Der Tag

Der Tag was episode 17 in the fourth season of the TV series M*A*S*H. The 89th episode overall, it first aired in the United States on January 6, 1976.

Plot synopsis

Potter decides Frank would be less of a pain if the others were more friendly to him; they oblige, with some startling results.

With Maj. Margaret Houlihan away in Tokyo, Maj. Frank Burns is getting on everyone's nerves even more than usual. This causes Col. Potter to recruit the rest of the gang to be friendly to Frank. He is invited to their poker game at the Swamp and keeps winning and gets hopelessly drunk. Afterwards, B.J., Hawkeye and Frank go to the officers' club and Frank ends up on the floor, out cold, having to be carried back to the Swamp. Hawkeye and B.J. in their own drunk stupor fit Frank with a toe-tag before falling on their own cots. Sometime during the night Frank stumbles to the latrine but does not make it back to his tent. He instead stumbles and falls into a medevac truck which takes him to a battalion aid station at the front.

Potter, having been informed of his officer's whereabouts, has B.J. and Hawk "volunteer" to go and get Frank by Jeep as there is no other transport available. They find him still asleep and transport him back to the 4077th and his cot. Dead tired they fall asleep just as Frank wakes up and tries to continue spreading the cheeriness from the night before, unaware of the incidents since then. With his popularity rating suddenly having taken a dive again he is overjoyed to greet Margaret upon her return to camp and the world is back to normal for everyone.