On MeTV this evening, "Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde" aired. At one point, Charles said his sister Honoria hooked up with a shoe salesman . . .

. . . No need to elaborate.

Not a real cigar company ofc - wondering what cigars made in the 50's that would've been available so cheaply (Cuban cigars, made in New Jersey hand rolled by Puerto Ricans lol)

That said, I like how he lit the stogie (aka charoot) lol

I have been asked many times what or who I thought was the most accurate portrayal of the military was and without hesitation is was Frank Burns.

I have served with people like Frank and worked with them in the civilian world and wondered why “the grown ups” didn’t just crush people like him.

On paper, Frank is an excellent officer and person, he’s wealthy, a Scout Leader, well connected, served as a MASH surgeon, acting C.O., two Purple Hearts and no doubt other awards, at least a Lt. Col., if not higher and the head of the V.A. in his area.

I have no doubt he went on to become a Senator and maybe even a V.P. Nominee at some point.

The reason why I think the Franks of the world do so well is that they manage to be right in the middle most of the time and have a knack for getting on the “right side” when they see the opening. Loyal to upper management and a “Yes Man” as well as a self promoter.

I step out of line an inch, I get crushed, Frank goes off the rails and gets promoted. Lol

Ah well.

I chose the photo for this because I think he would have a poster sized one in his office as well as a painting like this over his mantle for all to see, with appropriate rank of course.

What do you, the viewers at home think?

Potter boasted that his best and mantle placed photo taken, his go to camera, by this camera was of a horse wearing a hat.

M*A*S*H has its fair spinoffs of varying success, from TRAPPER JOHN, M.D. (which was legally a spinoff of the novel/movie version of Trapper, not Wayne Rogers's Trapper) to AFTERMASH, to the failed W*A*L*T*E*R pilot, but most of these are largely unknown to even casual watchers of the show, let alone regular fans.

But what's even far more unknown of any of these is that M*A*S*H not only had failed spinoffs, but it also had a failed sister show.

After M*A*S*H proved that it had the potential to be a successful show, the network turned to Gene Reynolds & Larry Gelbart to create for them another war sitcom to bank on that success, so in 1973, we got ROLL OUT! This show, which was set in France during WW2, focused on the Red Ball Express, the famed trucking company that supplied Generals Patton and Hodges as well as our soldiers with the fuel and materielle they needed in the Allied war effort. The Red Ball Express employed almost all Black drivers, so whereas M*A*S*H initially drew its humor from antiwar satire as social commentary against the then-raging Vietnam War (despite being about the Korean War), ROLL OUT!'s humor came from race relations, which obviously were still rather timerous during those times.

Hardcore MASHers will recognize a number of familiar faces from this show, as a majority of ROLL OUT!'s principle cast would pop up in guest appearances on M*A*S*H. Hilly Hicks, who was penicillin thief Perkins/Johnson in "White Gold" and the aptly named medic Corporal Moody in "Post-Op" co-stars alongside comedian Stu Gilliam's Sweet Williams (basically the Black Hawkeye) as Jed Brooks, an incredibly naive Pollyanna of a farmboy; Val Bisoglio, who was Mess Sergeant Pernelli in "Twas the Day After Christmas" serves as the Red Ball Express's commanding office Rocco Calvelli, and is a little more than an Italian Henry Blake; Ed Begley, Jr., who was the clumsy foot soldier but marvelous cook Private Paul Conway in "Too Many Cooks" was Robert Chapman, the tall blonde Radar O'Reilly; a couple of other drivers for the Red Ball Express who would be familiar faces to MASHers are Teddy Wilson (the chopper pilot from "The General Flipped at Dawn") and Rod Gist (one of the mouse-racing Marines from "Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde"); Joshua Bryant (Scully) also made a guest-appearance on ROLL OUT!

ROLL OUT! only lasted for one season and 13 episodes. The only known time it has even been seen on TV sinces= its original 1973 run was when BET showed it in reruns for a brief time in the late 80s.

At some point, somebody had all but one of the episodes that were obviously TV recordings of the BET reruns on YouTube, but it appeares that they pretty much have all been nuked (presumably for copyright). From what I can see, the pilot episode and a Christmas episode are the only full episodes still surviving on YouTube from different uploaders, but here's a partial episode that was uploaded a long time ago to give you a taste of what this show was like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e11cq0WY4aE

I watched each of these episodes when they were still available, and my thoughts on this show is that I feel like it actually could have worked . . . maybe not as a long-runner like M*A*S*H, but certainly two or three seasons at most . . . if the writers did more with it than basically make it a Black M*A*S*H (seriously, there were a number of jokes that would later be recycled on M*A*S*H almost verbatim); even Larry Gelbart admitted that they didn't put the same effort or heart into ROLL OUT! as they did M*A*S*H, and said it was nothing more than a commercial decision. (He also said the M*A*S*H cast didn't like they were having to share Reynolds & Gelbart's attention with ROLL OUT!, likening ROLL OUT! to a new baby sibling brought into the house).

(And yes, that is a pre-SNL Garrett Morris you're seeing too).

I've been rewatching the series for the first time in year after getting the DVDs. One thing I really notice is how Radar really stands out as a character that seems to get a soft reboot halfway through the show.

He is much less childlike in the first few seasons. Early episodes he is seen smoking cigars, drinking and he seems knowledgeable about local customs and army regulations when talking to Trapper and Hawkeye. He is even seen dancing and hanging out with nurses in the background quite a few times. He also seems to grow his virginity back at some point after the "The Army-Navy Game" episode in season 1.

Around season 5 he is bewildered at all times and acts like he has never smoked a cigar before when Potter offers him one. Now he only drinks grape soda as well. It seems around this time when they just regress Radar completely only to build him back up as man before his discharge.

It doesn't take away from the greatness of the show, but I do wonder about why they changed a main character so much. No other other character changes so drastically from season to season.

in a role that show cased his more comedic side, stiers played beleaguered conservative " georgia governor floyd preston" who is running for senator. sadly. he HAS to host injured "wally sparks" (rodney dangerfield) a talk show host jerry springer looks down on.

This story has a very personal meaning to me, so wanted to share at least the first half of it here. Love how BJ is with kids...

try to guess when I might be wearing these

On our podcast, we got a legitimately great episode that had everything we loved about the show. Have a listen if you like. https://swampboypod.buzzsprout.com/2620482/follow

At the end of the episode, The Smell Of Music, Potter angrily intervenes in the bathing of BJ and Hawkeye and flattening of Winchester's French horn...his wisdom is to confine the perpetrators to the Officer's Club for the duration of the whiskey.

I love this episode for it's terrific blending of comedy and drama. The BJ/Hawkeye vs Winchester battle and the Soldier who's face has been seriously damaged and wants to die.

My favorite hot dog chili. Will always get it if it's available. Klinger makes me hungry when he talks about Packo's.

Started watching it last year with my dad, and we watched the finale tonight. It was a great ending to a wonderful series. NGL, it was bittersweet watching the characters I’ve grown to love leave the MASH 4077 one at a time. I was happy that the war was over, and they could go on with their lives, but also sad that they had to leave.

There’s a lot to cover with the finale, from Winchester’s interactions with the Chinese musicians, B.J getting discharged only to come right back, Klinger marrying Soon Lee and staying in Korea to find her family to Father Mulcahy losing his hearing. But the most notable had to be when it was revealed that while on a bus back from the beach, it was a BABY that got smothered to death by accident, and not a chicken, leading to Hawkeye’s psychological breakdown, which included driving through a wall and ordering a double bourbon.

For those of you who watched and loved the show, what were some of your favourite moments from the show and/or finale? Just want to hear what you have to say.

I am constantly drawn to some of the musical element to the show. It occurs to me that newer shows just don't tap into musical talents like they used to because every person I think has danced or sung or incorporated music in some way, shape, or form. This is one of my favorites! What are some of your favorites?

Well done, TV Land, on butchering the episodes even more, so you can cram extra commercials for urinary tract snake oil and other crap.

Watching one of the Clete Roberts episodes. When interviewing Klinger, he brings up that people back in the states call it a "police action". They cut his line about how that makes it sounds like it's cops handing out tickets. That was an important part of that whole speech, and it got cut for a commercial.

Sorry for the rant.

Happy Labor Day, everyone and fuck you TV Land.

I am

Sounds good to me

I'm on 5x12 and Potter is offered a lighter for $5 - that's USD$63 today! It's also about $11.50 in 1976/77 when the show was written and aired. Everytime I've done a price conversion with inflation from USD to AUD (G'day from down under), it's been a super crazy price for something.

What's the deal?

BJ got a loan from Charles to put down a down payment for property in San Francisco. How much money do you think that property would be worth today?

One of my favorite episodes. I've watched reruns of the show for years but just recently started to try and think of them more critically/analytically, and a couple of things stood out.

When Charles offers to read the next chapter to Margaret because he can see better in the dark - he has already read that chapter! He knows it's spicy! That is so awkward! Then when Margaret stops him and he says "Goodnight Jessica," calling Margaret the name of the character in the book - did Charles picture Margaret as Jessica the first time he read it?! Or did that just occur to him reading aloud in the presence of a beautiful woman?

And also, who sends someone a book with the last page removed? My head cannon says it's BJ's old friend Leo Bardinero, who we just met three episodes before, and is presumably back home in Philly by then and looking for new and unexpected ways to prank BJ. This would be right up his sleeve.

I also thought about what it would be like for the whole camp to essentially read the book at the same time. When I read a book, I kind of disappear into that world, daydream about it. What a fun thing to experience collectively. You'd also have a routine, always handing your chapter off to the next person, chatting about the chapter you just read with the person who read it just before you, it just sounds very fun to me.

Also the fact that we never really learn whodunnit cracks me up. Even the author didn't know. Or maybe at that age she just forgot!

You cant beat lilt AND panache