96. The Interview

February 24, 1976 (G-525)

Written by: Larry Gelbart
Directed by: Larry Gelbart (his final episode)
Guest Stars: Clete Roberts as himself
Semi-Regulars: William Christopher as Father Mulcahy.

Plot: A newscaster comes to the camp from the US, to interview all the staff for a TV show back home, to show what happens in a war hospital. They talk about life in the camp, what they miss about being away from home, and some send greetings home.

Glitches: Surely Burns would wear his dress uniform for a TV interview?
I find it very unlikely that Radar was allowed to say 'pregnant' on TV in the 1950s. (Not impossible, just highly unlikely).

AWOL: Hot Lips isn't here. I guess you weren't allowed to show women on TV in the '50s. (My highly placed source on the couch next to me informs me that Loretta Swit was on another commitment at the time.)

Great Lines: Radar: 'When they re-dig the latrine... can you say 'latrine' on television?'
Hawkeye: 'If you wear your underwear outside your pants for three days straight, and see if anybody notices - that's one way of staying sane.'
Klinger, when asked what will happen in the end: 'I don't know. If I knew all the answers, I'd run for God.' Possibly the greatest line of the series.

The Klinger Collection: He wears his uniform to be on TV.

Notes: This is during the second year of the war, probably 1951 or 1952. I guess Radar got his glasses fixed after the last episode. Potter has a son and daughter-in-law and a baby granddaughter, as we discovered in Episode 86. Mail Call Again, although it does change later on. Klinger has a mother, father (Butch) and a sister, Yvonne.

Comments: Possibly the greatest episode thus far - completely new, completely different, and yet so perfectly in-character. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to script an interview this well. A stunner, and a wonderful note for Larry Gelbart (of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum fame (he wasn't in it, he wrote it) ) to go out on.

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