Larry Gelbart believesAfterMASHcould have been saved by dropping the franchise’s sitcom format entirely.The finale ofMASHis the most-watched scripted TV episodeof all time - a record that’s unlikely to be beaten. This speaks to how popular the series was when it went off the air, so it makes sense that CBS attempted someMASHspinoff showsto see how they fared.The pilot for Radar spinoffWALTE*Rproved so bad it only aired once, though afterAfterMASHmanaged to run for two seasonsbefore being canceled.
It was actually a cast vote that endedMASH, with most of the ensemble voting to wrap it up before its quality slipped. The three actors who voted to keep going were Jamie Farr (Klinger), Harry Morgan (Potter) and William Christopher (Father Mulcahy), who were instead offeredAfterMASH. While the trio were great supporting players,AfterMASHproved characters like Klinger just weren’t meant to be the leads. It didn’t help that its veteran hospital setting didn’t lead itself toward laugh out loud hilarity.
This 2003 Show That Didn’t Happen Is The Closest CBS Has Come To Rebooting MASH
CBS has always resisted the impulse to revive or reboot MASH, but the closest they ever came was a planned 2003 TV movie that sounded like a bad idea.
AfterMASH’s Creator Thinks The Spinoff Should Have Been A Straight Drama
Larry Gelbart quickly realized the spinoff took the wrong approach
Larry Gelbart was the showrunner forMASH’sfirst four seasons and pioneered the combination of comedy and drama. Gelbart found himself utterly exhausted by the close of season 4 and decided to leave, but was later tempted back byAfterMASH. Speaking withFoundationINTERVIEWs, Gelbart felt exploring a veteran’s hospital in the aftermath of a war was a good hook. In hindsight, he realized the key mistake he made with the spinoff.
I think it should have been an hour show, I don’t think it should have gone for comedy. I think it could have been leaven with comedy, but I just had the wrong take on it completely. Once I saw what was going on, I knew that I just made the wrong choice, but it was not for me to say hold it, let’s take it off the air.
Towards the end ofMASH, the tonal pendulum between comedy and drama had largely swung toward the latter. Certain viewers much prefer the earlier, lighter seasons, which were broadly comic but peppered with moments of drama, but the show became more serious as it evolved. In that way,it wouldn’t have been a big shift forAfterMASHto switch gears toward being a straight medical drama.
That’s really what it should have been since the attempts at humor in the offshoot rarely landed. As Gelbart suggested,an hour-longAfterMASHexploring the issues faced by veterans would have been a stronger angle, and just because it would have lacked canned laughter, it still could have had humor and lightness too.
Trapper John, MD proved a dramatic take on MASH could work
MASHreceived another spinoff in the form ofTrapper John, MDin 1979 - though its connections to the series have always been murky. The pilot opens with Trapper (Pernell Roberts) dreaming about stock footage from the show, and he has a picture of Alan Alda’s Hawkeye and Wayne Rogers' younger Trapper on his desk. Despite that, the show later claimed to be spunoff from the 1970 movie. Regardless,Trapper John, MDis unique among theMASHshows, since it’s the only one to drop the sitcom format entirely.
Wayne Rogers reportedly passed on an offer to reprise the title role forTrapper John, MD.
The show is a straight-ahead medical drama - to the point where it doesn’t really need any links toMASH. Trapper’s time in Korea is rarely brought up, and no other characters from the show turn up to say hello. Still,the series proved aMASHoffshoot could drop the comedy entirely.Trapper John, MDran for seven seasons, whereasAfterMASHwas canned partway through its second season after CBS made the disastrous call to pit it againstThe A-Teamin the ratings.
Larry Gelbart Feels AfterMASH’s Premise Was Wasted On The Franchise
AfterMASH should have dropped the MASH
Gelbart makes a particularly telling remark aboutAfterMASHwhen he states “I think AfterMASH is a good idea for series, I think it was a bad idea to people it with people from MASH.” Gelbart seemed to realize while making the spinoff that it was the primary concept he was drawn to, more so than continuingMASH. For him,having three players from the series returning limited whatAfterMASHcould become, and that the premise would have been better served as a dramatic piece will no ties to the parent show.
AfterMASH could have been an emotional sequel that tackled serious issues, but the concept was held back by tying itself to MASH.
There are episodes ofAfterMASHthat hint at what a more dramatic version would have been, which make for the stronger outings it produced. The spinoff never figured out what it wanted to be, and the pressure of following up the beloved original series didn’t help. A move away from the sitcom format would have signaled to audiences that the sequel was its own beast, though again, it could have had jokes spread throughout.
Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and on paperAfterMASHheld potential. It could have been an emotional sequel that tackled serious issues, but as Gelbart suggested, the concept was held back by tying itself toMASH.
MAS*H
Cast
MAS*H is a drama-comedy series set during the Korean War, centering on the lives of the staff at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital as they navigate the challenges of wartime medical service with humor and resilience.
AfterMASH
AfterMASH is a spin-off of the television series MAS*H, featuring Colonel Potter, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy as they adjust to civilian life following the Korean War, working together at a stateside veterans' hospital.
