The show's success transformed Silvers from a journeyman comedian into a star; and writer-producer Hiken from a highly regarded behind-the-scenes comedy writer into a publicly recognized creator.

By 1955, the American television business was already moving westward to Los Angeles, but Nat Hiken insisted on filming the series in New York City.

Actor Paul Ford, playing Bilko's commanding officer, was notorious for forgetting his lines; when he would get a blank expression on his face, Silvers and the rest of the cast would improvise something to save the scene, like "Oh, you remember, Colonel, the top brass is coming..." At that point, Ford would pick up where he left off.

Future Columbia Pictures VP and theatrical agent Harvey Orkin, later known as a regular on Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, was among the writers who were recognized with the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Writing in 1956.

[5] The series was originally set in Fort Baxter, a sleepy, unremarkable U.S. Army post in the fictional town of Roseville, Kansas.

If one of his boys was treated unfairly or was cheated in any way, Bilko always helped the injured party, using the same psychological guile and chicanery he used to outwit his suckers.

Bilko's swindles were usually directed toward (or behind the back of) Col. John T. Hall, the overmatched and beleaguered post commander who had early in his career been nicknamed "Melon Head".

In an episode entitled "The Court Martial" (1956), Bilko tries to assist the colonel in setting a speed record for inducting new recruits, which accidentally results in a private's pet chimpanzee being enrolled.

[7] The show's setting changed with the fourth season, when the men of Fort Baxter were reassigned to Camp Fremont in California.

This mass transfer was explained in storyline as being orchestrated by Bilko, who had discovered a map showing a gold deposit near the abandoned army post.

One reason for the change from Kansas was so that the series could more plausibly bring in guest stars from nearby Hollywood, such as Dean Martin, Mickey Rooney, Diana Dors and Lucille Ball.

Stanley Sowici; after Clark's death the role of cook was played by burlesque comic Joe E. Ross as Sgt.

Francis Grover, Nicholas Saunders as Hall's adjutant Captain Barker, and John Gibson as an unnamed Chaplain that Sgt.

The series frequently featured so many secondary cast members, with so many speaking parts, that the show ultimately became too expensive to sustain.

Guest stars included Alan Alda, Bea Arthur, Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Dick Cavett, Arthur Duncan, Constance Ford, Eric Fleming, Dodie Goodman, Fred Gwynne, Bob Hastings, Paul Lynde, Julie Newmar, Tom Poston, Charlotte Rae, Paul Reed, Darryl Richard, Mark Rydell, Suzanne Storrs and Dick Van Dyke, then near the beginning of their careers.

Later episodes used a wealth of veteran Hollywood character actors, including Harold Huber, Margaret Hamilton, Marjorie Gateson, Natalie Schafer and Frank Albertson.

As Colonel Hall looks at his prisoners on a newly installed closed-circuit TV system, he quips: "It's a wonderful show, and as long as I'm the sponsor, it will never be cancelled."

Following the show's cancellation, CBS shortsightedly sold the rights to NBC: the rival network immediately aired reruns five days a week to great financial returns.

Some of the show's other actors were recruited by "Bilko" producer Edward J. Montagne to appear in Nat Hiken's follow-up sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?

In 1963–1964, he starred in The New Phil Silvers Show, which attempted to transplant his mercenary character to a factory setting, but the result proved unpopular.

He also played unscrupulous Broadway producer Harold Hecuba on an episode of Gilligan's Island, stealing the castaways' concept for a musical version of Hamlet.

The series reemerged in the late 1980s on the fledgling cable channel Comedy Central, then again on Nick at Nite for a short time during the 1990s (serving as charter programming for TV Land in 1996), and MeTV.

The Bilko persona was borrowed by the Hanna-Barbera animation studio for its television cartoon series Top Cat, which drew on elements from The Phil Silvers Show.

Another episode recruited Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble into the army, where they were conned by an unnamed Bilko-like character into becoming astronaut test pilots.

The series was shown weekly on BBC Television during its original run from 20 April 1957 onwards, in varying timeslots, with the final first-run episode "Weekend Colonel" airing on 15 January 1961.

[13] The series returned in repeats on BBC Television (later BBC1) from June 1961 to March 1967, after which it was absent from the screen until April 1973, when it returned in a late-night timeslot (although listed in Radio Times as Sergeant Bilko/Bilko), becoming a staple of BBC1's post-11pm late-night schedule throughout the 1970s and 1980s, usually appearing immediately prior to the channel's signoff (before BBC One, as the channel was now rendered, became a 24-hour broadcaster in November 1997).

The series was moved to an early evening timeslot on BBC2, beginning a repeat run of all four seasons in broadcast order from 7 November 1984.

[13] The UK publication Radio Times Guide to Comedy ranked The Phil Silvers Show as its top TV sitcom in 2003.