I always thought it was ironic that the same season Trapper John, M.D. made its debut, Wayne Rogers was also making his debut as Charley Michaels on House Calls.

In truth, I think the character of Trapper John ended up on House Calls. Confused? I'll explain.

Technically, the Trapper character was revived on Trapper John, M.D. - however, the Pernell Roberts version bore no resemblance to the Trapper we knew and loved on M*A*S*H. This new Trapper was bald and humorless. Now, it's understandable that Trapper would have lost some hair and perhaps grown up a bit, but I think the remaining hair would have been curly and he would have retained his sardonic, cynical humor, especially in the 70s.

Meanwhile, the character of Charley Michaels on House Calls was a lot closer to Trapper John - in fact, Charley comes off as a smoother, more suave version of Trapper. Almost as if the Hawkeye and Trapper characters merged somewhat.

If Hawkeye showed up on Trapper John, M.D., I don't think he would have recognized this Trapper as his old army buddy - if he showed up on House Calls, he would've felt at home with "Charley."

Just my not-so-humble opinion, of course...

:wave:

Thats a good observation. I never thought of that.

Originally posted by mr roper
Thats a good observation. I never thought of that.

Once again, Mr. Roper, we are on the same wavelength.

I haven't seen House Calls since its initial run over 20 years ago - I don't think it's ever been in syndication - but I do remember Charley having a similarly irreverent attitude like Trapper.

Do you ever get the impression Wayne Rogers regretted leaving M*A*S*H? I know he claims not to, but that could be just bravado.

I know McLean Stevenson did...he more or less admitted in a M*A*S*H book I read in the early '80s, where he said that if they decided that Henry Blake survived and been found in the sea with a pound of seaweed in him and returned him to the outfit, he would do it.

When you consider the path his career took after he left the
show, I don't think that's so far out, really...

:cool:

Originally posted by Dr. Thong
Once again, Mr. Roper, we are on the same wavelength.

I haven't seen House Calls since its initial run over 20 years ago - I don't think it's ever been in syndication - but I do remember Charley having a similarly irreverent attitude like Trapper.

Do you ever get the impression Wayne Rogers regretted leaving M*A*S*H? I know he claims not to, but that could be just bravado.

I know McLean Stevenson did...he more or less admitted in a M*A*S*H book I read in the early '80s, where he said that if they decided that Henry Blake survived and been found in the sea with a pound of seaweed in him and returned him to the outfit, he would do it.

When you consider the path his career took after he left the
show, I don't think that's so far out, really...

:cool: I think he may have regretted leaving. I too haven't seen House Calls since it originally aired and I didn't watch it much because it aired opposite MNF but I thought it was amusing. I wish someone would rerun it. Even though Trapper John MD was a spinoff of Mash I had a hard time connecting it to that sitcom even though it was a good show.

Originally posted by mr roper
I think he may have regretted leaving. I too haven't seen House Calls since it originally aired and I didn't watch it much because it aired opposite MNF but I thought it was amusing. I wish someone would rerun it. Even though Trapper John MD was a spinoff of Mash I had a hard time connecting it to that sitcom even though it was a good show.

I don't consider it a spinoff. The character was Trapper John in name only.

I think I remember reading somewhere that TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX (the company that made both the movie and tv show) considered "Trapper John, M.D." to be about Trapper John in the movie, and not the show.

i herd on tv in an interview that the produceres of mash got so tired of repeted denials from fox that it was the same charthaer that they tricked fox into admitting that it was heres how they did it .they sent a fake memo of a story outline to the trapper john people in the storyline it said as follows. hawkeye finds out through friends that trapper jh john has died suddenlney and is upset that he cant be there for his friends furnel. when the trapper jon people saw this they had a fit they got on the phone with the mash people and said something along the lines of you cant do this story it will run ruin our show to wich the mash people replied but you siad it wasant the same trapper john well the trapper john people hemmed and hawed for a minute and hung up i guess they never bothered the mash people again and never outright denied that it was the same trapper again i personally liked the trapper john show but i had trouble beleveing that trapper would have chanaged that much . people still have fundamential parts of ther basic personallity all ther lives the trapper in trapper john md had none of the triats of eather the move trapper or the mash tv trapper.

I remember, on the first episode of "Trapper John, M.D."they mentioned that he was the same character from the show M*A*S*H-sort of. At the beggining, they showed him asleep on the couch in his office, and above him were hanging 2 pictures from M*A*S*H. One was of Hawkeye & Trapper standing in front of the swamp, and I forget what the other one was. When someone woke him up, he shouted something like "Radar! Wake Hawkeye!" And the person said "Dreaming about Korea again?"