The Rear Guard

The Rear Guard
Created by	Jimmy Perry David Croft
Written by	Jimmy Perry David Croft Arthur Julian
Directed by	Hal Cooper
Starring	Lou Jacobi Cliff Norton Eddie Foy Jr. John McCook Dennis Kort Arthur Peterson Jim Connell James McCallion
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	1 (Pilot)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	August 10, 1976

The Rear Guard is a 1976 pilot episode for an American adaptation of the British situation comedy Dad's Army. Set in World War II, The Rear Guard followed a band of men in the American Civil Defense (c. 1942) who were part of an auxiliary force in the event of an invasion of the USA. The episode was an adaptation of "The Deadly Attachment", in which a German U-Boat crew are placed under the supervision of the platoon.

The pilot was aired on Tuesday the August 10, 1976, broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company. However it was not popular and never made it past its pilot to become a series. As it was a failure, the original tapes the show was recorded on were wiped. However copies of the show are in the possession of the show's director Hal Cooper and other producers that were associated with the show.

Cast

As The Rear Guard was a remake of Dad's Army, many of the characters were visible in the remake, under alternative names. Here is a list of the characters and their original counterparts.

Sergeant Max Raskin - Lou Jacobi (Arthur Wilson)
Captain Nick Rosatti - Cliff Norton (George Mainwaring)
Bert Wagner - Eddie Foy Jr. (Jack Jones)
Don Crawford - John McCook (Joe Walker)
Bobby Henderson - Dennis Kort (Frank Pike)

The characters of Privates Godfrey and Frazer were not re-created.