AfterMASH is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 26, 1983, to
May 31, 1985. A spin-off of the series M*A*S*H, the show takes place
immediately following the end of the Korean War and chronicles the adventures
of three characters from the original series: Colonel Potter, Klinger and
Father Mulcahy. M*A*S*H supporting cast-member Kellye Nakahara joined them,
albeit off-camera, as the voice of the hospital's public address system.
Rosalind Chao rounded out the starring cast as Soon-Lee Klinger, a Korean
refugee whom Klinger met, fell in love with and married in the M*A*S*H series
finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen." AfterMASH premiered in the fall of 1983
in the same Monday night 9:00 P.M. EDT. time slot as its predecessor M*A*S*H. It
finished 10th out of all network shows for the 1983-1984 season according to
Nielsen Media Research television ratings. For its second season CBS moved
the show to Tuesday nights at 8:00 EST, opposite NBC's top ten hit The A-Team,
and launched a marketing campaign featuring illustrations by Sanford
Kossin of Max Klinger in a nurse's uniform, shaving off Mr. T's signature
mohawk, theorizing that AfterMASH would take a large portion of The A-Team's
audience. The theory, however, was proven wrong. In fact, the exact
opposite occurred, as AfterMASH's ratings plummeted to near the bottom of
the television rankings and the show was canceled nine episodes into its second
season, while The A-Team continued until 1987, with 97 episodes.
In 1999, Time Magazine listed the show as one of the 100 worst ideas of the
century, and in 2002, TV Guide listed the show as the seventh-worst TV series
ever. Synopsis
= Season one= In the one-hour pilot episode "September
of '53/Together Again", Colonel Potter returned home from Korea to his wife
Mildred in Hannibal, Missouri. He soon found retirement stifling, and Mildred
suggested he return to work. Potter was soon hired by the bombastic and
bureaucratic hospital administrator Mike D'Angelo as the chief of staff at
General Pershing Veteran's Hospital, located in the fictional River Bend,
Missouri. Max Klinger had found himself in trouble
with the law in Toledo. Colonel Potter wrote to him and offered him a job as
his administrative assistant. Klinger's enemy at General General was D'Angelo's
executive secretary Alma Cox, a mean-spirited woman who was forever
trying to "get the goods" on him, from giving him a day to prepare for a civil
service exam to rifling through his desk.
Father Mulcahy, whose hearing was damaged in the final episode of M*A*S*H,
was suffering from depression and drinking heavily. Potter arranged for
Mulcahy to receive an operation at another VA Hospital in St. Louis. After
his hearing was surgically corrected, he stopped drinking and joined Potter and
Klinger at "General General" as its Catholic chaplain.
Also on hand was the idealistic, talented, and often hungry young
resident surgeon Gene Pfeffier, attractive secretary Bonnie Hornbeck,
who had an eye for Klinger, and old-timer Bob Scannell who served under
then-Sergeant Potter in World War I and was now a hospital resident of 35 years.
Unlike the other patients and staff who addressed Potter by his retired rank of
colonel, Scannell called him "Sarge" at Potter's request.
Halfway through the first season, Dr. Boyer was introduced as a hardened
veteran who lost a leg in Korea and had a hard time adjusting to civilian life.
Despite only having signed on for two episodes, his character began appearing
more often towards the end of the season, so often that Dr. Pfeiffer was
suddenly pulled from the cast after Dr. Boyer's debut episode.
The only other main character from the original series to appear on AfterMASH
was Radar, who appeared in a first season two-part episode. As Potter,
Klinger, and Mulcahy prepare to head to Iowa for Radar's wedding, Radar shows up
in a panic at Potter's house in Missouri, believing his intended fiancée
has cheated on him in "It Had To Be You". The Radar character later appeared
in a pilot called W*A*L*T*E*R, in which Radar moved from Iowa to St. Louis,
after his wife left him on his wedding night, and became a police officer.
The season included home scenes with the Potters, most notably when they were
deluged with guests in "Thanksgiving of '53", and Potter tried to keep the phone
occupied so Klinger couldn't call his relatives, who were on the way over to
surprise him; this episode also marked the only onscreen appearance of Potter's
oft-mentioned daughter, Evvy Ennis, and Potter's grandson, Corey. One of the
season's standout episodes was the Emmy-nominated "Fall Out", where Potter
and Pfeffier considered leaving General General, but reconsidered when they
linked the leukemia seen in a patient with exposure to atomic testing;
writer-director Larry Gelbart received a Peabody Award for this episode. The
season closed in March with Klinger being arrested for decking a shady real
estate agent as pregnant Soon Lee went into labor. In May, CBS announced the
show was renewed for a second season. = Season two=
Season Two opened with Klinger escaping from the River Bend County Jail to
attend the birth of his child and remaining a fugitive until a judge sent
him to the psychiatric unit at General General, where Klinger feigned insanity
to avoid prison and the Potters took in Soon Lee and the baby. Mike D'Angelo was
transferred to Montana and was replaced by smarmy new administrator Wally
Wainwright. Anne Pitoniak was brought in to replace Barbara Townsend as Mildred
Potter. David Ackroyd was promoted to a regular cast member after multiple guest
appearances in the second half of the first season. An attractive new
psychiatrist, Dr. Lenore Dudziak arrived to begin the daunting task of evaluating
Klinger, while Potter was horrified that Wainwright assigned Alma Cox as his new
secretary. The recurring M*A*S*H character Colonel
Flagg appeared in the second season, now working for an unspecified intelligence
agency whose agents are authorised to carry sidearms in their shoes; he is
only too eager to testify against Klinger in "Trials". Character actors
Arliss Howard, Timothy Busfield, William Sadler, and David Graf all appeared as
patients. Only three other characters from M*A*S*H
were ever mentioned in the sequel series. Hawkeye was referenced in the
one-hour opening episode in a voice-over thought by Mulcahy. Frank Burns was
mentioned once in the first season and once in the second season, both times by
Sherman Potter. In a second season episode, Dr. Potter writes a letter to
Sidney Freedman, who is mentioned as now working at the University of Chicago,
but does not appear in the episode. There is also a touching moment at the
end of the "Chief of Staff" episode in which Potter is surprised to see that
his hospital office has been redecorated with his desk, paintings, saddle, and
other items from the 4077th as "Suicide is Painless" is played; Potter's
portrait of Radar and his group portrait of Hawkeye, BJ, Houlihan, Winchester,
Klinger, and Mulcahy continued to be seen in his office through the remainder
of the sequel series. In the W*A*L*T*E*R pilot, interviewer Clete Roberts is seen
on TV mentioning that he had recently interviewed Hawkeye, and Radar mentions
a picture he keeps in his wallet of him with Hawkeye, LTC Blake, and Major
Houlihan. In the next-to-last filmed episode,
"Saturday's Heroes", the Klingers' baby is finally named. This episode aired on
May 31, 1985. Format
AfterMASH made frequent references to M*A*S*H, and likewise featured
storylines that highlighted the horrors and suffering of war, from the
non-combat perspective of a veteran's hospital. The series was canceled after
twenty-nine broadcast episodes. "Wet Feet", the thirtieth episode, was never
aired. Characters
Note: Similar to the list on the M*A*S*H page, this table counts double episodes
as 2 episodes, and therefore there are 22 episodes in the first season, and 9
episodes in the second season, the total being 31.
Episodes = Season 1=
= Season 2= Notes
^ a b c d Credits from episode title cards
^ a b Production Code from end credits ^ The premiere episode of the second
season aired in a time slot different from the regular schedule.
^ a b c The episode "Wet Feet" was set to air at 8:30 p.m. on May 31, 1985,
immediately after the airing of "Saturday's Heroes" but was pre-empted
by an unannounced CBS news documentary with Dan Rather. "Saturday's Heroes" was
originally scheduled to air Dec. 11, 1984, before CBS put the series on
hiatus and abruptly pulled the episode. ^ a b c The script for "All Day All
Night, Mary Ann" was written but the episode was never produced.
References External links
AfterMASH at the Internet Movie Database AfterMASH at TV.com
AfterMASH -- MASH4077TV.com - Article about AfterMASH
Article about Larry Gelbart's role in the development of the series
1983 People article on the creation of the series