M-U-S-H is easily the strangest "spin-off" of M*A*S*H and the most obscure. Rather than a full-fledged series, M-U-S-H was an animated segment included in a live-action, Saturday-morning children's show called Uncle Croc's Block. Charles Nelson Reilly starred as Uncle Croc, who dressed in a crocodile costume and introduced cartoons and appeared in live-action segments that were satires and spoofs of children's shows and pop culture in general. Fraidy Cat and Wacky & Packy were two other cartoons aired as part of Uncle Croc's Block.
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Filmation Associates, best known for a slew of popular cartoons based on a variety of properties ranging from Superman to Archie to Gilligan's Island to Star Trek, produced Uncle Croc's Block and the animated segments. The company had begun branching into live-action in the early 1970s but Uncle Croc's Block was its most ambitious production yet. It wasn't a children's show, it wasn't a show for adults. It was strange and offbeat and not at all the typical Saturday morning fare the networks usually aired.
Uncle Croc's Block premiered on Saturday, September 6th, 1975 on ABC. Initially, the show ran for ninety minutes, airing from 10:30AM to 12:00PM. After seven weeks of low ratings, ABC cut the length of the series to a half-hour, airing from 12:00PM to 12:30PM. According to most sources, Uncle Croc's Block went off the air after the February 14th, 1976 broadcast. However, The Big Cartoon Database lists a total of thirty M-U-S-H segments airing through March 27th, 1976.
In any case, M-U-S-H was the only cartoon to last the entire run of Uncle Croc's Block. The other two, Fraidy Cat and Wacky & Packy, were pulled when the length of the show was shortened. All three cartoons, along with several other Filmation cartoons, were included as part of a syndicated package called The Groovie Goolies and Friends in the late 1970s. Nine of the M-U-S-H segments were released on commercial video in 1985.
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M-U-S-H, which stood for Mangy Unwanted Shabby Heroes, was quite obviously intended as a parody of M*A*S*H, only it revolved around a group of canines stationed in Sibonia. The dogs of M-U-S-H lampooned the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, mostly in the style of uniform. In one of the segments, the M-U-S-H gang was even shown practicing with rifles. The connection with M*A*S*H was found in the names of the policedogs: Bullseye, Trooper Yoe, Cold-Lips, Major Hank Sideburns, Colonel Flake, Sonar, Hilda and General Upheavel.
Of the caricatures, only Bullseye bore any real resemblance to his M*A*S*H counterpart. Bullseye was constantly cracking jokes with Trooper Yoe and tossing one-liners towards Major Sideburns or Cold-Lips, much the way Hawkeye would banter with Trapper John in the early seasons of M*A*S*H. Sonar's, eyes would look like little radar/sonar displays for a moment and he would then run through a wall and say something.
Colonel Flake enjoyed the occasional game of golf, Major Sideburns was by-the-books and always wore his uniform and along with Cold-Lips was constantly scheming to get Bullseye and Trooper Yoe transferred to an even colder posting, Upper Sibonia. It never worked, of course. Hilda was the only entirely new character, a large nurse with a thick accent.
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The plots of the segments usually revolved around General Upheavel either sending someone to spy on the M-U-S-H gang or flying out himself and threatening to send someone to Upper Sibonia. In one segment, a USO show is put on by Bob Dope with model Darlena Metric, whom both Trooper Yoe and Bullsye chase after.
Another segment involved General Upheavel insisting that M-U-S-H send one dog to the Snowlympics so Bullseye and Major Sideburns compete for the dubious honor. Major Mynah, General Upheavel's pet bird, was dropped of at M-U-S-H to be looked after by Bullseye and Trooper Yoe in another segment. A hurt moose becomes an unwanted guest in another and the M-U-S-H dogs are ordered to lose weight in yet another.
Will M-U-S-H ever be released on DVD or otherwise see the light of day? Doubtful. But it remains an interesting footnote in the history of M*A*S*H nevertheless.
Last updated July 25th, 2007