Season 8, Episode 25: April Fools
Special Guest Star: Vanya O
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Congrats on completing Season Eight. After watching each episode along with the podcast, I have to say I thought this season was stronger than I expected, with a wide variety of different types of episodes. It’s impressive that the show was experimenting with different ideas and formats this far into its run.
I enjoyed your discussion of David Ogden Stiers and his memorable enunciations of phrases. I’m appreciating his performance much more as an adult than I did when I was younger, when I was more partial to Frank as the comedic antagonist.
This was a nice light-hearted end to the season, even though I find practical jokes annoying in real life. I had remembered this episode but did not recall that Pat Hingle played the Colonel. Like you mentioned, most people today know him as Commissioner Gordon in the four Batman movies. What’s funny is in the fourth movie, Batman and Robin, I could swear they had him wearing a police uniform, which made him seem more like Chief O’Hara than Commissioner Gordon! I’ve also seen Hingle on some reruns of Gunsmoke. He had such a distinctive and recognizable voice.
I like how they’re working Rizzo into the series. He’s funnier and more likeable than Zale, who came off as mean. It’s hilarious how Rizzo was taking a nap under the jeep.
I can’t believe this season is over, it’s been such a great one! So many wonderful guests and in depth discussions.
As someone who is more drawn to the serious episodes, I have to say I really like April Fools. I wish I could watch it for the first time again, and get the whole experience of not knowing Potter and Tucker are in cahoots, that would be fun. But so is knowing about it.
One of my favorite things to do when I watch an episode, is to look at what’s going on in the background, and Margaret and Hawkeye in Potter’s office, where he is wiggling his boot in her face, and she is all like “Oh, is something wrong with your boot? How strange, it seems fine to me,” is one of my all time favorite little interactions, their energy together at this point is just beautiful.
I’m not a prank-person either, I think they tend to be just mean spirited only meant to make the prankster laugh, but I’m okay with these.
It’s quite amazing to think about how far Margaret has come at this point. I mean, it’s season 8 in our world, but in MASH-time, not that much time has passed since her divorce, and she har really come a long way since. That she is on board the “let’s go out in style”-train is quite something, when you think about her background, and how she has been taught to looks up to and respect authority. And also her history of looking for affirmation in older men.
It’s so great that it’s Tucker’s line about not needing the support of a woman that makes her get on board. I have the exact same reaction as her every time I get to that point in the episode. Big gasp, even though I know what’s going on.
David Ogden Stiers really has such a unique was of delivering lines, it’s like he understand the rhythm and melody of each line, each joke, so perfectly. Maybe that’s why he thought it was time for the show to come to an end, too, that he felt like the rhythm and melody of it was wanishing. His delivery of the line about no pralines is one of my favorite ones ever.
This was a lovely discussion, happy to see Vanya back. I agree with you completely, I would gladly have exchanged both Zale and Rizzo for some development of the nurses.
What a wonderful season this has been! Great episode Rob and Vanya! I especially enjoyed the discussion about DOS!
I may be able to answer a question posed during this episode! Rob, you were wondering where Klinger kept all his dresses that he had, now that he is company clerk and lives in the main office, which of course wouldn’t be appropriate for showcasing his outfits for his previous career of section 8 highjinks. Well, I just watched the Stars and Stripes episode and I noticed that the Klinger collection seems to be taking up residency in the Supply Tent! At least that’s where all the dresses were, dutifully hanging up on that mobile dress rack, when Klinger was pinning Margaret into that pink outfit for Scully. Perhaps the Supply Tent/auxiliary supplies tent is the answer!
Years back, I mentioned in the comments that this episode has my favorite joke from the entire series. Is it the best written joke? No. Is it the funniest joke? Also no. Was it at least the best delivery of a joke? Definitely no…but it was still how it was delivered that makes me love it so much.
Margaret, upon discovering her tent was missing, is yelling at the guys and asking “Where is my tent?” When she asks BJ, he says “We gave it to a dog. Now it is a pup tent.” Was it silly throw away line? Sure. Mike Farrell though, as always, presents those types of one-liners like no one else. Nowadays, we tend to call jokes like that ‘dad jokes.’ Being a dad, I take pride in my ability to make those types of jokes, but I was making them long before I had children. Back then, they were just groaners. Mike Farrell as BJ had a big effect on my sense of humor. All of those funny interjections he would make over the years were some of my favorite bits and inspired me to react to funny things I hear the way he did.
As for other manifestations of BJ’s humor i.e. pranks. Include me in the list of people who don’t care for them. I may laugh at some of the pranks played on M*A*S*H or other shows, but in real life? Not so much.
Season finales didn’t click as being big deals in this era of TV, although when I think on it, that’s more because I was clueless, or saw the shows in reruns when the season opener would air the next day. Again, nothing to distinguish them, but M*A*S*H certainly made them significant more often than not. It’s not bad to have a lower stakes finale this time.
I’m definitely not into practical jokes, with one exception. Doing live theater, it can be tough to keep the energy up, so I don’t mind when people try to crack each other up backstage. One show, there’s a moment when my character glanced both ways thru a doorway. 2 of my cast mates would stand backstage out of view of audience doing wacky things, like the much shorter woman strangling the taller man. I never gave it away to the audience, and later I would laugh with them about their antics. It honestly never bothered me. And yes, I’ve been known to crack people backstage myself. Maybe I’m rationalizing, but it feels like innocent goofing off, not full-on pranks.
Congrats on finishing season 8 with another excellent crop of guest hosts!
Thanks for another great season Rob! Looking forward to the upcoming mail bag episode to wrap it all up.
Younger and/or non-Statesian TV viewers may be familiar with John Philip Sousa from the first season of Pluribus. There’s a very memorable scene where a character almost commits suicide by firework while “Stars and Stripes Forever” is playing diegetically. Classic Vince Gilligan.