M*A*S*H sequel/reunion?

[Will Dockery]

Seeing these clips of Loretta Swit and Jamie Farr speaking on the classic
ensemble, and rightly naming M*A*S*H as the masterpiece it is, and seeing
them both looking fine and fit, I ask, why not one last M*A*S*H?

A great number of the original cast (from both the tv series and movie) are
still with us and quite capable of performing... why not an adaptation of,
say, M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, set 30 years later, say in the 1980s or 1990s
(30-40 years after the war, and likewise time since the series began &
ended), with Alda, Swit and so on reprising their roles as elders with "snow
on the roof but fire in the furnace"? Done right, it could be brilliant.

Of course, some tinkering with the opening and plot, with hopefully
additions of later characters Klinger, Hunnicut (filling the Duke role, of
course), Winchester and so on, pretty much any of the surviving cast. A
stretch, but Robert Duval /could/ even have an opening for Frank Burns to do
a cameo part if we mix movie cast in, although that isn't really the
greatest idea, just possible.

A crazy notion, but I feel like it just might work...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_Goes_to_Maine

Plot summary[edit]
Hawkeye Pierce returns to live in Crabapple Cove, Maine near the town of
Spruce Harbor. Having left the Army, Hawkeye is established to be working
for the Veterans Administration. In May 1954 he is laid off. At this point,
Hawkeye doesn’t have much money in the bank, is 31 years old, and has three
children: Billy, Stephen and Karen.

The day he’s released, Trapper John McIntyre comes to visit and sets Hawkeye’s
future in motion. Trapper John, a lieutenant in the Cardia Nostra medical
"family" (as Hawkeye refers to it) of "Don" Maxie Neville in New York City,
arranges for further thoracic training for Hawkeye, first in the East Orange
VA Hospital in New Jersey, then at St Lombard’s in Manhattan from July 1954.
After two years Hawkeye breezes through the Thoracic Boards. At the end of
his training in June 1956, two Spruce Harbor locals, Jocko Allcock (the man
who was responsible for Hawkeye being fired by the VA) and “Wooden Leg”
Wilcox (the local fish magnate) come to visit Hawkeye to set him up in
practice—by betting favorably on the outcome of his operations.

The first operation with Trapper John’s assistance (upon Pasquale Merlino)
is a success, and thanks to his superior training Hawkeye becomes the local
surgeon. As time goes by, Hawkeye is given more patients by the local
general practitioner of note, “Doggy” Moore; goes into private practice with
ex-Spitfire pilot Tony Holcombe and plots the eventual reuniting of the
Swamp Gang. By 1959 Hawkeye has lured Trapper John, Duke Forrest, and
Spearchucker Jones into his net, and thanks to the proceeds of the
“Allcock-Wilcox” syndicate, a new “Finestkind Fishmarket and Clinic” is set
up along with the new Spruce Harbor General Hospital.

Duke returns to Georgia from Korea, and takes a course in urology. Hawkeye
Pierce then invites him up to Spruce Harbor, Maine to join him and a new
friend, Tony Holcombe in private practice. Duke immediately turns up in
Maine with his bloodhound, Little Eva, and joins Hawkeye in persuading
Spearchucker to become the local neurosurgeon. Duke and his family move into
Crabapple Cove next to Hawkeye and Mary Pierce. Trapper John is lured to the
area by the possibility of becoming the Don of Spruce Harbor in the Cardia
Nostra and becomes romantically involved with Hawkeye's secretary, Lucinda
Lively, whom he eventually marries.

Along the way, the reader meets more of the local characters, including
"Wrong Way" Napolitano, who sometimes uses the transatlantic jets he flies
for a major airline to spot fish for his fisherman relatives in the Gulf of
Maine; Moose Lord, a longtime friend of Big Benjy Pierce who contracts a
rare and extremely nasty form of cancer that Hawkeye has to treat; Goofus
MacDuff, the Medical Director of Spruce Harbor General, whose ability to
summarize a case and reach the completely wrong conclusion is the stuff of
legend to the Swampmen; Doggy Moore, the previously mentioned general
practitioner whose adopted son Chip (short for Chipmunk) Moore was a high
school and college buddy of Hawkeye's; Half A Man Timberlake, who is not
overly bright but is sexually insatiable, and Wooden Leg's loyal henchman;
the three local hookers, Bang-Bang Betty, Mattress Mary, and Made Marion;
and Hawkeye's Uncle Lewis "Lew the Jew" Pierce, who is a fanatic golfer and
lives on an old fishing pier in The Solid Rust Cadillac.

Even by Down East standards, Spruce Harbor has more than its share of
colorful characters. But it's a solid community that comes together in a
crisis, as is shown when the beloved Doggy Moore becomes seriously ill and
it's up to the Swampmen to pull him through one medical crisis after
another, demonstrating they have not lost the touch that made them legends
back at the 4077th MASH.

A better idea than a J.J. Abrams style reboot with all new actors in the original roles, in my opinion.