I would’ve never pictured Radar as a cop. A mail carrier, a logistician, an actuary, but never a cop.

This would have worked so much better if Radar was back in Iowa on the farm with his mom and he got together with the nurse Patty who he met at the airport when he was headed back to the 4077th after R&R. Patty didn't leave that far from Ottumwa. This just didn't work which is sad.

I appreciate the chance to see it, but it leaves little wonder why it didn't make it. One of Radar's defining qualities on MASH was the warmth and high regard he always displayed when talking about his hometown, family, and farm. I can't imagine why the producers/writers creatives here would then feel the need to put him anywhere else.

I agree with the postings here !! Radar on the farm would have had a charm to the show !! Radar working on the farm , and at the General Store in order to make ends meet , and seeing Patty and Park Sung appear later in the season would have been great !! Also , -- just brainstorming -- but , What If Wayne Rogers appeared on " AfterMASH " as " Trapper John ?? " ( He could be there to perform a special operation , or whatever , ) and meets / converses with Colonel Potter first , ( Whom does not know that this man is the " Trapper " that he has heard so much about , but never met !! ) And , of course , Klinger and Father Mulcahy would recognize him immediately !! It would have been unexpected and fun !!

I'll tell you: it's amazing how so many ideas can stem from one single TV show-and still not come to fruition.

The only time Radar felt like the Radar we came to love in MASH was when he was answering the questions from the admin lady as she was asking them. They seemed to forget his love of food when we was eating his soup. He would have been eating it while the pharmacist lady was dancing on the counter. (Does anyone remember the Adams Ribs episode when Hawkeye started a food fight in the mess tent and Radar was still happily chowing down.)

Really unfortunate. This series needed to be shot like MASH. Needed the same lighting, writing style, etc. Radar deserved better.

I thought he had help from a Korean kid that was great at farming. I don't understand why they killed his entire back story taking away his farm and his mom it makes no sense

A new Green Acres themed sitcom with Radar was back in Iowa on the farm with his mom and he got married with the nurse Patty (who he met at the airport when he was headed back to the 4077th after R&R). Radar's mom, and the Ottumwa townsfolk. Another character could have been the young Korean boy Park Sung, the farming whiz Radar was sponsoring. How did he adjust to Iowa? Did he encounter prejudice? This would have made a better spin off per D Thompson's post

If I were to write a "Radar" O'Reilly spin off, it would be Radar selling the farm to the Korean kid, making sure his mom was being care of, and using his GI Bill to go veterinary school.

Thanks for posting this. I always wanted to see the pilot. Never really imagined Radar as a cop.

I was expecting to see Radar his mom& the farm. Bummer

Wow, what a cast. Including Joe Dante's favorite character actor, Dick Miller! And my boy Bill Bixby directing. All this needed, really, was a few good writers.

In a way, he kinda looks like George Costanza.

This could have worked. I would have liked seeing him in his hometown in Iowa but this did have potential especially with Victoria Jackson's iconic typecast as the soda shop waitress. Catching this pilot was fun!

I'd say it was a BLESSING this show ... never made it on the air.

Never new this existed. As bad as it was I actually enjoyed watching.

Burghoff did a good job recapturing Radar's manner, and there are a number of solid character actors in the cast, but this is pretty awful. The script is horrible. The comedic timing is non-existent. The laugh track seems to go off at random. And who the hell thought it would be a good idea to make Radar a cop in St. Louis? For 7 years we heard all about his mom, the farm, Iowa. They even had that Korean kid as a farmhand. And this was they they came up with.

I always felt sorry for Radar when Lt. Colonel Blake died. They where so hilarious together. If they didn't kill him off the two would of made a great duo in their own show after Mash.

I wonder if Gary had high hopes for this or knew it was a disaster, I still enjoyed watching it.

After mash w Klinger& Potter was pretty good, i just heard about this one w Radar, about to watch! Awe Radar😍

Well, Victoria Jackson always appealed to me, so seeing her in this previously unseen pilot was nice.

people hating this clearly were looking for "more mash"... its not... this is a story about a guy who cant catch a break..a nice guy in a bad world. ITS NOT MASH. Its like Rose, from Golden Girls. Its like George Castanza, Or Woody Allen. Remember the era and comedy style and timing. THIS is good. Light hearted..

This was directed by Bill Bixby, the guy who played David Banner on the INCREDIBLE HULK.

A big problem with this show is the laugh track. It not only plays when it "thinks" something should be funny, it just plays randomly throughout the show. And the cousin is a thoroughly unlikable character.

Pretty easy to see why this was never picked up

Never saw this before! The problem was probably that not enough people saw it or liked it back then. But thanks so much for posting it here.

Who on earth was in charge of that laugh track? Helen Keller?

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 Democratic National Convention. This is the only known broadcast of the pilot.

Aw man! I loved this! Great characters created to support Radar and I LOVE the references to MASH! Spin off Trapper John MD totally just ignores MASH practically, this is is so cool! I love how Radar talks about Henry and Hawkeye. This was such a cool thing with great potential! I wish they had picked it up

I loved the character "Walter" from mash but this pilot was almost unwatchable. There are so many great things they could have done with the character but instead completely missed the mark. They should have kept him in Iowa, at least to start. If they had continued right from where mash left off and focused on his predictive ability, they might have had something. I remember watching this many years ago but I was so disappointed I don't think I made it all the way though the show before turning the channel in sadness.

thx for posting this. I remember years ago when CBS would play the pilots they didn't pick up for regular series. I saw this was scheduled but it ended up not being broadcast due to a power blackout in my area. I think it could have made a good series when you consider what other shows were airing back then. Car 54 meets the 80's. With a good cast and an Andy of Mayberry family feel it could have been a classic. I was also sorry when AfterMASH wasn't given a second season. If the two series had continued there could have been some good cross-over episodes with returning visits from MASH cast mates.

Apparently, the main reason why Gary Burghoff agreed to do this pilot was because police were being portrayed in kind of a negative light at the time, and he wanted to help bring a more positive image to them. I agree with the consensus that a much better Walter spinoff would have been seeing him run the family . . . unfortunately, I think such a series would be about two decades too late: rural sitcoms were tossed out the window by the time the 70s came along, so a show about an innocent farmboy trying to run his family farm would have been out of place in a television landscape that had evolved into shows about social commentary.

The Sargent, who was CD on Walker Texas Ranger, also played the bar tender on Season 1 of After MASH.

I'm 54 years old...this is the first time I've seen this. Watched EVERY M*A*S*H episode(and some 'After M*A*S*H' episodes)...never seen this though....

Thanks for posting. I do not remember this at all and, honestly, it's not very good but I'm glad I got to watch it. This is from the time I had just started college...God, I miss those days.

That was actually better than I expected. I'm not sorry the series wasn't picked though. Seeing every week would have be cloying IMO.

The longest 24 minutes of my life.

Absolutely loved the pilot shame it never got picked up

Thanks for sharing this. I never did get to see it.

the reporter is the same one that reported on the 4077th

Interesting!.....I didn't think a show like this existed!

Interesting with the degrees of separation here. Victoria Jackson was on SNL two years later. One of the writers for WALTER was Bob Schiller -- father of Tom Schiller, who was a writer for SNL.

Ugh, terrible. And what is with that laugh track? Every 5 seconds, whether something's funny or not.

"You hardly ever see a beaver with unruly hair." Well it is the 50's pal.

3:26 Lyman ward, the actor who played ferris bueller's father and numerous characters in the director, john hughes' films

WOW!!!! Bill Bixby directed!!!! Learn something new everyday!!!!

I think its cool that walter played something other than mash. I just wish he did more.

You can see why this show never got off the ground.

"There's a city out there seething with crime." 60 years later there is still a big crime problem here.

Hey C,in the green circle.It does'nt matter that it was written in the 80s, nor that it looked like the 60s. BECAUSE, it was the early 50s when they returned stateside. I was 6 years old in 1966, a time that had the bucolic essence and architectual grace of the 50s. Especially in the mid-country region! I lived in Belton,Missouri in 1970. Area looked like a 40s,50s, and 60s mix. Seems like History was'nt your strong suit in school !

I like the episode! I wish they would've kept it on. 😢

you can buy aftermash on dvd...just not put out by 20ith century fox...its a 4 disc set,.it also includes the episode of WALTER..think its avail. on amazon....i got 1 from a private sale and as in mash if you watch the dvd theres more to the show than whats shone on t.v. theres stuff on the aftermash dvd that didnt get put on these shows....find it ,its a search,buy it and see the stuff not seen here....ENJOY...and remember its aftermash...not mash....its about a few of the vets and how their lives were after mash.....a mash fan.....ENJOY...

It's funny....sometime in the late 70's,MAD ran an article imagining possible TV spinoff series from that era; one was a re-interpreted "Odd Couple",in which Radar and Klinger (who apparently still wears women's clothing) moving to New York and living together. While it in no way suggested the pair were gay,it did maintain that Klinger's choice of wardrobe made him a lot of new friends in Times Square.

Interesting to see a young Victoria Jackson in this show before she went on Saturday Night Live.

"Pilots" often crash and burn, and this was NO exception.

Such a tragic back story for poor Radar. Good casting with Victoria Jackson, although they might have done better with developing Radar's partner character. He needed a stronger character to offset his mild manner. Also, they kept some of the tropes from MASH, but not all. His almost telepathic ability was there (thus, his nickname "Radar"), but none of the other characters had that over the top cleverness and constant plays on words, such as BJ and Hawkeye had on MASH. What's left is a period piece, a sitcom that felt more like the '70's than the '80's when it was made. It was also bucking the 80's trend of three camera live sitcoms - Cosby, Cheers, etc. No big surprise that it wasn't picked up for more episodes. Lots of pilots get made, but many don't get picked up. It would have been interesting to see what might have been. They might have retooled some of the things that weren't working and recast some of the characters.

I gotta tell ya... i am a M*A*S*H fan from when they were new every thursday (or whatever day it was, i was 14, i don't remember what day of the week...) but even if they took him off the farm, and blew up his marriage... (i don't deny those would have made a good series) I still think that the way he interacted with the pickpocket kid and the drugstore girl (who I have always had a crush on...) would have made a fine 3 or 4 season series. Too bad it didn't take...

Just my opinion, but if they were going to do a spin off series about "Radar" why not pick it up after he gets back to Iowa (was it?) to help his mother with the farm and see what predicaments he get into there? All of a sudden he's a rookie cop in MO? What happened to mom and the farm?

This episode wasn't too good, it had it's moments of it being good, but for the most part it was dull. Would have been better if it would have picked up where MASH left off with Radar, being on the farm getting adjusted to being the man of the house and him reconnecting with that one woman, Patty that he met at the airport before returning back to camp. The writers may not have had a lot to work with on that plot, but it would have been interesting what they could have done with that though. I would say that out of the MASH spin offs so far After MASH is the best.

Too bad this show didn't fly. ... any chance to see Gary Burghoff do Radar O'Reilly is GOLD.

I don't understand why it never went further then the pilot episode that looked like it would have been a good show.

So, Radar lost the farm, his new wife left him for another man on their honeymoon and he contemplated suicide. Pretty much a million laughs.

Anything about MASH I love, and I really enjoyed W*A*L*T*E*R

You never see Radar and George Costanza in the same place at the same time.

Wow Bill Bixby directed this one

I would have liked to see him re assemble the jeep he mailed home would made a great episode

Sort of makes me wish I had watched this when it came out! Really, compared to some of the politicized crap on the tube today, this was in fact a rather refreshing visit from Radar, cut some of the crap out by the writers and perhaps a couple of "GOOD" actors in support and this could have been something. Not sure exactly what but since I loved Radar on the MASH, I would have watched this weekly! Perhaps it is the cop in me, or my time in Nam, or just Radar, I don't know but it was OK to me.

I've gotta be honest. It's kind of a shame this wasn't picked up. I mean, aside from the exposition overload at the beginning, hit was actually a really swell episode of what could've been a nice, cozy show. Kinda like _Night Court._ (And yes, I know this episode nullified Radar's whole story. I still like this for what it is.)

R*A*D*A*R would have been a much better name. He should have been married to a really good character and they could have had a general goods store that doubled as a post office and volunteer fire department in Iowa

Ugh. I can't believe this was directed by the late Bill Bixby. Poor Gary. He looks so unhappy. Why did they give it such a downer of a premise? He lost the farm and his new wife leaves him on their honeymoon? No wonder this pilot didn't sell.

Yup, would of made more since Radar returning to Iowa as mentioned. With good writers it properly could of been on a few seasons.

This show could have been a hit... if they had taken Radar back to Ottumwa Ia to the farm, where he hooks up with the girl he met just before leaving Korea, starting a family etc. Keep in mind, country shows were a huge hit at this time... Little House on the Prarie, Hee Haw, it would have gone over. But Radar as a city cop? No sale

The girl singing and dancing to Radar was pretty funny.

This is nice to watch , the way some people are talking it seems like this sitcom didn't last and I had no idea this show even existed, but that waitress in this show was definitely on the mash show I remember her. But nothing will ever replace the best show ever Mash 4077

Soleil Moon Frye's brother Meeno Peluce from Voyageurs and Ronnie James Dio's Heavy Metal video The Last In Line!

Gary Burghoff left "M*A*S*H" in 1979 because he was tired of playing 'Radar' and wanted to move on to other roles. Five years later, he's doing this shit. Sad.

The other cop is clearly supposed to be the Hawkeye of the show. He even sounds like him. Directed by Bill Bixby!! Lol!

This is phony right off the bat. The opening shot is of an apartment building obviously built in the late sixties or early seventies, and it says it's 1954.

This only aired one time on the east coast, for some reason it did not make the air on the west coast. July 17th, 1984.

I'm sorry I loved MASH and Radar was by far one of the best/my favorite characters, but I think he was the last person on the show I could see becoming a big city police officer.

Check it out! It's Ferris Beuler's dad (Lyman Ward) as a police officer on this episode.

I like this and After MASH. I think these would do better today than they did when they were new.

The best part? The last three minutes.

That show could have worked. I always liked Radar.

The same person that advised Radar to leave M*A*S*H was evidently the same person that thought that W*A*L*T*E*R was a good idea for a tv show… Gary Burgoff was perfect for the role of Radar when he was in M*A*S*H but I think that was the limit to his acting…

No wonder this didn't get picked up as a series. File this under the category of "where the hell were their brains."

I'm sitting in the year 2020 wishing it was more like the '80s when this show was made about a veteran clerk turned cop in the 50s.

Trapper John MD was the only show after mash ended that was successful, simply because it was not a spin off of mash like Walter and Aftermash was. Trapper did elude sometimes to mash but never made it a main continuing story.

Thank you Didn't know about this. Have not been able to find ep21-22 of season 1 After M*A*S*H or any of season 2

This was a real missed opportunity. I think people would have been willing to watch a show about Radar as he was on MASH, but where we expected his mom and the farm, we got this... They didn't even want to use the name Radar...

NEVER KNEW THIS EXISTED until today. cant say i liked it, sorry.

I remember watching this when it first came on CBS, on Thanksgiving. I think Radar and his cousin should had gone to Riverbend, MO to work near General Pershing VA hospital with Sherman Potter, Maxwell Q. Klinger and Fr. Mulcahy. They should had also recruited Odessa Cleveland, who played Nurse Ginger in Season One.

Actually now that I watched the whole show/episode, this show isn't bad. It had some decent parts, and it could have been really decent. I wouldn't have minded a whole season of it.

Wow. It was great to see Gary Burghoff reprise his M*A*S*H character role of Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly in this another new M*A*S*H spin-off series but this was such an infamous disaster and it is very sad that it was never picked up as a new series. It eventually became an almost half hour television movie that was to serve as the pilot for a spin-off series. Ever since Gary Burghoff had left the original M*A*S*H series back in 1979 after making some one last appearances on a two part episode called "Good Bye, Radar", he had expressed a desire to spend more time with his family as he was suffering from an occupational burnout. However in 1984, Gary Burghoff would eventually go on to reprise his M*A*S*H character role in a two part episode on After MASH which was a continuation of M*A*S*H that ran from 1983 to 1985. Those guest appearances would eventually lead to this as CBS and 20th Century Fox Television were prompted to try giving Gary Burghoff his own brand new solo M*A*S*H spin-off series in which it didn't work out. After seeing this for the first time recently, I have a feeling that Radar deserved better and it would have been lovely if Gary Burghoff had stayed in the original M*A*S*H series until the end just like his cast mate Mike Farrell who played Captain BJ Hunnicutt had encouraged him to do so. Otherwise, this was a short lived M*A*S*H spin-off series that was never picked up unfortunately. The rest as they say is history.

This Pilot might have been shown in more parts of the country, if Jesse Jackson didn't go on, and on, and on, in his speech at the Democratic National Convention.

i dont understand the plot? Radar was a farmboy with verry big love to his family? why he is after the war in a big city as a police officer? Thats not Radar :(

Thanks for this. I LOVE M*A*S*H, and even AfterM*A*S*H. I never got to see this. This made my day, thanks again! One thing however, the plot of this seems odd since Radar had said that the farm was THE most important thing next to his Mom and Uncle Ed. Yet he wasn't even in Iowa at all? I honestly think had they kept Radar in Ottumwa, Iowa, maybe this might have worked a little better?

This pilot was great. It was a mistake CBS not to pick it up.

Ah the CBS Specials - the repository for dead pilots.