Monster M*A*S*H
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W*A*L*T*E*R was a pilot for a spin-off of M*A*S*H made in 1984 that was never picked up as a series. It starred Gary Burghoff, Ray Buktenica and Victoria Jackson, the latter of whom was two years removed from joining the cast of Saturday Night Live.

The show related the adventures of Corporal Walter (formerly "Radar") O'Reilly after he had returned home from the Korean War. The woman he had romanced during his final appearance on M*A*S*H was nowhere to be found. More importantly, he was no longer calling himself "Radar" and he had moved away from Iowa. Taking root in St. Louis, Missouri, he had become perhaps the world's gentlest police officer.

The pilot shows that W*A*L*T*E*R was to be light-hearted, simple comedy, in keeping with Walter/Radar's character on M*A*S*H, but without the social value and heavier drama of the parent show.

Difficulties in showing[]

Since the pilot was never picked up by CBS as a series, it was shown as a "CBS Special Presentation" in July 1984. It was shown once in the Eastern and Central time zones of the United States, but pre-empted on the West Coast by CBS News coverage of the 1984 Democratic National Convention. This is the only known broadcast of the pilot.

Timeline[]

The episode takes place immediately following a two-part guest appearance on AfterMASH, in which Walter was forced to sell the family farm.

Synopsis[]

Nearly a year after the Korean War ends, Walter O'Reilly (no longer using his nickname 'Radar') is now living in St. Louis with his cousin Wendell Mickeljohn, who helped him to get a job as a rookie beat cop.  As they are preparing to go on duty, the TV is about to show an interview with the two of them by news reporter Clete Roberts, who visited the 4077th MASH twice during the war.  Roberts is doing a series of follow-up interviews with former members of the 4077th; he talked with Hawkeye Pierce the previous week, and is now interviewing Walter.  Wendell wants to watch it, but Walter is disinterested. The two arrive at the police station, where other officers are watching the interview in the briefing room. Walter tells Clete about how back home in Ottumwa, Iowa he lost his farm and equipment due to failed crops and competing government subsidies.  He then mentions that he sent his mother to live with her sister in nearby Davenport.  Just as Walter introduced Wendell, Sergeant Sowell turns off the TV and orders everyone to work.

Walter and Wendell are paired together and walking a beat when they pass by a crowd in front of a department store watching the interview on a TV in the display window; in the interview Walter reluctantly tells Roberts about how his new wife Sandy had abruptly deserted him for his ex-best friend Claude Greevy, with whom she had had an affair right before they married.  In a flashback, Walter has emotionally hit rock bottom and is aimlessly wandering the streets when he decides to go to a drug store to buy an overdose of sleeping pills (and some aspirin as sleeping pills give him a headache).  But he is befriended by Victoria, the drug store waitress, who invites Walter to stay and have a free bowl of noodle soup. She notices that they have some things in common, most notably they are both from Iowa (she is from Keokuk), and that they both save the noodles for last.

The TV interview ends, and when a teenaged boy in the crowd points out Walter and Wendell from the interview, some of the others clamor around them asking for their autograph.  The boy who identified Walter wants him to sign his cast, and runs off just as Walter finishes.  Wendell asks Walter for his notepad, but when he checks his pockets he finds his wallet is gone.  He is about to call it in to the police when they are called to break-up a fight between two strippers at a nearby theater.  Wendell tells Walter to forget about the wallet and use it as an object lesson- until he notices that his own wallet is also missing.

At the theater, one of the strippers, Dixie DeVoe, accuses the other, Bubbles Sincere, of stealing Sweetheart, her bird, which Bubbles denies.  But Walter's keen ear picks up a bird chirping in the rafters, and when Walter imitates the bird, it comes and lands on his shoulder, much to Dixie's delight.

Walter and Wendell emerge from the theater and see the teen from the crowd standing nearby; he runs off when he sees them, but Wendell catches him. The boy's name is Ellston Krennic and according to HQ has no criminal record.  Walter gets Ellston to open up a little bit about his family; he lives with his grandmother, his father is dead, and his mother abandoned him years ago.  Wendell goes off and takes a break, and Walter invites Ellston to a root beer float at the drug store.

While there, Walter tells Victoria about his wallet being stolen, and then laments not so much about losing what money he had, but the picture he kept of himself, Henry Blake and Hawkeye.  Hearing this, Ellston sheepishly pulls the same picture out of his pocket, proving he did indeed pick Walter's and Wendell's pockets.  Ellston then opens up more to Walter saying that had to resort to pickpocketing and petty crime because he and his grandmother are having trouble making ends meet; he then mentions that his dead father, whom he has no picture of, had been killed in Korea.  

Walter understands Ellston's situation and makes a deal with him:  as long as Ellston promises to stay clean and to meet with Walter every Saturday at the drug store just to talk about what's going on with him, he will agree to not press charges against him.  Ellston eventually agrees and goes on his way.  Impressed with the way he handled the whole situation with Ellston, Victoria tries to straighten a bashful Walter's necktie and then gives him a kiss on the cheek.

Cast[]

External links[]

  • TV Obscurities.com article on W*A*L*T*E*R, 15 Feb 2005 Archive URL
  • finest-kind.net article on W*A*L*T*E*R Archive URL
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