Quark!!!
 

Soundmotor used the reference to "The Challenge" that movie was the great white on and he was Ahab.
Quark was a series have looked for over the years with no luck. It was a Buck Henry creation which starred Richard Benjamin in command of a United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol ship who then seems to go on to lead the battle against the dreaded Gorgons. Henry had worked with Mel Brooks on "Get Smart" and Quark had a feeling to it that was like a Brooks movie.
I remembered it as being damn creative and couldn't find it until a couple weeks ago.
You can watch the whole series online and in fact download it all. The quality isn't the greatest, I have my computer plugged into a pretty good stereo and I have to turn down the treble quite a bit to get through the episodes. But crap, it's funny. The pilot goes kinda slow but it's well worth watching.

http://quark.name/

Now that you mention it, I do remember that one.
Always liked Richard Benjamin; very droll. Remember "He & She" with is real-life spouse, Paula Prentiss?

You've just date us if we remember He and She, that show had a pretty good cast, I've always been a Kennith Mars fan. I have one of his albums. Jack Cassidy was damn funny in that show.

Wow, I don't even remember this one. In the 70's I was in my sci-fi prime too but..... I was also at boarding school & there was no TV. I had to sneak off campus to catch Battlestar Gallactica.

Thanks for the pointer, I'll have to DL these.

Speaking of Richard Benjamin -

The Last Of Sheila

re: Kenneth Mars... he was also great in the original movie version of "The Producers"!

He & She was a great, if terribly short-lived, TV show. Having Paula Prentiss in the cast didn't hurt. Hubba-hubba!