Cherokee Indian student Sam Lightfoot (Derrik Lewis) is leaving for a few days and Hank (Dick Kallman) takes his spot to attend the Early American lecture by the esteemed Professor Norton. Track Coach Ossie Weiss (Dabbs Greer) once again spots Hank hurdling over hedges, this time dressed as a Native American, and tries to track down Sam Lightfoot. Ossie Weiss' wife Ethel (western actress Sheila Bromley) is frustrating her husband by constantly watching westerns. Their interactions provide the comic relief in this episode. She is frightened by the sight of Hank dressed as Sam Lightfoot and he furthers it by yelling war chants in another room and applying lipstick on his face as war paint. The real Sam Lightfoot talks Native Americans from a traveling Old West show to drop by the campus and put on a brief display. They come fully dressed riding on horseback firing rifles. This proclaims Coach Weiss to say, "It's an Indian uprising-- in 1965!" He runs after his gun while Ethel is concerned about being scalped after just getting a permanent. The coach comically runs down the sidewalk shouting "Indian attack!".
Through four episodes I can't help but constantly notice how different this series is to the average comedy series of that period. First is the depth of characters where wisdom and moral messages reign over comedy. (Yes, "Father Knows Best" did that, but not to the depth here in my opinion.) Second is the sets. Whereas most period sitcoms was shot on one or two small closed sets with cheap paper backgrounds serving as scenery from a window, "Hank" is mostly filmed outdoors at Warner Brothers Studios on a large college campus set with a number of interior sets that looks as if it belongs in a feature film.
Through four episodes I can't help but constantly notice how different this series is to the average comedy series of that period. First is the depth of characters where wisdom and moral messages reign over comedy. (Yes, "Father Knows Best" did that, but not to the depth here in my opinion.) Second is the sets. Whereas most period sitcoms was shot on one or two small closed sets with cheap paper backgrounds serving as scenery from a window, "Hank" is mostly filmed outdoors at Warner Brothers Studios on a large college campus set with a number of interior sets that looks as if it belongs in a feature film.
