M*A*S*H: Dear Uncle Abdul

M*A*S*H: Dear Uncle Abdul
CBS
December 3, 1979
Dramedy
DVD
C-

Heavy-handed script by Rappaport & Mulligan meets heavy-handed direction by Jurgenson for the weakest episode in a long while.  (Over two years since the last grade below a C+ for M*A*S*H.)  I can see what some people mean about the show getting preachy, which doesn't bother me if it's done with more finesse than here.  And I could see some of the various plot threads working if everyone, especially Farr, weren't overacting.  Note that Klinger dressing in drag is spoken of in the past tense, although it hasn't really been that long since.

Kelly Ward, who was Tom Shuster in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, is Tom Shuster here.  Richard Lineback, who plays Eddie, would return as Private Scala.  Kellye Nakahara returns as Kellye Yamato.

M*A*S*H: C*A*V*E

M*A*S*H: C*A*V*E
CBS
February 5, 1979
Dramedy
DVD
B

If you can get past Hawkeye and Margaret having previously unmentioned fears-- claustrophobia and loud noises respectively-- this Balmagia & Graham story is good.  I like them confiding in each other, briefly finding comfort in each other's arms (just a hug, but a small echo of their one night together, and BJ refers to "the backseat"), and then overcoming their fears to save a patient.  Also, it's nice to have a different setting for most of the episode.  Notice that BJ humbly takes a patient's advice, while Charles remains both whiny and arrogant.  And we find out that Charles, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy all have the same blood type.

Basil Hoffman (this time Maj. Bartruff), Enid Kent (Bigelow), Kellye Nakahara (Yamato), and Jennifer Davis Westmore (like before, a nameless Nurse) return.  Radar is referred to but his absence unexplained.

M*A*S*H: The Young and the Restless

M*A*S*H: The Young and the Restless
CBS
January 22, 1979
Dramedy
DVD
B-

In this first of two M*A*S*H stories written by Mitch Markowitz, a talented young surgeon, Capt. Simmons (James Canning in his second of two M*A*S*H appearances), puts the doctor's noses out of joint, while Klinger acts like he thinks he's in Toledo.  This episode is mainly notable for, one, Margaret talking some sense into Potter, two, Potter telling Winchester why he doesn't like him, and three, Klinger wearing interesting men's outfits for a change.

Kellye Nakahara returns as Kellye Yamato.  And if I haven't mentioned it before, she's always referred to as "Kellye," unlike Nurse Baker et al.

M*A*S*H: Potter's Retirement

M*A*S*H: Potter's Retirement
CBS
February 20, 1978
Dramedy
DVD
B

This Laurence Marks story has Potter considering leaving the 4077th because someone has been sending negative reports.  The obvious suspect is Charles, who's now been there six months.  But it turns out to be Corporal Benson (George Wyner, who was on The Bob Newhart Show a couple times), actually a reluctant spy.  The moment when Hawkeye says "Sherman" is touching because, fond as he is of Potter, he takes him much more seriously than he ever took Henry Blake.

Ken White, who's Corporal Denning here, would be a Marine Recruiter on Welcome Back, Kotter.  Peter Hobbs makes his first of two M*A*S*H appearances, as Gen. Waldo Kent.  Johnny Haymer (Zale), Enid Kent (Bigelow), and Sal Viscuso (PA Announcer) return.  This is the 400th CBS program I've reviewed, and William Christopher's 100th appearance (including the ones on That Girl).

M*A*S*H: Ping Pong

M*A*S*H: Ping Pong
CBS
January 18, 1977
Dramedy
DVD
C+

The 4077th throws a wedding for a Korean (or maybe Korean-American) soldier who's a table tennis champ.  Margaret, who bickers with an increasingly childish Frank, cries at the wedding.  I think Hawkeye's line about their houseboy being drafted two years ago is a semi-in-joke about Ho-Jon.

Frank Maxwell, who plays Lt. Col. Harold Becket, was William Samuels on That Girl.  Roy Goldman (as Roy Goldman), Enid Kent (Nurse Bigelow), Sachiko Penny Lee (this time as Soony), Jeff Maxwell (Straminsky, doing Bogart), Kellye Nakahara (Yamato), and Sal Viscusco (PA Announcer) all return.  This is Sid Dorfman's last writing credit on my blog, giving him a span of almost 26 years, which will be tough to beat.

M*A*S*H: Hawkeye Get Your Gun

M*A*S*H: Hawkeye Get Your Gun
CBS
November 30, 1976
Dramedy
DVD
C+

This story written by Gene Reynolds and Jay Folb starts out fine, with Potter wanting to prove to Frank (and I think himself) that he's not too old to be a doctor.  Yet by the time we've got not only Hawkeye drunk driving but Hawkeye and Potter shooting off guns while drunk, I think this needed a rewrite.

Mako, who was Casey on Gidget, makes his second appearance on this series, as Major Choi.  Phyllis Katz has his first of four M*A*S*H roles, as Nurse Able, while Carmine Scelza's first of four is as a G.I.  Jeff Maxwell (Straminsky) and George F. Simmons (uncredited, unnamed role) return.

M*A*S*H: Deluge

M*A*S*H: Deluge
CBS
February 17, 1976
Dramedy
DVD
B

A newsreel from 1950 is interspersed with scenes of the 4077th, especially in and around the OR.  The Chinese have just joined the war (or "police action" as Frank calls it), which happened in October of that year.  So the retconning begins.  For once, a fragmented format actually helps, with scenes of famous politicians and movie comedians, as well as a ping-pong-playing cat, contrasting with the more serious scenes of the unit.  There are moments where Potter and Houlihan deliberately walk in on each other in the shower, and they're not played for prurience, as they would've been in the Blake era.  The colonel and the major treat each other like equals, both regular Army and understanding each other as no one else in camp can.

Kario Salem makes his first M*A*S*H appearance, as the Youngster.  Lois Foraker (Nurse Able), Roy Goldman (this time as a Corpsman), Kellye Nakahara (Yamato), and Lynn Marie Stewart (this time as Nurse Plummer) return.  Gelbart & Muntner wrote this one.

M*A*S*H: Hey, Doc

M*A*S*H: Hey, Doc
CBS
October 10, 1975
Dramedy
DVD
C

This story by Rick Mittleman, who did four for That Girl and recently the opening episode of Welcome Back, Kotter, goes along being a typical episode, no better or worse than most, and then it has Frank get into a tank and drive like a maniac all over the camp, flattening the Swamp and a jeep, only so that Hawkeye and BJ can get him to sign a form for someone who's been stealing equipment for months.  (BJ at one point says they may resort to torture to get Frank to sign.)  The microscope has been stolen by someone else and this guy can get them another one, if he has three doctors sign his form.  A serious rewrite was needed here, although it is a cute touch when Potter, who misses the cavalry, shoots the jeep to put it out of its misery.

Bruce Kirby, Sgt. Kimble here, was Dr. Klein on The Bob Newhart Show.  Ted Hamilton, who's Lt. Chivers, would be the Captain in the Love Boat TV-movie the next year (and devour the scenery as the Pirate King in 1982's Pirate Movie).  Roy Goldman (as Roy Goldman) and Kellye Nakahara (Yamato) return.

M*A*S*H: Aid Station

M*A*S*H: Aid Station
CBS
February 11, 1975
Dramedy
DVD
B+

Simon Muntner's second M*A*S*H story, co-written with Gelbart, is to put it mildly a vast improvement over the previous episode.  Hawkeye, Margaret, and Klinger go to the title location, which, with its roof blown off and its doctor killed, is little better than an open-air shack.  They all give it their utmost and develop more respect for each other.  Meanwhile, the people back at the 4077th worry about them and, Frank in particular, gripe about the "primitive" conditions of the camp.  This leads to a lovely moment at the end, where Frank and Trapper are criticizing the food, while Hawkeye and Margaret, who are glad to be back at what Klinger described as an "upholstered toilet," exchange a look of amusement and affection.  I also like the scenes between Klinger and Radar; I'm pleased to see that friendship develop recently.


Tom Dever this time plays a Corpsman.  William Jurgensen directs his first of ten M*A*S*H episodes.