
u/J_Scarbrough

Richard Baker
I'm fairly certain I've seen every episode of Season 6 at least once, but I for the life of me cannot remember a single point in that season when it was revealed that Baker's first name is Richard, yet it's common knowledge with this show. If that's really Baker's first name, when was that ever said?
Come to think of it, I've watched the pilot several times, and similarly, it's common knowledge that Vladimir's full name is Vladimir Minsk, yet that was never mentioned or stated in the episode, just Vladimir.
Where does any of this information come from?
(On a related note, Richard Dawson once said that Peter was originally intended to be Carter's first name, but Larry Hovis hated that name, so it became Newkirk's instead).
Hogan's Legos!
Wouldn't it be awesome if this were an actual commercially-available Lego set? This is amazing! Certainly more tasteful than that other Lego HH video on YouTube.
My Top 10 Favorite HOGAN'S HEROES Episodes
These are my person Top 10 favorite episodes of HOGAN'S HEROES - of course, these are just my opinions, they don't have to be yours, and you may not even agree with some or any of my choices - but that's okay, that's what makes the world go 'round.
These are the episodes that I never tire of revisiting, they hold something special in my heart about them. The rankings were based on how often I find myself revisiting these particular episodes, how much I enjoy the stories or plots, and their overall memorability for me. (FWIW, I feel like "The Experts" probably could have been another honorable mention for me).
The Two Series Fauxnales
Although HOGAN'S HEROES was one of those shows that didn't have a proper finale (mainly because it was canceled before another season could filmed), it seems to me that the last two episodes of the series (chronologically that is; "Look at the Pretty Snowflakes" was the last one to be filmed) actually work as reasonable facsimilies of a finale, because they both break away from the traditional formula of the show. Both "Hogan's Double Life" and "Rockets and Romance" split up our main heroes; in the former, Hogan is finally in the crosshairs of the Gestapo after an agent identifies him as an Underground member who blew up a bridge, putting him in hot water and having to figure how to save his own neck; in the latter, while Hogan has to leave camp to carry out one part of a mission with Lily Frankel, the rest of the boys are left behind in camp to figure out how to accomplish another part of the mission on their own, without his guidance. As I say, with both episodes breaking away from the traditional HH formula of all of the Heroes being in it together, either one of these episodes feel like they do work for an improper finale for the series - even if they weren't the last ones to be filmed, it feels fitting that the network saved them to be aired last.
The Face is Familiar: The Final Round
M*A*S*H and HOGAN'S HEROES shared a number of familiar faces, see if you can recognize and name any of them.
The final round:
I Thought My Bunny Hated Me, But Maybe She Didn't?
For context, the last bunny I owned I had adopted from an owner who was rather neglectful and hardly had anything to do with her - they had a menagerie of pets, and were trying to downsize, hence why the bunny was put up for adoption. She was already about a year old when I adopted her, but she and her hutch were kept down in a dark basement, and just about the only human interaction she had was when her owner's mother would go down everyday to feed her and freshen her water, and that was it (the girl who owned her apparently saw a snake in the basement, freaked out, and refused to go back down).
Needless to say, the bunny, whose name was Tommie (because they thought she was a boy, but when we took her to a vet, they confirmed she was a girl, so we just changed the spelling of her name), was very standoffish around people - including myself. I did everything I could try to bond with her, show her love and affection, but she always rebuffed and repulsed me.
Or, so I thought.
Sometimes when I would try to bond with her - petting her, cuddling with her, brushing her, and the like - she would make noises akin to a little pig grunting. At the time, bunny behavior resources cited this was a sign of annoyance and agitation . . . but now, I see bunny behavior resources claim just the opposite: that the "oinking" noise they make is actually them expressing their love and appreciation for their human. So, did my persistence actually pay off in the end, and I just didn't know it? Granted, she only seemed to tolerate human interaction for a short while before she's start thumping her hind feet wanting to be left alone, but was her "oinking" trying to tell me she actually didn't hate me after all? It seems like a lot of bunny care guides say the opposite of what they said in years past.
Newkirk and Carter
I've been partaking in my annual tradition of binging M*A*S*H and HOGAN'S HEROES from beginning to end all summer long - something I've been doing for years.
One thing I will say about both shows is they definitely got better with age in terms of how the seasons progressed, but whereas I was instantly hooked on M*A*S*H when I first started watching it, I had a harder time getting into HOGAN'S HEROES, and for a time really couldn't - but, I stuck with it, and it did eventually grow on me. Again, like M*A*S*H, HOGAN'S HEROES definitely got better with age.
After binging this year, I think I've finally hit on why I had trouble getting into HH at first - and not just because it was such a silly show in the beginning. Looking at the first couple of seasons, especially the very first, I find that with the exception of Hogan, Klink, and Schultz, none of the Heroes are really defined. Sure, they have their specialities that we see from the beginning (LeBeau being the chef, Newkirk being the conman, Kinch being the radioman, Carter making bombs and such), but that seems to be all there was to their respective characters - they were just there to do their part in helping Hogan with his plans, but that's about it . . . if anything, Season 1 feels more like Abbott and Costello routines between Hogan and Klink and/or Schultz, with the Heroes being more of an afterthought most of the time.
And it seems to me, looking at it now, the two who suffered from this the most were Newkirk and Carter. Aside from their default positions as Hogan's conman and bombmaker, they both were almost completely devoid of any personality; Newkirk certainly wasn't the quickwitted snarker we come to know and love in later seasons, nor was Carter the goofball he became (or even arugably Flanderized as). They in particular were so flat and generic that they feel like totally different characters in the beginning - and not exactly in a good way. (Not to mention, Richard Dawson really went overboard with Newkirk's cockney accent in the beginning, that it's almost cringey to listen to).
Granted, as with most shows, it clearly took a while for HH to jell and settle into what it became, and like I say, I feel like the show definitely improved with each season as the writers got a better handle on the not only the characters, but also finding a better balance between Hogan pulling the wool over Klink and Schultz's eyes, and Hogan scheming with his men, while the Heroes themselves became far more refined. A lot of casual viewers seem to point out that if you were to watch a random episode of HH from any season, you wouldn't discern a difference, but I feel like that really isn't the case: watching a Season 1 (or even a Season 2) episode is actually quite a contrast from, say, a Season 5 or 6 episode.
That's just my opinion anyway, but I'm glad that I continued to give the show a chance and let it grow on me, because it is a good one. Admittedly, if you were ask me to choose between the two, I would go with M*A*S*H, as it did have more to offer and it did truly grow and evolve overtime in terms of character development and storytelling style (something that wasn't common in the 60s when HOGAN'S HEROES was part of the television landscape), but HOGAN'S HEROES does still rank up there (pun intended).
The Face is Familiar: Round 11
M*A*S*H and HOGAN'S HEROES shared a number of familiar faces, see if you can recognize and name any of them.
Round 11:
Radar O'Reilly's Messenger Bags
You may have heard of Elvis impersonators, well I'm a Radar O'Reilly impersonator, and I occasionally look for new ways to add to the effect as it were, and recently I decided to look into trying to find Radar's messenger bag for when he would deliver letters to other personnel during mail call, but I'm not having the best of luck.
It would appear there were two different bags he used interchangably.
One of these bags appears to be brown and features a flap with what appears to be either button or snap closures and diagonally cut corners, and a fitted shoulder strap. The other looks like a simpler OD7 tote bag of sorts with an adjustable webbed shoulder strap, and no sort of closure that I can tell.
Needless to say, the brown one looks slightly more GI than the OD one, but I don't even know if either of these are actually military issued messenger bags, or they may have been civilian bags; I'm not finding anything - original or reproduction - that resembles either of these bags exactly (some close enough for jazz though).
Does anybody recognize and/or could possibly identify exactly what one or either of these bags might be in terms of actual wartime messenger bags, or is it possible they were just civilian bags procured by the prop department?
If You Were in the Hospital. . . .
And then this guy suddenly showed up. . . .
https://reddit.com/link/1vfsk04/video/f45wgvcnfghh1/player
Would you let him watch M*A*S*H every night with you?
Father Mulcahy Was a Lot More of a Complicated Character Than He Seemed
On the one hand, you have several episodes where he feels completely useless, that he serves no purpose at the 4077th, that he isn't needed by anyone in camp - episodes like "Mulcahy's War" or even "Dear Sis" where he admits, "I hang around on the edge of effectiveness."
On the other hand, you have certain other episodes where apparently his attitude is the exact opposite: that he does feel he's of use to those at the 4077th, including "Hepatitis" where he feels the whole unit would fall apart without him listening to confession or offering Last Rites to someone fighting for their life - or even "An Eye for a Tooth" where he feels so useful that he feels he deserves a promotion and even goes after Potter to go after the promotion board to get him one.
Wives
Some more trivia for anyone who's interested, but each of the main producers' wives appeared on the show as various nurses over the years.
Two of Gene Reynolds' wives; Bonnie Jones appeared as Barbara Bannerman throughout Season 1, while Ann Sweeny appeared as Carrie Donovan in Season 5's "Hanky Panky".
Larry Gelbart's wife Pat Marshall appeared as Lieutenant Nelson in Season 3's "Payday".
Burt Metcalfe's wife Jan Jorden became the permanent Nurse Baker starting in Season 7.
Um, What is Going on With Wikia Lately?
Between ads that are attempting to bypass adblockers, and now receiving red screen error messages saying the browser has blocked an entirely different website from attempting to hack my computer and needing to be taken back to safety, just what has been going on with Wikia lately?
Gene Reynolds Wasn't Happy
Gene Reynolds was one of the original co-creators/producers of M*A*S*H for its first four seasons, before taking over for Larry Gelbart as the sole showrunner for one season, and then he too departed for other projects afterward, which passed the torch along to Burt Metcalfe and Alan Alda. Even so, Alan continued to engage in weekly consultations with Gene after his departure, but from what I understand, Gene wasn't happy with the changes that were made to the show after he left, with two very specific changes having rubbed him the wrong way.
Margaret's divorce from Penobscott. Okay, this one does make a bit of sense, considering that the whole arc of Margaret becoming engaged and eventually married to Penobscott over the course of Season 5 was Gene's brainchild, and to him, having Margaret getting divorced was detrimental to the growth and development she experienced that season in going from a man-hungry vamp who would either randomly sleep around with any man of equal or higher rank who would have her or continually lower her standards to keep carrying on with Ferret Face, to a woman who finally found her Mr. Right and could settle down with just one man. Gene's main focus for his solo season was shifting away from Gelbart's antiwar satire and redirecting it on character development, which really did add some more emotional layers to everyone in camp . . . except for one, which brings me to. . . .
Frank's departure. According to Gene, Frank should have stayed. But honestly, how could that have even worked? Even Linville himself said there was nothing more that could be done with the character, and he quite frankly (pun intended) felt to continue to make fun of a character would was genuinely mentally crazy was in poor taste and not funny at all. Frank had devolved so much, there's no way they could have let the character start growing and evolving again in a natural way, it would have been contrived and forced.
Thoughts?
The Face is Familiar: Round 10
M*A*S*H and HOGAN'S HEROES shared a number of familiar faces, see if you can recognize and name any of them.
Round 10:
If Somebody Clearly Deletes Your Friend Request, Then Why Would Facebook Bother Putting Them Back into Your Recommended?
What purpose does that serve?