camp life is to easy and Bilko hopes he can find a way to get back to Camp Baxter
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#5 - The Investigation
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/10/1956
A Congressional committee visit Fort Baxter to investigate waste and high living but Bilko has other ideas, he wants a pay rise instead
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#6 - The Reunion
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/20/1955
When Bilko meets up with his old army buddies, he thinks that they are going to be so short of money, that he is going to have to help them out , but it turns out that they have all been very successful.
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#7 - Dinner at Sowici's
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/14/1956
When Bilko thinks that Joan is trying to trap him into marriage, he takes her to dinner at Sgt Sowici's to see how bad marriage can be, but they are in for a surprise.
#8 - Mardi Gras
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/8/1955
When the platoon ask local socialite Miss Joy Landers to be their Mardi Gras queen she laughs and turns them down flat, so Bilko finds a way to change her mind.
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#9 - Bilko and the Beast
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 3/27/1956
When a new drill sergeant known as "The Beast" takes over at Fort Baxter Bilko and the platoon come up with a scheme to get rid of him
#10 - The Rest Cure
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/7/1956
During a heat wave Bilko discovers that the army have a rest centre in the Rockies but the trick is trying to persuade the doctors and the Colonel to let him go there
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#11 - The Singing Contest
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/6/1955
Bilko hears of a singing contest in Miami and to get away from the bitterly cold weather he enters the platoon but on hearing them sing he puts a bet on for them to lose. While he is putting on the bet a new platoon member is found to have a beautiful singing voice
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#12 - The Eating Contest
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/15/1955
In an eating contest between the platoons Bilko puts his money on a new member of the platoon nicknamed 'The Stomach' only to find that he can only eat when he is depressed
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#13 - The Centennial
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/22/1955
Bilko organises a pageant to celebrate 100 years of Camp Baxter but after some investigation finds that it does not show the camp in a very good light
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#14 - The Rich Kid
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/27/1955
Bilko gets an idea to buy the local bar and grill, but he is stumped for cash, until he learns that one of the platoon's new recruits, is heir to a steel fortune. So they play up to him in order to get him to invest in their scheme, but Bilko's conscience wins out in the end.
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#15 - Bilko on Wall Street
Season 1 - Episode 34 - Aired 5/15/1956
Thinking his friend is a big man on Wall Street Bilko goes to stay but when he discovers that his friend is just a clerk, Bilko sets out to get him a better job.
#16 - The Hoodlum
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/1/1955
After several transfers a young tough guy is moved to the motor pool platoon and it is left to the Bilko to cut him down to size. Meanwhile Bilko is after the "Soldier of the Month" competition. Little does he know that the tough guy will spring a surprise.
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#17 - The Twitch
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/13/1955
Colonel Hall tells Bilko to provide an audience for a lecture on music. He finds that nobody wants to come until they learn that the lecture will be given by a friend of the Colonel's wife and they can bet on the number of twitches that she will give during the lecture
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#18 - The Boxer
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/25/1955
Bilko discovers that one of the platoon Claude Dillingham is a boxing champ so Bilko enters him for the interplatoon championship only to learn that Dillingham refuses to fight
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#19 - The Revolutionary War
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/24/1956
Bilko's aunt sends him a diary showing him that his great uncle Joshua was on the staff of George Washington so Bilko applies to become an officer but on reading the diary he discovers that Joshua was a traitor so Bilko keeps quiet and withdraws his application
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#20 - Army Memoirs
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/21/1956
When Sgt's Pendleton,Grover, and Sowici get Bilko busted to private, he gets his own back by pretending to write a book on his army life
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#21 - Hair
Season 1 - Episode 31 - Aired 4/24/1956
Bilko's head is constantly being used by his barber to find a cure for baldness. The other three sergeants know this and while Bilko is asleep decide to play a trick on him, but Bilko has the last laugh
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#22 - War Games
Season 1 - Episode 33 - Aired 5/8/1956
Bilko is asked to be best man at a friends wedding but it coincides with a war game battle between the army and the national guard
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#23 - The Big Uranium Strike
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 3/20/1956
Bilko suspects that there are large deposits of uranium underneath Fort Baxter but he has to get rid of the Colonel before he can start digging
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#24 - The Con Men
Season 1 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/1/1956
When Doberman gets a $500 windfall from an insurance policy, he loses it in a poker game with three con men. Bilko gets it back by conning the con men, but then Doberman loses it again by being conned into buying the hotel from another con man
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#25 - The Recruiting Sergeant
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/17/1956
When Bilko gets a tip on a horse from a jockey he persuades the Colonel to take him on a recruiting drive to Topeka so he can get to a bookie and get a bet on
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