Roll Out!

This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month.

Here’s an interesting artifact of the ’70s. Roll Out (1973) was a sitcom about a mostly African American army supply unit stationed in France during World War Two. It was created and produced by Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds as a follow up to M*A*S*H, mixing in color for topicality, a year before Good Times and two years before The Jeffersons, I might add. The cast included Stu Gilliam, Hilly Hicks, Garrett Morris, Mel Stewart and Teddy Wilson. Their (white) officers were played by ’40s movie actor Jimmy Lydon (a bit of nostalgic stunt-casting), Ed Begley Jr, and Val Bisoglio. Only a dozen episodes made it to air.