[2][3][4] No longer using his army nickname "Radar", Walter O'Reilly is now a rookie police officer living in St. Louis with his colleague and cousin Wendell Micklejohn.

At the police department and through a store front window, Walter and Wendell catch bits of the interview, giving viewers of the pilot a chance to bridge the events of M*A*S*H and AfterMASH with W*A*L*T*E*R. In flashbacks during the interview scenes, viewers learn that Walter had returned home to Iowa but failed at farming and was forced to sell the farm and livestock and then he sent his mother to live with his aunt.

[5] In the pilot episode of W*A*L*T*E*R, only three main characters from the original series, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce, and Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan were mentioned by Walter O'Reilly.

The episode takes place after the series finale of M*A*S*H, and a two-part guest appearance on AfterMASH, in which Radar was forced to leave the family farm.

It was shown once in the Eastern and Central time zones of the United States, but pre-empted on the West Coast by CBS News coverage of the Democratic National Convention.