Series Description:

W*A*L*T*E*R was a comedy episode which was broadcast on July 17, 1984 to test audience response for a potential new spin-off series of the TV show known as M*A*S*H. The pilot featured Walter "Radar" O'Reilly who was a main character on that series. Walter returned home from his Korean War M*A*S*H unit, lost his farm, lost his wife, and then became a policeman in St.Louis, Missouri in the year 1954.

W*A*L*T*E*R Cast

W*A*L*T*E*R Trivia

The story for this pilot was written by Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, and Michael Zinberg. It was adapted for television by Bob Schiller, Bob Weiskopf, and Everett Greenbaum. It was produced by Michael Zinberg and directed by Bill Bixby who is probably best known as an actor who played "Dr. David Bruce Banner" on the series, "The Incredible Hulk".

On M*A*S*H we often heard how RADAR was from Iowa. Supposedly, on this series he moved to St. Louis after his mother died and then a season of crop failure cause him to lose the family farm and his wife left him on his honeymoon. His moving from Iowa and the reasons for it were shown on a 2-part episode of the series, "AfterMASH" with Gary Burghoff appearing as a guest star! Those episodes were titled, "Yours Truly, Max Klinger" and "It Had to be You".

Walter still has his "super-hearing" and "mind-reading" abilities that we all loved on M*A*S*H! After Walter files a motor vehicle report, a female cop starts to ask him why he only gave serial numbers for two tires. She says, "You only give serial numbers for two" and before she can say "tires", Walter responds, "It's a motorcycle, ma'am". When Walter helped the stripper find her lost Dove, Walter was the only one who could hear it "cooing".