AfterMASH Episode Spotlight: Sunday, Cruddy Sunday

I’m reviewing every episode of AfterMASH, in original broadcast order, and asking fans to add their memories and opinions.

“Sunday, Cruddy Sunday” (#9, 1×09)
Originally Broadcast: Monday, November 14th, 1983 from 9-9:30PM ET
Written by Dennis Koenig
Directed by Nick Havinga

TV Guide Summary

Visitors’ day attracts a motley group that includes a car-selling faith healer (Geoffrey Lewis), a man dying to be admitted as a patient (Patrick Collins) and an acrophobe (Elliot Reed) whose brother is a patient on the third floor.

The Hartford Courant Summary

Visitors’ Day at Gen. Pershing Hospital brings out a strange variety of guests.

Review

I laughed out loud while watching this episode. It’s the first time I’ve done so while watching AfterMASH. What was it I found so amusing? A conversation between Mildred Potter and permanent patient Bob Scannell about cakes.

Unfortunately, “Sunday, Cruddy Sunday” is otherwise a mess. There is too much going on. Too many storylines and too many characters. It’s too much to keep track of. It doesn’t help that Mike D’Angelo and Alma Cox are both in this episode. As always, Alma is scheming and D’Angelo is oblivious to the fact that she’s in love with him–something viewers know but don’t are about.

Let me try to remember everything else that happens during this episode. There’s a shady faith healer who also sells used cars. Both Potter and Father Mulcahy try to get rid of him. There’s a decent Father Mulcahy storyline here. The faith healer convinces a patient with a severed spinal cord he can walk again. Father Mulcahy has to convince the man his life is still worth living. I’m reminded of the M*A*S*H episode “Morale Victory” when Charles helps a talented pianist with nerve damage to his right hand.

There’s also a man trying to visit his brother, a patient at the hospital, but he can’t use the stairs or the elevator because he’s afraid of heights. Klinger and Father Mulcahy both talk with him.

Then there’s a hypochondriac trying to get himself admitted to the hospital, only he’s not a veteran. Potter tries to run him off by sending him to see Alma Cox, assuming she’ll throw him out. Instead, she uses him to get payback on D’Angelo. For once, D’Angelo actually comes across as human when his romance with Mildred’s niece fizzles out before it can begin. We learn he’s been divorced for six years.

Finally, Klinger is working as a plumber to make extra money. He only appears in a few scenes. It feels like Mildred has a larger role in this episode than Klinger.

Having now watched the first nine episodes of AfterMASH, it seems clear to me there are two big problems with the show. One, it’s simply not M*A*S*H. Whatever expectations viewers had back in 1983, it’s unlikely AfterMASH came close to meeting them.

Second, the supporting cast is weak. Mildred Potter and Soon-Lee Klinger are rarely seen, which is frustrating. As a M*A*S*H fan, I want to see more of them and their relationships with Potter and Klinger. I don’t care about Mike D’Angelo or Alma Cox or Dr. Pfeiffer and after nine episodes, I should.

Notes

Soon-Lee and Dr. Pfeiffer don’t appear in this episode.

Elliott Reid, who plays the agoraphobic acrophobic brother of a patient at General General in this episode, also wrote three episodes of AfterMASH during its first season.

References to the 4077th

There were no references, vague or otherwise, to the 4077th in this episode.

M*A*S*H Connections

This is the third of 12 episodes written or co-written by Dennis Koenig.

Guest star Tom Kindle previously guest starred in the M*A*S*H episode “The Joker is Wild” during Season 11.