In honor of his passing, a repost of "A Very Hogan Christmas"
Classic lines were in no short supply from the original Hogan's Heroes, but oddly the much under-rated "A Very Hogan Christmas" (1979) reunion special gave birth to the most widely known.
In it, Colonel Klink and Sgt. Schultz travel to Shaker Heights Ohio to spend a special Christmas with Hogan, Carter, LeBeau, Kinch, and Newkirk. With Bob Crane indisposed, Mickey Rooney gives a sterling performance in which he captures the true essence of the Robert Edward Hogan and Ivan Dixon takes time out from directing the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Mysteries to revive his classic Kincheloe character.
Upon arriving in America, Colonel Klink is detained by Customs and Immigration when his name is found on a watch list of war criminals. Meanwhile, the restaurant Hogan has selected to host his Christmas dinner has a strict "No Negroes" policy and the owner, who bears a curious resemblance to General Burkholter, cannot be reasoned with. Therefore Hogan is torn between asking LeBeau to sacrifice much of his Christmas day to prepare a proper feast, or excluding Kinch, who, truth be told, never took part in any of the truly dangerous missions.
The old crew's undercover subversive skills come in handy and Klink is rescued, but Schultz is now torn between loyalty to his old colonel, and ridding himself of the guilt associated with unspeakable experiments conducted on Jewish P.O.W.s, that was only hinted at in the original series, by turning Klink into the authorities and testify against him.
Finally, LeBeau comes through with a great dinner, Kinch feigns thankfulness while secretly harboring a deep resentment for his comrades and country, and Schultz decides not to betray Klink and tells Hogan in a truly classic line, "Colonel Hogan, he may be the evilest man on earth, but at least he killed a lot of Jews."
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
That was a great episode, but I think you left out a minor (but pretty important) detail; that being that a very young and budding Fran Drescher played a waitress in Burkhalter's restaurant.
It is a sad day.