M*A*S*H: Our Finest Hour

M*A*S*H: Our Finest Hour
CBS
October 9, 1978
Dramedy
DVD
B-

Clete Roberts appears as himself in this odd hybrid of fake documentary and clip show.  I don't think the two halves mesh particularly well, but the interviews are good and so are most of the clips.  I'm glad they included Frank, Trapper, and Henry, although there's more of a focus on the current cast of course.  This originally ran as an hour special but apparently was damaged and has been rebuilt from the syndicated version with two parts.  Note that this is set October 9, 1952 (exactly 26 years earlier), which means that the first six years are supposed to have happened in about two.  Obviously there will be more retcon later.

Jeff Maxwell (Straminsky) and Kellye Nakahara (Yamato) both appear, mostly in archive footage.  I'm unable to tag Truman, Ike, Nixon, or MacArthur, who definitely appear in archive footage.  The new material is written by Larry Balmagia, Ronny Graham, David Isaacs, David Lawrence, and Ken Levine, and I won't tag the Charles Brothers etc. who wrote the episodes in the clips.  I definitely won't tag all the directors listed, not counting the cast members who directed, but I will note that Burt Metcalfe directed the new material.  Furthermore, I can't tag Mary Jo Catlett and Teri Garr as I normally would.