I read in the 1975 TV Guide that there was a little changes to the show at the start of the 1975-76 season. The changes were a

A New Commanding Officer

A New Surgeon

Was this good or bad for the show?

If you want my opinion, I liked all of the replacement characters: B.J., Potter, and Charles!

Originally posted by Heidi Dawn
If you want my opinion, I liked all of the replacement characters: B.J., Potter, and Charles!

Did all the new characters at the start of the 75-76 season remain on the show until the show ended?

i think they just helped the show evolve.

Originally posted by SOLOMON


Did all the new characters at the start of the 75-76 season remain on the show until the show ended?

Sure.
Col. Potter (Harry Morgan) and B.J. stayed on the show until the very end.

It's hard to say whether or not the cast changes hurt the show. It depends on whether you like the first three seasons which were mostly played for laughs as opposed to the more serious later seasons.

Personally, I enjoy the pre-Potter/BJ seasons more.

If anything, it proved that you can change cast members and still keep the show at the top of the ratings.

BJ, Potter, and Charles were get additions to the show, i still like the ones before them, but the shows with them could only do things then and not when frank or trapper where there....like the april fools episode...its one of my faverits and that one wouldnt of happened if BJ and Charles hadnt come :cool:

The changes hurt just a bit more than they helped. But the show was still really very good till the very end. Losing Linville was a big blow. And losing Burghoff was the last straw. Definitely a DAB INFERIOR AFTER THE LATTER'S DEPARTURE! buT JUST A DAB.

LOSING BLAKE WAS BAD FOR RADAR. RADAR'S CHEMISTRY WITH POTTER WAS SO INFERIOR TO THE LAD'S CHEMISTRY WITH BLAKE!

"Losing Linville was a big blow. And losing Burghoff was the last straw. Definitely a DAB INFERIOR AFTER THE LATTER'S DEPARTURE!"

I don't think losing Larry Linville was really a blow to the show. After all, how much longer could they go on with the same 'ferret face' jokes, 'secret' rendezvous with Margaret, jabs about his inept surgical skills, etc. Losing Radar was a different matter. I think he could have gone on right to the end. His character could have evolved more.

Originally posted by ficlopri
LOSING BLAKE WAS BAD FOR RADAR. RADAR'S CHEMISTRY WITH POTTER WAS SO INFERIOR TO THE LAD'S CHEMISTRY WITH BLAKE!

I don't know about the chemistry being inferior. It was different but I wouldn't say inferior.

Brooky, come to your senses! Radar and Potter weren't a fourth the duo Radar and Blake had been. In real life MacLean Stvenson admitted he loved Burghoff in a mutual sort of way. Harry Morgan never felt that way about Burghoff in the slghtest and the result was vastly inferior onscreen chemistry. As for Linville many claimed he was the true backbone of the show. Others (in a smaller number) felt Burghoff was. Which ever one was it was one of them and the show lost it's true backbone with the departure of the two. I think it was Linville. Eps didn't suffer without Radar as long as Linville was on camera. But they did visa-versa, but as long as Radar was there the show still had promise. Once Radar was gone for good so was any promise.

:typing:

Radar and Potter weren't a fourth the duo Radar and Blake had been.

Like I said, the chemistry was different. Because of the age difference Radar would naturally approach Potter differently. That's just expected from Radar's character.

If you want my opinion, I liked all of the replacement characters: B.J., Potter, and Charles!

Potter and Charles are great... B.J. is too bland.

Rather than B.J. this would have been a great time to introduce Duke, perhaps even played the same actor who played B.J.

Drawing a partial blank on the actor's name at the moment... a sign of how bland his acting was.

:)

LOSING BLAKE WAS BAD FOR RADAR. RADAR'S CHEMISTRY WITH POTTER WAS SO INFERIOR TO THE LAD'S CHEMISTRY WITH BLAKE!

Radar was made too childish as the show went on, also. In the novel he was a slightly tough little guy.

:)

Margaret turned relentlessly dull after Frank left. They could have maybe tried to slip a second female character in that she could have played off of.

Like almost all aspects of the later M*A*S*H, she lots all the wackiness she had as Hot Lips in the film and book after Frank departed.

That was the beginning of the end, the first time it jumped the shark. It just wasn't the same without Henry and Trap. The second jump was Frank leaving and Charles taking his place. The next was Radar leaving. I'm watching the best of Radar right now and the quality of writing was even that much better for those early years.