Death Takes a Holiday

Episode aired Dec 15, 1980
TV-PG
25m

IMDb RATING

8.7/10

723

YOUR RATING

Comedy Drama War

While local orphans attend a Christmas party in the mess tent, Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret try to delay the death of a critically injured solider so that his family won't think of Christmas ... Read allWhile local orphans attend a Christmas party in the mess tent, Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret try to delay the death of a critically injured solider so that his family won't think of Christmas as the day that their father died.While local orphans attend a Christmas party in the mess tent, Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret try to delay the death of a critically injured solider so that his family won't think of Christmas as the day that their father died.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.7/10

723

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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9:57

Storyline

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Trivia
Colonel Potter is the third, and final, cast member to play Santa Claus at the 4077th. Hawkeye and B.J. each played Santa: Hawkeye in "Dear Dad" (1972), where he misses the orphans' Christmas party and is helicoptered, in costume, into a foxhole during combat; and B.J. in "Dear Sis" (1978), where he wears a white Santa beard, complemented by his own "cheesy" mustache.

Goofs
When Charles pulls up to the house where the orphans live, frogs are croaking in the background. This is centered around Christmas. Frogs would be hibernating in December in Korea and therefore would not be croaking.

Quotes
Major Charles Winchester: Deny it. Deny it, if you can. You took the Christmas candy I gave you, and you sold it on the black market. Have you no shame?
Choi Sung Ho: May I explain?
Major Charles Winchester: No! What you may do is retrieve that candy immediately and have it in the children's stockings by morning. Otherwise, they're gonna find you hanging by the chimney without care!
Choi Sung Ho: Major, I cannot. The money is gone.
Major Charles Winchester: You... parasite!
Choi Sung Ho: Please. Your generous gift and insistence that it remain anonymous touched me deeply.
[Winchester scoffs]
Choi Sung Ho: The candy would've brought great joy to the children for a few moments, but on the black market, it was worth enough rice and cabbage to feed them for a month.
Major Charles Winchester: Rice and cabbage?
Choi Sung Ho: I know. I have failed to carry out your family tradition, and I am very sorry.
Major Charles Winchester: On the contrary. It is I who should be sorry. It is sadly inappropriate to give dessert to a child who's had no meal.

Connections
Featured in The 33rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1981)

Soundtracks
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
(uncredited)
Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie
Performed by Alan Alda with alternate lyrics ("Santa Gauze Is Coming to Town")

User reviews3

Featured review

10/10

Almost midnight...

Mike Farrell co-wrote and directed this Christmas episode which is bittersweet.

We get more insight into Charles's humanity when he secretly helps out the orphanage. Hard to imagine Frank Burns responding this way really.

This episode along with a Charlie Brown's Christmas and Die Hard are part of Christmas viewing for sure.