M.A.S.H Lost Episode
Prologue:
Have you heard of MASH? A movie based on the Korean War which also had a TV show with the same name. Well, today, we'll talk more about the TV show. Many people loved the emphasis MASH had based on the Korean War.
Like many TV shows, there was one episode that was immediately pulled from syndication after airing once, since those who worked on the show felt as if it really didn't fit the show and what it took on. I was one of the few people who watched the episode. This is the episode of what I've seen during the episode, including others who were watching M.A.S.H at that time. People had many problems with how the episode looked like. They also stated that it began airing in the most unusual time, after an episode of Cheers was finished airing, then M.A.S.H suddenly played for an unknown reason.
Episode:
The episode was, according to many people, the quality of the visuals, were how they looked similar to that of a silent film. The audio sounded like something out of early telephone recording. There was also an issue with a white line going up and down for the entire screening of the episode, similar to a VHS tape that was recorded during the early 80's.
The episode began with the normal opening but with some of the flaws people stated, though it was still normal. The episode began with Colonel Sherman Potter shouting to those inside the tent to wake up. Sherman was told by one of the lieutenants that a group of soldiers were coming to attack their bases.
Then it skipped to the first-person point of view of Henry Blake speaking to Potter as a 50's phone suddenly rings. Blake grabs it as he hears something like Frank Burns explaining how one of the soldiers had been shot and why they need to start fighting back. Then it skips to them running to the battlefield with weapons in their hands, except for Henry Blake.
Then it skips to a simple 3 minutes of them practicing as they speak to each other and another minute of them running into the battlefield. Sherman says, "Henry, we can make this if we can ............" as he was cut off by a loud gunshot that hit Blake, but there was no blood or anything, just paint looking like a gunshot wound. Blake mumbled as he was slowly dying, "Pierce, if you find that guy who shot me, do what you need to do," as he falls unconscious, then Pierce rushes to Margaret "Hot Lips," where she tells Potter that it was too late for Blake.
Sherman, knowing the loss of his friend, decides to go without Pierce recognizing him and both he and "Hot Lips" were worried. Potter finds a group of soldiers as he shoots them off with an M.4 Carbine and shot many soldiers until one of them shot him in the chest, ultimately killing him, of course with no blood, the episode ended with a shot of Sherman lying in the battlefield as he died. There weren't any credits after the episode finished, but after 30 seconds of dead air, it read in the CBS font, "We are sorry for the inconvenience, we will start playing something else," then they aired an episode of Friends.
Epilogue:
If a group of soldiers are attacking, then shouldn't have Blake carried a gun with him?, or he just simply misunderstood. After watching the video, I was left wondering if this was really an episode made or just an elaborate prank made by a bunch of teens who were into war. It kind of had some people who looked like the cast of M.A.S.H and felt like an actual episode minus the poor-quality audio and visuals. Then again, this would've been most likely a prank made by some people only to get attention.
Then I phone-called CBS, one of the many channels that aired MASH at that time, since it was airing on their channel, then they asked, "What lost episode? Oh, me and my pals have seen a group of teens wanting to add their own video on TV, no wonder why there weren't any commercials in the middle of it's airing!" So it was obviously the teens who went into the headquarters.