After MASH

If I remember this program, the first season was acceptable, though kind of boring, but it did improve as it went along. However, what bothered me, as a writer, is that it took the two truly interesting endings from the two hour final episode of MASH and basically trashed them.

For the most part, all of the characters on MASH were leaving Korea on the last episode, and would assume the lives that they left behind, without much deviation. The two exceptions were Klinger, who shocked everyone by remaining in Korea, and Father Mulchachy, who was rapidly losing his hearing after standing on top of an explosion. These were intriguing plot twists, and when MASH ended, the audience was left with the questions of whether or not Klinger would ever leave Korea, and whether Mulchachy would regain his hearing or go completely deaf.

The first episode of After MASH quickly resolved both of these cliffhangers in a schmaltzy, unsatisfying way. Klinger was home, and Mulchacy had an operation that immediately restored his hearing. Two cheap cop outs for strong plotlines. The quality of After MASH was not good enough to justify ruining the ending of one of the best television programs in history.

In 1983, the Korean-war comedy/drama series M*A*S*H, which many still consider to be one of the best television shows of all time, ended its phenomenal 11-year run. The following season, After M*A*S*H debuted. The series featured Colonel Potter, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy improbably reunited in a Midwest hospital. (Presumably the series' creators tried and failed to sign other M*A*S*H stars to the lineup.) After M*A*S*H played on the screen exactly as its title suggested -- as a desperate attempt to keep some of the former series' glory alive. Without M*A*S*H's writers, principal stars, dramatic setting -- or ratings -- it died a quick and merciful death

MASH was one of the most popular TV shows of all time, and the members of the 4077th became well known and beloved characters to the entire country.

After more than a decade, people did want to know what happened to all of them after the war. Did Klinger find Soon-Lee's family? How did Radar fare back on the farm? Did Mulcahy get his hearing back? It would have made a fine TV movie, or maybe even a miniseries to have a big reunion of the 4077th stateside after the war (like they talked about doing a few times during the series). See that Klinger found his wife's family and they moved back to the US, only to face racism and discrimination, and is down on his luck as a petty crook trying to make ends meet. Show that Radar's farm had failed and and moved away to join the police in St. Louis. Show that Col. Potter now runs a Veteran's Hospital, and that Hawkeye went home to Maine and a small-town practice. Show that Mulcahy's hearing has been largely restored through surgery. It could have been a huge hit just to see them all later, as a epilogue to the whole story of MASH.

Instead, we got AfterMASH, which took the basic idea of "what happened next" and ran it into the ground. We got three familiar characters: Potter, Klinger and Mulcahy, a brief introduction on how they got there, and then try to replicate MASH stateside. Create a whole new set of young mischievous doctors for Potter to keep an eye on, a whole new bossy administrator to yell at Klinger, and then find thin reasons for constant guest appearances by former MASH cast. It kept trying to be essentially a stateside remake of MASH, with some of the same characters, but the chemistry wasn't there. If not for the MASH name I doubt it would have even lasted as long as it did.

My memory of this is that is simply didn't work that well. I wanted it to be better than it was-Potter, Father M and Klinger were all great characters, and they tossed in Radar too after a while. But ya can't go home again, as they like to say-and on TV, it is true.

Perhaps better writing woulda given this a better chance.

To be fair, I didn't see a lot of this show. Probably because it wasn't as good as the original M*A*S*H, but I seem to recall them moving it around on the weekly schedule. Some shows just aren't worth the trouble of following around every week. But I really did try at first, so it wasn't all bad. Maybe I just kept expecting it to improve, but I can't give this show a 1. In all honesty, I can't give it any more than a 2 either.

It wasn't MASH (I'm not going to type those stupid *'s every time). And it was trying to be MASH without putting forth any effort, like it would just magically happen. Well guess what? No magic. The best I can do here is to compare it to other shows.

Trapper John, M.D. was a much better show by far. However, they should have called it B.J. Hunnicut, M.D. because Pernell Roberts looked exactly like an older BJ, but nothing at all like Trapper John. Keep everything else the same, just change his name and the name of the show. Presto! After MASH wasn't the only sequel to completely bomb and dishonor the original. Archie Bunker's Place was a lame follow-up to All In The Family. It had no heart, no conflict, no depth – all of the things that made All In the Family so memorable. Likewise, MASH was funny because the doctors were reacting to the impossible absurdity of war. Remove the war and you remove the drive for 99% of the humor. Potter can't yell at Klinger for wearing a dress, because Klinger isn't wearing a dress, because he's not trying to get kicked out of the Army, because he's already out of the Army, because the war is over. (breathe) All of the jokes became forced because there was no motivation for anything. The least motivated was the viewer, to stay around and watch the show.

And from what I remember, the whole show seemed to be Potter, Klinger, and Mulcahy just standing there unnaturally, facing the audience like a trio of Vaudeville performers. It was reminiscent of Good Times, where they spent 90% of the show standing behind that couch and talking to the audience, trying to make it look like they were having natural conversation. They weren't. And it felt even less natural on After MASH.

Another random tidbit I recall is that the people who made MASH never got any royalties from the spin-off. The studio used the absurd excuse that After MASH was really a spin-off of the movie MASH (which they owned) and not the TV series. Nice try, but Mulcahy was the only one of the three in the movie, and he was never deaf. I guess studio execs will do anything for a buck. Anything other than make a worthwhile sequel, that is.