M*A*S*H: The General Flipped at Dawn

M*A*S*H: The General Flipped at Dawn
CBS
September 10, 1974
Dramedy
DVD
B+

When the '74 Fall Season came along, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers took M*A*S*H's Saturday slot (after All in the Family), so this series got moved to Tuesdays, between Good Times and Hawaii Five-O, which I imagine was not as good a fit.  (M*A*S*H would be moved again the next year, but more about that later.)

This first of 24 M*A*S*H scripts by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, directed by Gelbart, is a tour de force for Harry Morgan as Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele.  And, yes, the irony of this casting is thick in retrospect, not that the character particularly resembles Potter, except in being more "regular army" than most of the unit.  Watching Stevenson's hapless Blake off of him is a delight.  When Klinger shows up, in another charming ensemble, Steele's reaction is unexpected but perfect.  And there's a musical number or two.  The episode does have a glaring anachronism, a reference to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), but I'll let that slide.

Lynnette Medley (this time Nurse Baker) and Kellye Nakahara (Yamato) return.  Brad Trumbull was on That Girl twice and is Col. Atkins here.  Theodore Wilson, who plays Warrant Officer Martin "Marty" Williams, would be on just about every black sitcom of the '70s, including four times on What's Happening!!