AfterMASH is an American sitcom that
aired on CBS from September 26, 1983, to
May 31, 1985. A spin-off of the series
M*A*S*H, the show takes place
immediately following the end of the
Korean War and chronicles the adventures
of three characters from the original
series: Colonel Potter, Klinger and
Father Mulcahy. M*A*S*H supporting
cast-member Kellye Nakahara joined them,
albeit off-camera, as the voice of the
hospital's public address system.
Rosalind Chao rounded out the starring
cast as Soon-Lee Klinger, a Korean
refugee whom Klinger met, fell in love
with and married in the M*A*S*H series
finale "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen."
AfterMASH premiered in the fall of 1983
in the same Monday night 9:00 P.M. EDT.
time slot as its predecessor M*A*S*H. It
finished 10th out of all network shows
for the 1983-1984 season according to
Nielsen Media Research television
ratings. For its second season CBS moved
the show to Tuesday nights at 8:00 EST,
opposite NBC's top ten hit The A-Team,
and launched a marketing campaign
featuring illustrations by Sanford
Kossin of Max Klinger in a nurse's
uniform, shaving off Mr. T's signature
mohawk, theorizing that AfterMASH would
take a large portion of The A-Team's
audience. The theory, however, was
proven wrong. In fact, the exact
opposite occurred, as AfterMASH's
ratings plummeted to near the bottom of
the television rankings and the show was
canceled nine episodes into its second
season, while The A-Team continued until
1987, with 97 episodes.
In 1999, Time Magazine listed the show
as one of the 100 worst ideas of the
century, and in 2002, TV Guide listed
the show as the seventh-worst TV series
ever.
Synopsis
= Season one=
In the one-hour pilot episode "September
of '53/Together Again", Colonel Potter
returned home from Korea to his wife
Mildred in Hannibal, Missouri. He soon
found retirement stifling, and Mildred
suggested he return to work. Potter was
soon hired by the bombastic and
bureaucratic hospital administrator Mike
D'Angelo as the chief of staff at
General Pershing Veteran's Hospital,
located in the fictional River Bend,
Missouri.
Max Klinger had found himself in trouble
with the law in Toledo. Colonel Potter
wrote to him and offered him a job as
his administrative assistant. Klinger's
enemy at General General was D'Angelo's
executive secretary Alma Cox, a
mean-spirited woman who was forever
trying to "get the goods" on him, from
giving him a day to prepare for a civil
service exam to rifling through his
desk.
Father Mulcahy, whose hearing was
damaged in the final episode of M*A*S*H,
was suffering from depression and
drinking heavily. Potter arranged for
Mulcahy to receive an operation at
another VA Hospital in St. Louis. After
his hearing was surgically corrected, he
stopped drinking and joined Potter and
Klinger at "General General" as its
Catholic chaplain.
Also on hand was the idealistic,
talented, and often hungry young
resident surgeon Gene Pfeffier,
attractive secretary Bonnie Hornbeck,
who had an eye for Klinger, and
old-timer Bob Scannell who served under
then-Sergeant Potter in World War I and
was now a hospital resident of 35 years.
Unlike the other patients and staff who
addressed Potter by his retired rank of
colonel, Scannell called him "Sarge" at
Potter's request.
Halfway through the first season, Dr.
Boyer was introduced as a hardened
veteran who lost a leg in Korea and had
a hard time adjusting to civilian life.
Despite only having signed on for two
episodes, his character began appearing
more often towards the end of the
season, so often that Dr. Pfeiffer was
suddenly pulled from the cast after Dr.
Boyer's debut episode.
The only other main character from the
original series to appear on AfterMASH
was Radar, who appeared in a first
season two-part episode. As Potter,
Klinger, and Mulcahy prepare to head to
Iowa for Radar's wedding, Radar shows up
in a panic at Potter's house in
Missouri, believing his intended fiancée
has cheated on him in "It Had To Be
You". The Radar character later appeared
in a pilot called W*A*L*T*E*R, in which
Radar moved from Iowa to St. Louis,
after his wife left him on his wedding
night, and became a police officer.
The season included home scenes with the
Potters, most notably when they were
deluged with guests in "Thanksgiving of
'53", and Potter tried to keep the phone
occupied so Klinger couldn't call his
relatives, who were on the way over to
surprise him; this episode also marked
the only onscreen appearance of Potter's
oft-mentioned daughter, Evvy Ennis, and
Potter's grandson, Corey. One of the
season's standout episodes was the
Emmy-nominated "Fall Out", where Potter
and Pfeffier considered leaving General
General, but reconsidered when they
linked the leukemia seen in a patient
with exposure to atomic testing;
writer-director Larry Gelbart received a
Peabody Award for this episode. The
season closed in March with Klinger
being arrested for decking a shady real
estate agent as pregnant Soon Lee went
into labor. In May, CBS announced the
show was renewed for a second season.
= Season two=
Season Two opened with Klinger escaping
from the River Bend County Jail to
attend the birth of his child and
remaining a fugitive until a judge sent
him to the psychiatric unit at General
General, where Klinger feigned insanity
to avoid prison and the Potters took in
Soon Lee and the baby. Mike D'Angelo was
transferred to Montana and was replaced
by smarmy new administrator Wally
Wainwright. Anne Pitoniak was brought in
to replace Barbara Townsend as Mildred
Potter. David Ackroyd was promoted to a
regular cast member after multiple guest
appearances in the second half of the
first season. An attractive new
psychiatrist, Dr. Lenore Dudziak arrived
to begin the daunting task of evaluating
Klinger, while Potter was horrified that
Wainwright assigned Alma Cox as his new
secretary.
The recurring M*A*S*H character Colonel
Flagg appeared in the second season, now
working for an unspecified intelligence
agency whose agents are authorised to
carry sidearms in their shoes; he is
only too eager to testify against
Klinger in "Trials". Character actors
Arliss Howard, Timothy Busfield, William
Sadler, and David Graf all appeared as
patients.
Only three other characters from M*A*S*H
were ever mentioned in the sequel
series. Hawkeye was referenced in the
one-hour opening episode in a voice-over
thought by Mulcahy. Frank Burns was
mentioned once in the first season and
once in the second season, both times by
Sherman Potter. In a second season
episode, Dr. Potter writes a letter to
Sidney Freedman, who is mentioned as now
working at the University of Chicago,
but does not appear in the episode.
There is also a touching moment at the
end of the "Chief of Staff" episode in
which Potter is surprised to see that
his hospital office has been redecorated
with his desk, paintings, saddle, and
other items from the 4077th as "Suicide
is Painless" is played; Potter's
portrait of Radar and his group portrait
of Hawkeye, BJ, Houlihan, Winchester,
Klinger, and Mulcahy continued to be
seen in his office through the remainder
of the sequel series. In the W*A*L*T*E*R
pilot, interviewer Clete Roberts is seen
on TV mentioning that he had recently
interviewed Hawkeye, and Radar mentions
a picture he keeps in his wallet of him
with Hawkeye, LTC Blake, and Major
Houlihan.
In the next-to-last filmed episode,
"Saturday's Heroes", the Klingers' baby
is finally named. This episode aired on
May 31, 1985.
Format
AfterMASH made frequent references to
M*A*S*H, and likewise featured
storylines that highlighted the horrors
and suffering of war, from the
non-combat perspective of a veteran's
hospital. The series was canceled after
twenty-nine broadcast episodes. "Wet
Feet", the thirtieth episode, was never
aired.
Characters
Note: Similar to the list on the M*A*S*H
page, this table counts double episodes
as 2 episodes, and therefore there are
22 episodes in the first season, and 9
episodes in the second season, the total
being 31.
Episodes
= Season 1=
= Season 2=
Notes
^ a b c d Credits from episode title
cards
^ a b Production Code from end credits
^ The premiere episode of the second
season aired in a time slot different
from the regular schedule.
^ a b c The episode "Wet Feet" was set
to air at 8:30 p.m. on May 31, 1985,
immediately after the airing of
"Saturday's Heroes" but was pre-empted
by an unannounced CBS news documentary
with Dan Rather. "Saturday's Heroes" was
originally scheduled to air Dec. 11,
1984, before CBS put the series on
hiatus and abruptly pulled the episode.
^ a b c The script for "All Day All
Night, Mary Ann" was written but the
episode was never produced.
References
External links
AfterMASH at the Internet Movie Database
AfterMASH at TV.com
AfterMASH -- MASH4077TV.com - Article
about AfterMASH
Article about Larry Gelbart's role in
the development of the series
1983 People article on the creation of
the series
