Scriptwriter Robert “Bob” Colleary, who spent two decades writing for Captain Kangaroo before transitioning to sitcom writing in the late 1970s, passed away on January 8th at the age of 82. Colleary wrote “Guerilla My Dreams” for the eighth season of M*A*S*H. It was one of his earliest sitcom credits. According to his obituary at Legacy.com, Colleary won an Emmy Award in 1980 for his work on Barney Miller and later served as an executive producer on Benson and It’s a Living. His Internet Movie Database entry has a number of credit under the name R.J. Colleary, including a 2011 episode of Life with Boys, a Canadian sitcom. Given that his obituary states he retired in 1989, it seems unlikely that most recent credit is accurate. Based on a quick Internet search, which led me to this interview with R.J. (Bob) Colleary — the son of the Robert “Bob” Colleary who wrote “Guerilla My Dreams” — I believe IMDb has mixed writing credits for father and son into one entry.
(Thanks to the Sitcoms Online Message Boards.)
It’s interesting that he came from Captain Kangaroo, because in a similar transition, writers/producers Thad Mumford & Dan Wilcox later moved on to write for Sesame Street in the 80s.
Personally, I did not like “Guerilla my Dreams” (8×03), but it’s still sad to hear about his loss nonetheless. It seems like we’ve been losing so many key figures in pop culture history anymore… I mean, just look at all that we’ve lost in the last few years… Bernie Mac, George Carlin, Eartha Kitt, Don LaFontaine (the movie trailer announcer guy), Paul Newman, Dom DeLuise, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Barbara Billingsley, Larry Gelbart, Roy Goldman, Charles Dubin, Jackie Cooper, Harry Morgan, Whitney Houston, Davy Jones, and others I just can’t think of right now.
Very solid episode from Mr. Colleary. Always enjoy when Mako shows up in an episode.
Bob Collearys’ got a cool and diverse list of credits! RIP
It was a very solid episode, except all of the doctors suddenly forget that THIS woman is one who has been helping to hurt the very boys they are working on. We save this woman above all others, but we take the appendix out of a guy who is on our side. I don’t know, I understand they wanted to help her, and not have her be tortured – but the total blindness to the things she was doing in posts op just doesn’t ring true. I also feel that there was gratuitous use of the “son of a bitch” – just to be the first ones to say it on television. I can think of much better episodes to use it in.
However, you are right about the loss of our pop icons – time marches on, and no one lives forever, so I feel we will be experiencing this more and more as the days go on. The “history” part is what does it – history was a while back, and these folks just aren’t spring chickens any more. How very sad.
Thank you pinkpagoda. Agree with your comments.
Like many shows, I appreciate the humor but don’t care for the politics or social commentary.