The choice is between Spearchucker Jones, Lt. Dish, Ho-John, and Ugly Jon. These characters were regulars on Mash in the first half of the first season. Which character was the best to remain with the show throughout the series run? Logically Lt. Dish should have stayed with the show throughout. SHe was real pretty. As for Ho-John, too much like Radar. Ugly Jon ,no redeeming qualities. And Spearchucker only needed in the first few eps to show Hawkeye and Trapper weren't bigots.

I think that Spearchucker should have stayed. I alse think that Trapper should have stayed several more seasons.

Being a football fan, I would have liked to have seen Tim Brown stay on as Spearchuker Jones. Apparently they removed him after a few episodes because when they went back and checked they found that there weren't any black surgeons who served in the Korean conflict. Would that have been anymore unrealistic than a 12 year war, BJ's cheesy mustache, all the 1970's haircuts, or any number of other anachronisms that popped up in the show? If Klinger could hangglide, the 4077th could have a black surgeon!

Spearchucker, Trapper, Ugly John, Ho John, and Henry. I loved those guys!

Sperchucker only played football for sure in the Mash the movie. We don't know anything about the background of the tv Spearchucker (outside of probably guessing correctly that he went to medical school).
And Trapper and Henry do not count as early dropped characters. They were on for three seasons each. And the series ran eleven not twelve years.

Trapper should have stayed.

Spearchucker Jones.

Does anyone know why he was dropped?

Originally posted by Campana:

Spearchucker Jones.

Does anyone know why he was dropped?
I'd of liked to see Spearchucker stay longer too...he was dropped because the producers or someone found out that there were not black doctors during the Korean War.



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Lt. Dish. Also, you didn't ask, but I'll say it anyway: I wish they had kept Duke Forrester (from the book & movie) instead of Trapper

In the movie Duke's last name was FORREST! Never read the book so I do not what Duke's last name there was. And there was a reference to a guy named Forrest (who used to live at the 4077th) on tv Mash in an ep about a baby.

It would have been nice if they kept Lt. Dish on a little longer, or even Nurse Cutler played by Marcia Strassman from "Welcome Back Kotter". Still, she lasted longer than Dish did.
I think they tried to throw as many characters as they could into the first season, them when they saw where the show's strengths were (with Alda and the other leads) the other characters had nothing to contribute.

no, they dropped those other characters early on, because they found they didn't need that many.

The choice is between Spearchucker Jones, Lt. Dish, Ho-John, and Ugly Jon. These characters were regulars on Mash in the first half of the first season. Which character was the best to remain with the show throughout the series run? Logically Lt. Dish should have stayed with the show throughout. SHe was real pretty. As for Ho-John, too much like Radar. Ugly Jon ,no redeeming qualities. And Spearchucker only needed in the first few eps to show Hawkeye and Trapper weren't bigots.

Lt. Dish definitely would have been a welcome sight in more episodes. She could have lightened up the mood and storylines, given the only female lead was ever the dour Hot Lips.

At first, I really missed Painless Pole and Duke, or thought they would have made good incidental characters.

Being a football fan, I would have liked to have seen Tim Brown stay on as Spearchuker Jones. Apparently they removed him after a few episodes because when they went back and checked they found that there weren't any black surgeons who served in the Korean conflict. Would that have been anymore unrealistic than a 12 year war, BJ's cheesy mustache, all the 1970's haircuts, or any number of other anachronisms that popped up in the show? If Klinger could hangglide, the 4077th could have a black surgeon!

And since Spearchucker Jones was part of the original novel, clearly it would have been in keeping with the original concept to keep him on.

In the movie Duke's last name was FORREST! Never read the book so I do not what Duke's last name there was. And there was a reference to a guy named Forrest (who used to live at the 4077th) on tv Mash in an ep about a baby.

A subtle Duke reference?

Anyone know?

Lt. Dish. Also, you didn't ask, but I'll say it anyway: I wish they had kept Duke Forrester (from the book & movie) instead of Trapper

Definitely not instead of, but The Swamp could or should have had all three living there, rather than having Frank Burns with them.

Understandable why Duke was left out, but the original Swampmen were a trio, as in Marx Brothers or Three Stooges interplay.

In the movie Duke's last name was FORREST! Never read the book so I do not what Duke's last name there was. And there was a reference to a guy named Forrest (who used to live at the 4077th) on tv Mash in an ep about a baby.
yes you're right, it was Forrest.

Definitely not instead of, but The Swamp could or should have had all three living there, rather than having Frank Burns with them.

Understandable why Duke was left out, but the original Swampmen were a trio, as in Marx Brothers or Three Stooges interplay.
yes, I agree.

yes you're right, it was Forrest.

Yes, indeed...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_M*A*S*H_characters#Duke_Forrest

"Duke's real name is Augustus Bedford Forrest. He is a surgeon and a prominent character in both the book and the movie, but he does not appear in the TV series. In both the book and the movie, he is a a small-town southerner of his era (his name references Bedford Forrest, a famous Confederate general and notorious slave trader and war criminal (for the mass murder of African-Americans specifically on grounds of race)), and he initially shows shows some racial animosity toward Spearchucker Jones, but overcomes this, with help from Hawkeye and Trapper. He is a bit of a roughneck compared to the other doctors. Duke was a key character from the beginning of the book and movie, in contrast to Trapper John who only appears later, but was written out of the TV series, possibly in part because Tom Skerritt declined to reprise his movie role as Duke. In an episode[which?] in the second season of the TV series, he is obliquely referred to and described as having been sent back to the United States (whether released from the Army or sent to further Army duty in the homeland is not made clear)..."

And so it went.