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Season 1, Episode 17: Odds and Ends
Original Air Date: 1/30/84
Written by: Everett Greenbaum & Elliott Reed
Directed by: Peter Levin
Klinger and Soon-Lee are making preparations for the birth of their child. Klinger is upset when Soon-Lee mentions she received hand-me-downs from friends and family, to use for their child. He feels like its charity, and is determined to find a way to make some extra money.
He decides to try betting--first on a horse race, then on a basketball. He even bets on Jai Alai, without even knowing what it is!
Meanwhile, Col. Potter tells Bob Scanell that because of some shrapnel that's been in his shoulder since WWI, he needs surgery again. At first, Bob is hesitant, but listens to Potter's advice and agrees. Scannell searches out Father Mulcahy--not because he's afraid of dying, but to change his will.
Klinger ends up winning some money right away, and of course he's thrilled. Col. Potter admonishes him to be careful--save what he's won, and don't try and win anymore. But of course Klinger won't listen, and is sure that his winning streak will continue.
He comes across a crap game run inside a bathroom of General General, and can't help but get involved. Before long, he's lost it all. Unfortunately, before this, he called Soon-Lee and told her to head down to the baby store and buy everything they needed.
Later, one of the nurses went to get Bob Scanell to prep him for his surgery, but he's missing. Potter tells her to put Klinger in charge of finding him, but Klinger is nowhere to be found, either.
They're both at a nearby bar, drowning their respective sorrows and worries. Klinger tells Scanell about his upcoming fatherhood, and Scanell talks about how lonely he is--he even has a kid, but he doesn't ever come to visit him.
Father Mulcahy funds them, and Klinger has to face Col. Potter, and then Soon-Lee, and tell her the bad news. Soon-Lee is elated at their new found wealth, and Klinger can't just bring himself to tell her what's happened.
But then Klinger finds an envelope in his desk, filled with $500 in cash. How did it get there?
Klinger finds Father Mulcahy and tells him about the money, sure that it was left there by Col. Potter. Mulcahy tells Klinger it wasn't Potter, it was Bob Scanell!
We then flashback to Bob and Mulcahy finishing up the will, and after Bob leaves Col. Potter his beloved fishing pole, he shows Mulcahy a coffee can he has filled to the brim with cash, uncashed checks, and bonds--a small fortune. Bob's been receiving various checks over the years, but since he's been living at the V.A. all these years he needed any of it.
Before he went under the knife, Bob made Mulchay promise that $500 of his money go to Klinger's unborn child. Klinger thanks him profusely, and Bob is wheeled into the O.R.
Later, Bob wakes up, the surgery having gone perfectly. Klinger and Soon-Lee are there, along with Col. Potter.
Fun Facts: Mildred Potter, Mike D'Angelo, Alma Cox, and Dr. Boyer do not appear in this episode.
Favorite Line: Col. Potter is showing his old war buddy Bob Scanell his x-ray, and how some shrapnel he got in WWI has been moving around his body over the decades: "This stuff's been on the road longer than The Student Prince."
Season 1, Episode 11: Bladder Day Saints
Original Air Date: 12/12/83
Written by: Everett Greenbaum & Elliott Reed
Directed by: Nick Havinga
A group of veterans arrives for their yearly physical, including a bladder check, which none of them look forward to. Col. Potter asks why all these bladder checks are done all at once, and Mike D'Angelo's answer is predictable: this is how the government wants it done.
That same day, Soon-Lee starts volunteering at the hospital, something Klinger isn't wild about. He's sure Soon-Lee's youth and looks will drive these bored, lonely men nuts, but Soon-Lee is insistent.
Klinger runs into an old friend from Korea, an ex-solider named Pete (Kevin Brophy). Pete is thrilled to see Klinger, and they make plans to go to a football game together. Klinger is sad when he sees Pete is at General General to get a new prosthetic leg, revealing an injury Klinger never knew about. But Pete seems to take it all in stride, laughing about the whole thing.
A particularly ornery patient, named Kraus (Jerry Hardin), is not happy with Dr. Pfeiffer's care (specifically, Pfeiffer's youth and unwillingness to cater to his every whim), and calls a friend in their congressman's office to complain. That trickles down to Mike D'Angelo, who is furious at Pfeiffer, and tells Potter to straighten him out.
Potter agrees with Pfeiffer's point of view, but has to instruct his young charge about how things operate at a VA hospital. Since this Kraus guy has friends in high places, they have to listen to his complaints.
Later, Pfeiffer learns another one of his patients, a sweet, good-natured guy named Gorcey (Mickey Jones), died during a routine operation. He's floored by the news, and then right at that moment, Kraus begins banging his water pitcher with his spoon, demanding his dinner in bed.
Pfeiffer is enraged, and grabs Kraus's bed, dragging it out into the hallway, into the cafeteria. He starts throwing globs of food into Kraus's lap, demanding he eat it, much to the amusement of the other veterans in the cafeteria.
Potter and D'Angelo show up, ready to ball Pfeiffer out, but Kraus is so nasty that they start to see Pfeiffer's point of view. Kraus says he plans to sue D'Angelo and the hospital, but when everyone in the cafeteria pretend they didn't see a thing, Kraus knows he's been beat. Furious, he attacks D'Angelo!
Fun Facts: Alma Cox does not appear in this episode.
Actor Kevin Brophy appeared on M*A*S*H, in Season Eight's "Life Time." Actor Mickey Jones also appeared on the show, in Season Ten's "Snap Judgment."
Favorite Line: Dr. Pfeiffer is arguing with Kraus, who refuses to go to the cafeteria to get his own lunch, even though he's physically able. He barks, "How am I supposed to get there, on my hands and knees?!"
Pfeiffer responds, "No, that's usually how we come from there."
Sure, if you swap the words "Mess Tent" and "cafeteria", its a joke that could've (and probably did) come right from M*A*S*H, but it still made me laugh.
Season 1, Episode 5: Night Shift
Original Air Date: 10/24/83
Written by: Everett Greenbaum and Elliott Reed
Directed by: Edward H. Feldman
Dr. Pfeiffer is forced to stay on duty overnight at General General when his relief calls out sick. Already having put in a full day, he's exhausted and a bit short-tempered about being stuck there all night.
Meanwhile, Col. Potter is trying to have a romantic night with his wife, but gets interrupted when Dr. Pfeiffer calls looking for advice on a case. After a few moments, he grows distracted from his dinner and decides to head in to the hospital.
When he arrives, he sees Klinger working late, too. He asks why Klinger isn't home with Soon-Lee, but Klinger won't answer and jumps in the elevator.
Col. Potter assists Pfeiffer in surgery, and he notices that Pfeiffer is barely able to stay awake. Pfeiffer claims its because he's working such a long day, but Potter isn't buying it. Pfeiffer admits he's moonlighting at another hospital--"The only way to make ends meet", he claims. Potter is sympathetic, and offers to stay on duty while Pfeiffer gets some sleep.
There's more trouble--a fight breaks out between two patients (after one of them makes a racist remark towards the other), Father Mulcahy tries to sneak in the young son of a patient even though its against the rules, and then the elevator breaks down with Father Mulcahy and a young woman named Sarah (a prostitute posing as a nurse, played by Carolsue Walker) stuck inside.
We find out that Klinger is working all night to find three mattresses missing from inventory, which are being used (unbeknownst to him) in a prostitution racket involving the young woman and her pseudo-pimp (David Graf) being run in a back room of the hospital!
After talking with Mulcahy, Sarah decides to go straight, and gives up her life on the street. She tells Klinger where to find the missing mattresses, and departs. Col. Potter finally goes home, to find Mildred already in bed, the whole romantic evening a washout.
Fun Facts: The guy who accompanies Pfeiffer's patient is played by actor/comedian Blake Clark, who also played an MP in "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen." (He's the MP who ships the North Korean musicians away in the truck)
Actor David Graf also appeared on M*A*S*H, as the tough-as-nails Lieutenant in Season Ten's "A Holy Mess."
There's a scene in the elevator where Sarah talks about a great movie she saw, The Song of Bernadette. Father Mulcahy says he's never seen it, even though he mentions how much he liked it in an episode of M*A*S*H.
Mike D'Angelo and Alma Cox do not appear in this episode.
Favorite Line: Sarah, trapped in the elevator with Mulcahy, is scared he knows who she is. Before he can get half a sentence out, she immediately defends herself with, "Father, I had a terrible childhood!"
