In my version of AfterMASH, the premise is that Hawkeye gets a job offer he can't refuse, leaves Maine (or he couldn't commute, depending on the distance) and takes a job at a Boston hospital, where his buddy Trapper John works (Trapper came from Boston).

Once again, the two swamp buddies are reunited and trolling for nurses. At the end of the pilot, they are introduced to their boss, the new head of thoracic surgery...Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester.

In my version of AfterMASH, the premise is that Hawkeye gets a job offer he can't refuse, leaves Maine (or he couldn't commute, depending on the distance) and takes a job at a Boston hospital, where his buddy Trapper John works (Trapper came from Boston).

Once again, the two swamp buddies are reunited and trolling for nurses. At the end of the pilot, they are introduced to their boss, the new head of thoracic surgery...Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester.
That sounds like a great premise for a series. I would certainly have watched it! It's just to bad that neither Alan Alda nor David Ogden Stiers were willing to make themselves available for a spinoff. Although if this premise had been suggested at the time perhaps that would have changed their way of thinking!

That sounds like a great premise for a series. I would certainly have watched it! It's just to bad that neither Alan Alda nor David Ogden Stiers were willing to make themselves available for a spinoff. Although if this premise had been suggested at the time perhaps that would have changed their way of thinking!
:yeahthat

Audiences were far too used too the roles of Potter,Klinger,and Mulcahy serving only in supporting premises.The only supporting role I could have seen developing into a spinoff was maybe BJ.

That sounds like a great premise for a series. I would certainly have watched it! It's just to bad that neither Alan Alda nor David Ogden Stiers were willing to make themselves available for a spinoff. Although if this premise had been suggested at the time perhaps that would have changed their way of thinking!

I doubt it for Alan Alda. He'd played Hawkeye for 11 years and was most likely read to move on, which he did with starring and directing movies.

And Wayne Rogers sort of reprised his role as Trapper in those IBM commercials with Harry Morgan and other M*A*S*H cast members.

Can't say for certain with David Odgen Stiers, though.

I would have watched it...but I have to say that after 11 years, maybe the characters had just been around long enough.

There's a time and a place to end things, and I think MASH, contrary to what most think, ended just about at the right time. I didn't see the big decline in quality in the last few years that many did. In fact, I think those years saw some of the show's strongest episodes.

But at age 47, I think Alda had had enough of Hawk. I loved the character, but I can't blame him. Eleven years doing a TV show has to be grueling. And if they did create such a series, I think they would have had to mellow Hawk a bit; in his late forties, how likely would it be he'd still be the skirt chasing rogue we all knew in early years? They'd have to marry him off, make him a dad, etc. Maybe we're better off just assuming he became a country doctor in Crabapple Cove, and lived with his dad. :)

If Hawkeye was to be 47, they would have to go Back to the Future, and date the new series as being set in 1965, as Hawkeye would have been 32 at the end of the war.

In my version of AfterMASH, the premise is that Hawkeye gets a job offer he can't refuse, leaves Maine (or he couldn't commute, depending on the distance) and takes a job at a Boston hospital, where his buddy Trapper John works (Trapper came from Boston).

Once again, the two swamp buddies are reunited and trolling for nurses. At the end of the pilot, they are introduced to their boss, the new head of thoracic surgery...Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester.
Trapper John was from San Francisco. Charles was from Boston.

Trapper John was from San Francisco. Charles was from Boston.

The Pernell Roberts version of Trapper John was based in San Francisco. And I see that incarnation of the character as not really tying in to the TV show canon.

On the original series, Trapper John referred to growing up in Boston and attending Red Sox games at Fenway Park. It was only one episode, as I don't think we actually knew where the Wayne Rogers Trapper John lived with his wife and daughters.

I still haven't seen After MASH. I was a huge Mash fan though.

The Pernell Roberts version of Trapper John was based in San Francisco. And I see that incarnation of the character as not really tying in to the TV show canon.

On the original series, Trapper John referred to growing up in Boston and attending Red Sox games at Fenway Park. It was only one episode, as I don't think we actually knew where the Wayne Rogers Trapper John lived with his wife and daughters.

He mentioned he was from San Francisco at least a dozen times on MASH. He only mentioned he was from Boston once, in the episode you mentioned. So I take it as the writers changed his hometown, or Trapper was from SF but also lived in Boston or vice versa, but he definitely lived in SF when he was in the Army. Come to think of it, I believe Trapper saying he was only in Boston while attending medical school.

Good idea. But Alan Alda was probably too burned out to continue. What could have been done was still have David Ogden Stiers as the boss in the Boston hospital, with the Wayne Rogers version of Trapper John under him. Instead of Hawkeye, the guy who replaced Trapper B.J. Hunnicut, would move with his family to that city and work alongside Trapper under Winchester. Maybe CBS didn't want dueling Trappers though with the Pernell Roberts drama. I have heard about AfterM*A*S*H being ridiculed (never seen it), but it can't have been totally bad to get Potter, Klinger, and Mulcahy as regulars reprising their roles, plus Mrs. Potter being seen. For those who have seen it, how did they explain Klinger being back in the US since he had just reenlisted in the M*A*S*H series finale? It is so ironic Klinger of all characters was the one who stayed in the Army after the war ended. :lol:

Good idea. But Alan Alda was probably too burned out to continue. What could have been done was still have David Ogden Stiers as the boss in the Boston hospital, with the Wayne Rogers version of Trapper John under him. Instead of Hawkeye, the guy who replaced Trapper B.J. Hunnicut, would move with his family to that city and work alongside Trapper under Winchester. Maybe CBS didn't want dueling Trappers though with the Pernell Roberts drama. I have heard about AfterM*A*S*H being ridiculed (never seen it), but it can't have been totally bad to get Potter, Klinger, and Mulcahy as regulars reprising their roles, plus Mrs. Potter being seen. For those who have seen it, how did they explain Klinger being back in the US since he had just reenlisted in the M*A*S*H series finale? It is so ironic Klinger of all characters was the one who stayed in the Army after the war ended. :lol:
This idea isn't much better than the op. :p And Klinger didn't reenlist in the MASH season final. He simply stated he was staying in Korea until they find Soon-Lee's family.

He mentioned he was from San Francisco at least a dozen times on MASH. He only mentioned he was from Boston once, in the episode you mentioned. So I take it as the writers changed his hometown, or Trapper was from SF but also lived in Boston or vice versa, but he definitely lived in SF when he was in the Army. Come to think of it, I believe Trapper saying he was only in Boston while attending medical school.

You're probably right. The M*A*S*H writers were not always consistent with the backstories and histories of the characters in some instances.

Hawkeye was originally from Vermont and had two parents and a sister before they decided he was from Maine, was an only child, and his Dad was a widower.

Margaret's parents were originally dead (at least her Dad anyway), but then her father miraculously was alive and showed up to visit her at the 4077th in the later years.

Still, I think an After-MASH with Hawkeye and Trapper working together again with Winchester as their supervisor could be a interesting series.

Good idea. But Alan Alda was probably too burned out to continue. What could have been done was still have David Ogden Stiers as the boss in the Boston hospital, with the Wayne Rogers version of Trapper John under him. Instead of Hawkeye, the guy who replaced Trapper B.J. Hunnicut, would move with his family to that city and work alongside Trapper under Winchester. Maybe CBS didn't want dueling Trappers though with the Pernell Roberts drama. I have heard about AfterM*A*S*H being ridiculed (never seen it), but it can't have been totally bad to get Potter, Klinger, and Mulcahy as regulars reprising their roles, plus Mrs. Potter being seen. For those who have seen it, how did they explain Klinger being back in the US since he had just reenlisted in the M*A*S*H series finale? It is so ironic Klinger of all characters was the one who stayed in the Army after the war ended. :lol:I haven't seen After MASH in years since 1983 when it first aired on CBS but from what I recall it was just OK sometimes-nothing special-in it's first season but it got stupid in it's second season. And from what I remember of the first show Klinger and Soon-Le found her parents but they had been killed or something.

I haven't seen After MASH in years since 1983 when it first aired on CBS but from what I recall it was just OK sometimes-nothing special-in it's first season but it got stupid in it's second season. And from what I remember of the first show Klinger and Soon-Le found her parents but they had been killed or something.

I think you're right, but if it ever came out on DVD or blu-ray, I'd still buy it. The M*A*S*H fan in me would watch it and make the best of it.

I watched AfterMash back in the day. They should had Radar as a regular in the show. BJ was also from the San Francisco area - Mill Valley.

Did AfterMASH just come along (https://www.reddit.com/r/mash/comments/i9s3rx/why_did_aftermash_fail/) too (https://www.reddit.com/r/mash/comments/e2rgh4/aftermash_good_idea_or_not/) late? If MASH was actually commentary about the Vietnam War despite, officially being about the Korean War, then AfterMASH was a commentary (https://www.quora.com/What-TV-show-dealt-with-a-controversial-issue-in-a-way-that-was-far-beyond-its-time) on the plight of veterans, particularly Vietnam veterans. But by the time that AfterMASH made it on the air in 1983, the Vietnam War was over for eight years. Not only that, but the draft ended 10 years before, and Korea was by that point, 30 years old. The point is that I don't know if that was still relevant to a majority of American audiences unlike in the mid-'70s, when people were returning from war.

Did AfterMASH just come along (https://www.reddit.com/r/mash/comments/i9s3rx/why_did_aftermash_fail/) too (https://www.reddit.com/r/mash/comments/e2rgh4/aftermash_good_idea_or_not/) late? If MASH was actually commentary about the Vietnam War despite, officially being about the Korean War, then AfterMASH was a commentary (https://www.quora.com/What-TV-show-dealt-with-a-controversial-issue-in-a-way-that-was-far-beyond-its-time) on the plight of veterans, particularly Vietnam veterans. But by the time that AfterMASH made it on the air in 1983, the Vietnam War was over for eight years. Not only that, but the draft ended 10 years before, and Korea was by that point, 30 years old. The point is that I don't know if that was still relevant to a majority of American audiences unlike in the mid-'70s, when people were returning from war.

The series was an example of something existing because it could exist. The network was willing to take a flyer on anything with the MASH pedigree and hope the producers could figure it out. The show got off to a great start but the characters weren't strong enough to hold the audience. The problem really isn't covered in the initial post, the main problem, the three holdover supporting characters were just that supporting characters. The show needed compelling lead characters right out of the gate and that's what it didn't have and that's the main reason the show failed.

The series was an example of something existing because it could exist. The network was willing to take a flyer on anything with the MASH pedigree and hope the producers could figure it out. The show got off to a great start but the characters weren't strong enough to hold the audience. The problem really isn't covered in the initial post, the main problem, the three holdover supporting characters were just that supporting characters. The show needed compelling lead characters right out of the gate and that's what it didn't have and that's the main reason the show failed.

Yep. Similarly, they attempted to do The New WRKP In Cincinnati in 1991, but with the show based around three supporting characters, Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson, Herb Tarlek, and Les Nessman.

Like After-MASH, the show ran for a couple of seasons before petering out.