| M*A*S*H Season 6 | |
|---|---|
| "M*A*S*H - Season Six" | |
 DVD Cover for Season 6 of M*A*S*H. | |
| Season: | Season 6 |
| Original network: |
CBS-TV |
| Country/Language | United States |
| Original Run: | |
| First episode: | September 20, 1977 |
| Final episode: | March 27, 1978 |
| Number of episodes | 25 |
| Created by: | Larry Gelbart |
| Executive producer(s): | Gene Reynolds (executive producer) Burt Metcalfe (associate/executive producer) |
| Season guides | |
| Previous Season 5 |
Next Season 7 |
The first episode of Season 6 of M*A*S*H, Fade Out, Fade In, Part 1 aired on CBS-TV on September 20, 1977; it introduced a new surgeon, the surgically talented, but arrogant, snobbish, classical music loving Boston blueblood Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. The season's final episode, Major Topper, aired on March 27, 1978.
Burt Metcalfe, who had been with the series since Season 1 as a line producer until he assumed the new role as associate producer under Gene Reynolds after the departure of series creator and co-executive producer Larry Gelbart before the start of Season 5, now assumed the role of executive producer when Reynolds left to devote a full-time effort to his role as producer the CBS-TV news/drama series Lou Grant in mid-season. Metcalf would serve as the executive producer for the remainder of the series' run.
This is the only season with the closing theme adding the opening guitar licks from "Suicide Is Painless."
Major events[]
- Charles Emerson Winchester III is permanently assigned to the 4077th after Frank Burns goes crazy in Tokyo and is transferred back to the states (where he is later promoted to Lt. Colonel!) in Fade Out, Fade In, Part 1 and Fade Out, Fade In, Part 2. These two segments are frequently broadcast as one full hour episode.
- Corporal Klinger gets divorced from his wife Laverne Esposito in Mail Call Three.
- Hawkeye Pierce and Margaret Houlihan have a brief love affair in Comrades in Arms, Part 1 and Comrades in Arms, Part 2.
- M*A*S*H moves to Mondays at 9:00PM, effective the January 30, 1978 episode "What's Up Doc?". This proves to be the series' most popular timeslot, and here it will stay for its last 6 years on CBS.
- For the first time, end credits are seen at episode's end, just before the closing credits.
- This is the only season with the closing theme adding the opening guitar licks from "Suicide Is Painless."
Season 6 (1977-1978): List of Episodes[]
- This table lists the episodes in the order they were first broadcast. The episodes were not all broadcast in the same order as they were produced. The broadcast order is also the order of episodes in the DVD set. However, syndicated reruns and paid streaming services such as Netflix sometimes follow the production order (e.g.Y-101, Y-102, Y-103....)
- Watching the episodes in Broadcast Order creates only one minor discontinuity. In Comrades in Arms, Part 2, Margaret says they are using a special clamp developed at the 4077th for the operation. The story of how that clamp is developed is only told 3 episodes later in Patient 4077. This latter episode was actually produced earlier.
- The table below can be sorted to display the episodes in Broadcast or Production Order.
| Season 6 episodes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ep.# | # in Series | Date aired | Episode title | Directed by | Written by | Prod. code |
| 1 | 123 | September 20, 1977 | "Fade Out, Fade In, Part 1" | Hy Averback | Jim Fritzell & Everett Greenbaum | Y-101 |
| While Margaret Houlihan is on a honeymoon with her new husband Lt. Colonel Donald Penobscott in Tokyo, Frank Burns goes crazy while on R&R in Seoul, leaving the 4077th shorthanded, so Major Charles Emerson Winchester III (new cast member David Ogden Stiers) is sent from Tokyo General to help at the 4077th. | ||||||
| 2 | 124 | September 20, 1977 | "Fade Out, Fade In, Part 2" | Hy Averback | Jim Fritzell & Everett Greenbaum | Y-102 |
| After Frank is caught in Seoul, the charges are dropped, and he is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and sent back home to run a VA Hospital. Meanwhile, Potter arranges for Charles' temporary duty at the 4077th to become permanent, which he is strongly against. | ||||||
| 3 | 125 | September 27, 1977 | "Fallen Idol" | Alan Alda | Alan Alda | Y-104 |
| Hawkeye sends Radar to Tokyo to sow some wild oats, but when he comes back to camp as a casualty, Hawkeye is overcome with guilt. | ||||||
| 4 | 126 | October 4, 1977 | Last Laugh | Don Weis | Everett Greenbaum & Jim Fritzell | Y-103 |
| B.J. Hunnicutt's old pal, Leo Bardonaro (James Cromwell), who is a big practical joker, pays him a visit at the 4077th to say goodbye as he is being discharged back to the states; B.J. later finds himself being arrested for disturbing the peace in Seoul the night before. | ||||||
| 5 | 127 | October 11, 1977 | "War of Nerves" | Alan Alda | Alan Alda | Y-106 |
| Sidney Freedman (Allan Arbus) arrives at the 4077th as a casualty, along with him is angry wounded soldier who he had authorized to return to the front and who is feeling bitter him for doing so. Meanwhile, in order to boost camp morale, which is at an extreme low after a long stretch of casualties, Potter authorizes a camp "bonfire", the burning of unneeded materials. | ||||||
| 6 | 128 | October 18, 1977 | "The Winchester Tapes" | Burt Metcalfe | Everett Greenbaum & Jim Fritzell | Y-107 |
| Charles tells the story of the 4077th through his eyes in a tape to his parents back home, urging them to pull strings to get him out of Korea. | ||||||
| 7 | 129 | October 25, 1977 | "The Light That Failed" | Charles S. Dubin | Burt Prelutsky | Y-108 |
| While the camp is short on light bulbs, B.J. receives a mystery novel, "The Rooster Crowed at Midnight" in the mail, only to discover that the last page of the novel is missing, and the camp is unable to find out who committed the murders in the book. | ||||||
| 8 | 130 | November 1, 1977 | "In Love and War" | Alan Alda | Alan Alda | Y-112 |
| Hawkeye has to take care of the mother of an aristocratic South Korean woman (special guest star Kieu Chinh), who he later falls in love with. | ||||||
| 9 | 131 | November 8, 1977 | "Change Day" | Don Weis | Laurence Marks | Y-113 |
| Scrip exchange is being made (red for blue) when Hawkeye discovers that $400 that than has been entrusted to him by a wounded MP has been stolen, meanwhile Charles tries to make a deal with the locals so he can exchange more blue from red military scrip. | ||||||
| 10 | 132 | November 15, 1977 | "Images" | Burt Metcalfe | Burt Prelusky | Y-105 |
| After seeing a corporal in the O.R. covered in tattoos, Radar decides he wants to get a tattoo as well, but can't decide on what kind of tattoo to get; meanwhile Margaret secretly cares for a stray puppy. | ||||||
| 11 | 133 | November 22, 1977 | "The M*A*S*H Olympics" | Don Weis | Ken Levine & David Isaacs | Y-111 |
| Feeling that the entire camp is lazy and out of shape, Colonel Potter holds the first annual M*A*S*H Olympics: Hawkeye and B.J. are named team captains, and each team will compete against each other for the prize of three days R&R. | ||||||
| 12 | 134 | November 29, 1977 | "The Grim Reaper" | George Tyne | Burt Prelutsky | Y-110 |
| Hawkeye is facing military charges for pushing a colonel, aptly named Colonel Bloodworth (Charles Aidman), who seems to actually enjoy predicting casualties but then the colonel ends up as one of the casualties himself. | ||||||
| 13 | 135 | December 6, 1977 | "Comrades in Arms, Part 1" | Burt Metcalfe & Alan Alda | Alan Alda | Y-116 |
| Hawkeye and Margaret are sent to the 8063rd to demonstrate new surgical techniques, but they soon discover the 8063rd had to bug-out suddenly. Their jeep breaks down and is later stolen by a band of North Koreans. Hawkeye and Margaret then seek shelter in a bombed-out hut. | ||||||
| 14 | 136 | December 13, 1977 | "Comrades in Arms, Part 2" | Alan Alda & Burt Metcalfe | Alan Alda | Y-117 |
| Hawkeye comforts Margaret in the abandoned hut during a night of non-stop shelling. But the next day Margaret is taking what happened a little too seriously for Hawkeye's liking. | ||||||
| 15 | 137 | December 20, 1977 | "The Merchant of Korea" | William Jurgensen | Ken Levine & David Isaacs | Y-118 |
| B.J. borrows $200 from Charles so he can send Peg Hunnicutt a down-payment for some property in Mill Valley, and soon finds himself having to return SEVERAL favors to Charles. | ||||||
| 16 | 138 | January 3, 1978 | "The Smell of Music" | Stuart Millar | Jim Fritzell & Everett Greenbaum | Y-115 |
| Hawkeye and B.J. cannot stand Charles's French-horn playing, so until he gives it up, they give up bathing. | ||||||
| 17 | 139 | January 10, 1978 | "Patent 4077" | Harry Morgan | Ken Levine & David Isaacs | Y-114 |
| The surgeons of the 4077th need a special kind of instrument to perform a difficult operation on a casualty, and try to produce a new vascular clamp; meanwhile Corporal Klinger works hard to find Margaret's missing wedding ring after he accidentally throws it away. | ||||||
| 18 | 140 | January 17, 1978 | "Tea and Empathy" | Don Weis | Bill Idelson | Y-109 |
| In one sub-plot, B.J. has to deal with a junky who's hooked on morphine; in another the 4077th is low on penicillin and Klinger and Father Mulcahy go out hunting for some that has been stolen from them; in another sub-plot, Hawkeye deals with tough British Major Major Derrick Ross (special guest star Bernard Fox) who seems to want to march his troops right out of post-op. | ||||||
| 19 | 141 | January 24, 1978 | "Your Hit Parade" | George Tyne | Ronny Graham | Y-124 |
| The 4077th are over-run with casualties, so to help ease the tension, Radar runs his own "radio station" from his office. | ||||||
| 20 | 142 | January 30, 1978 | "What's Up Doc?" | George Tyne | Larry Balmagia | Y-119 |
| Margaret suspects she's pregnant, but in order to be sure, a pregnancy test must be performed. The only trouble is, the test needs to use the ovaries of Radar's female rabbit Fluffy; meanwhile a disgruntled patient holds Charles hostage until they agree to send him back to Ohio. | ||||||
| 21 | 143 | February 6, 1978 | "Mail Call Three" | Charles S. Dubin | Everett Greenbaum & Jim Fritzell | Y-121 |
| After three weeks, a load of mail arrives for the staff members: Radar discovers his mother now has a new boy friend, Colonel Potter receives new snaps shots of his grandson Cory Potter, Klinger learns his wife fell in love with another man and wants a divorce, B.J. finds out a neighbor has been hitting on Peggy, and Hawkeye has been receiving love-letters meant for a different Capt. Benjamin Pierce (played by Oliver Clark). | ||||||
| 22 | 144 | February 13, 1978 | "Temporary Duty" | Burt Metcalfe | Larry Balmagia | Y-125 |
| While Hawkeye and Nurse Bigelow are temporarily assigned to the 8063rd, the 4077th have to deal with loud happy-go-lucky cowboy Captain Roy DuPree (George Lindsey) and a smart, but very open old girlfriend of Margaret's, Captain Lorraine Anderson (Marcia Rodd). | ||||||
| 23 | 145 | February 20, 1978 | Potter's Retirement | William Jurgensen | Laurence Marks | Y-120 |
| Outraged at hearing complaints coming from inside the camp about his abilities as a commanding officer, Colonel Potter decides to put in for retirement. | ||||||
| 24 | 146 | February 27, 1978 | "Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde" | Charles S. Dubin | Ken Levine, David Isaacs & Ronny Graham | Y-122 |
| Radar puts his mouse, Daisy up against the Marine's Sluggo in a mouse-race; meanwhile Charles slowly becomes addicted to pep-pills. | ||||||
| 25 | 147 | March 27, 1978 | "Major Topper" | Charles S. Dubin | Allyn Freeman | Y-123 |
| Klinger breaks in a new guard, Corporal 'Boots' Miller, who turns out to be a bigger nut than Klinger. Meanwhile, Colonel Potter and the rest of the staff try to figure out how to deal with the excessive pain the casualties are experiencing in post-op. | ||||||