W*A*L*T*E*R

In this unsold pilot, Gary Burghoff returned to the role of Walter “Radar” O’Reilly, although by now he had given up being called Radar. After his wife left him on their honeymoon and he lost his farm, Walter joined the St. Louis police force alongside his cousin. In the half-hour pilot, he dealt with a robbery, a pair of fighting strippers, and an interview with Clete Roberts. The pilot was only broadcast on CBS in the Eastern and Central time zones.

M*A*S*H is one of television’s most beloved sitcoms and Walter “Radar” O’Reilly, as portrayed by Gary Burghoff, is one of the show’s most beloved characters. Burghoff had appeared as Radar in the feature film version of MASH, released in 1970, and was the only member of the main cast asked to reprise his role in the television series for CBS.

After seven seasons (from 1972 to 1979) Burghoff left M*A*S*H, although he appeared in a memorable two-part episode at the start of the eighth season in October of 1979 that saw his character receive a hardship discharge from the military. But Burghoff’s association with M*A*S*H had not ended.

When M*A*S*H came to an end in February of 1983, a spin-off entitled AfterMASH was developed for the 1983-1984 season. It debuted in September of 1983 to stellar ratings [1]. In December, TV Guide noted that Burghoff would be appearing as Radar in an upcoming episode of AfterMASH, suggesting that the episode would “serve as the vehicle for yet another M*A*S*H spin-off, this one to star Burghoff” [2].

Ultimately, Burghoff had a cameo appearance during the January 16th, 1984 episode of AfterMASH followed by a full-fledged guest appearance in the January 23rd episode, in which Walter O’Reilly showed up at the doorstep of his former commanding office, Sherman Potter, having run out on his bride-to-be at their wedding (the two later reconciled).

As for a new series starring Burghoff, reportedly 20th Century-Fox had approached him about a follow-up to M*A*S*H prior to his appearance on AfterMASH (which came about after Larry Gelbart and Bert Metcalf called Burghoff in February of 1983) [3]. A pilot (tentatively) titled “Radar,” starring Gary Burghoff, was one of 77 projects under consideration in April of 1984 by the three broadcast networks as new fall programs [4].

CBS decided to broadcast the pilot, now called “W*A*L*T*E*R” (The Library of Congress gives “Meet Me In St. Louis, Walter” as an alternate title — perhaps the title of the pilot episode itself [5]) as a “CBS Special Presentation” on Tuesday, July 17th, 1984 from 8-8:30PM. The 1984 Democratic National Convention had convened the previous day in San Francisco and the three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) planned to broadcast live coverage of the convention from 9-11PM (Eastern Standard Time). This is where things get confusing.

In the Eastern and Pacific time zones, prime-time runs from 8-11PM local time. In the Central and Mountain time zones, prime-time runs from 7-10PM. So, when CBS affiliates in the Eastern time zone were showing “W*A*L*T*E*R” at 8PM, affiliates in the Central time zone were showing it at 7PM (and affiliates in the Mountain and Pacific time zones were showing local programming). At 9PM in the Eastern time zone, coverage of the convention began — at 8PM Central, 7PM Mountain and 6PM Pacific.

According to national Nielsen ratings, CBS’s coverage of the convention ran from 9-11:28PM, Eastern time [6]. In the Mountain time zone, coverage of the convention pre-empted the bulk of prime-time (from 7-9:28PM, local time) and “W*A*L*T*E*R” was never aired. In the Pacific time zone, the convention pre-empted the 8-8:28PM half-hour, local time, when “W*A*L*T*E*R” would have been shown.

Thus, it appears that “W*A*LT*E*R” was only shown in the Eastern and Central time zones. It has never been rebroadcast.

When viewers had last seen Walter “Radar” O’Reilly (on the January 23rd, 1984 episode AfterMASH) he had married his sweetheart Sandy, having forgiven her for fooling around with a man named Clive Greevy. The two had gone off on their honeymoon, happily married. As “W*A*L*T*E*R” began Walter was in the apartment of his cousin Wendell Micklejohn (played by Ray Buktenica), preparing to start his day. Both men are police officers but Walter just-off-the-rack, a real rookie. The two have the 10:00AM shift and they’re running late.

They do find the time, however, to stop and catch the opening of Walter’s interview with Clete Roberts, who has been following up on the members of the M*A*S*H 4077th. (Roberts appeared in two episodes of M*A*S*H as a war correspondent). The previous week he had talked with Hawkeye Pierce and this week he was chatting with Radar O’Reilly.

The interview cuts to a commercial, giving Micklejohn and Walter time to get to the police station. Walter is ambushed by fellow officers, all shouting questions. As one officer asks about a stolen vehicle report Walter had filed, the rookie interrupts her to explain that the vehicle was a motorcycle. Another officer asks him about some drugs and Walter easily fields that question as well. Everyone crowds around a television set in the station and Walter explains to Clete Roberts how he lost his farm.

Not wanting to accept government subsidies, Walter decided to try to grow things on his farm. Unfortunately, everything he tried to grow promptly died. He is forced to give up his farm and all his animals. A flashback shows Walter tearfully saying goodbye to Eleanor … a pig. Walter sent his mother off to live with an aunt and then he met up with his cousin and joined the St. Louis police force.

As the interview continues, Sergeant Sowell (played by Noble Willingham) bursts out of his office and yells at everyone to go do their jobs, sending Walter and Micklejohn to 4th Street to keep an eye out for jaywalkers. Walking their beat Micklejohn and Walter end up in front of an appliance store where they watch the interview on television in the display window. They see Walter explaining how his marriage fell apart.

Another flashback begins. Walter and Sandy’s honeymoon is coming to an end and he has just returned to their suite and finds a note from his bride. She has left him for Clive Greevy. In a voiceover, Walter explains how he tried to commit suicide. He wandered into a drugstore and asked for an overdose of sleeping pills and aspirin. Sleeping pills gave him headaches.

Victoria (played by Victoria Jackson), the woman behind the counter at the drugstore, plies the truth out of Walter and takes pity on him. She offers him some soup and, in an attempt to cheer him up, she climbs up on the counter and performs a song and tap dance routine. She succeeds in cheering him up, saves his life, and the two become good friends.

As the interview ends, the crowd around the appliance store realize that Walter and Micklejohn are the two from the interview (Micklejohn had a brief moment on camera). Celebrity status sets in. One boy asks Walter to sign his cast and a woman asks for his autograph.

The boy runs off and Micklejohn asks Walter for a pad of paper. It’s while attempting to find his pad of paper that Walter realizes that his wallet (and his MASH picture) is missing and calls the station to report some pick pocketing activity. Micklejohn takes the phone, stopping Walter from giving his name – a police officer losing his wallet won’t reflect well on anyone.

Bigelow, an officer at the station, then relays to Micklejohn that there has been a report of a disturbance at a local theater — two strippers are fighting. Micklejohn is overjoyed while Walter is nervous. He’s never seen a naked woman. Even on his honeymoon he kept his eyes shut. Micklejohn discovers that his wallet has also been stolen but they can’t do anything about it right now. They’ve got strippers to separate.

The two rush to the theater, only to have lamps thrown at them when they get inside. They call out the two strippers who immediately begin fighting. When Walter attempts to take down their statements the two strippers just continue to yell at each other. Somehow Walter manages to figure out that one stripper, Dixie Devoe (played by June Berry), thinks the other stripper, Bubbles Sincere (played by Victoria Carroll), stole her bird, Sweetheart.

Using his acute sense of hearing, Walter is able to find the bird up in the rafters and coaxes him down. Walter and Micklejohn leave and Walter spots the kid with the cast from appliance store. Thinking he may have stolen their wallets, they attempt to talk to him. He runs off and Walter and Micklejohn give chase.

They finally catch up with him, learn his name and Micklejohn calls up Bigelow at the station to run a background check on one Elston Krannick (played by Meeno Peluce), juvenile. He’s clean, so Micklejohn leaves to get a trim, and Walter takes Elston to the drugstore to buy him a root beer float to make up for chasing him.

Later, after several root beer floats, Walter and Victoria talk with Elston and Walter is able to guilt him into returning the wallet. Elston leaves, but not until Walter makes him promise to meet him at the drugstore every Saturday afternoon. As the pilot comes to a close, Walter gets up to leave the drugstore but Victoria stops him, pushes him up against the pinball machine and gives him a big kiss.

The broadcast of “W*A*L*T*E*R” ranked 33rd for the week, ahead of another sitcom pilot called “Second Edition” that was shown immediately following “W*A*L*T*E*R”. CBS’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention tied for 28th, with an 8.9/17 rating [7]. As late as mid-August, Gary Burghoff was still waiting to hear if CBS planned on picking up “W*A*L*T*E*R”. Speaking of the pilot, he said “I feel like I’ve proved that I’m still able to play Walter, even after playing other roles” [8].

Ultimately, CBS decided not to pursue “W*A*L*T*E*R” as a full-fledged series. AfterMASH ended its regular run in December of 1984, although one last episode was burned off in May of 1985. M*A*S*H has been given the star treatment on DVD and continues to be shown on television — both in local syndication and on various cable channels — but neither AfterMASH nor “W*A*L*T*E*R” are commercially available. “W*A*L*T*E*R” especially remains a curious look at what might have been.

Taking “Radar” out of Walter O’Reilly removes much of the character’s charm. On M*A*S*H, Radar was a young man from Iowa, stuck in the middle of a war, trying to keep the 4077th running without losing his mind. Although “W*A*L*T*E*R” attempted to recast this fish-out-of-water concept by making Walter a rookie cop, there is little to differentiate Walter O’Reilly from any other police officer new to the job. The few remnants of his precognition seem out of place and his relationships in the pilot are generic or silly.

What made the Radar character so wonderful on M*A*S*H was his interaction with the rest of the M*A*S*H cast — particularly Colonel Blake and and Colonel Potter — and his mix of naivete and cunning. In “W*A*L*T*E*R,” the character is older and more cynical, and placed in the stale trappings of a by-the-book sitcom. Gary Burghoff did his best, but he had very little to work with.

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Last Updated June 26th, 2008