AfterMASH

AfterMASH
The AfterMASH title screen
Format	Sitcom
Starring	Harry Morgan Jamie Farr William Christopher Rosalind Chao John Chappell     (1983-1984) Jay O. Sanders     (Oct 1983 - Jan 1984) Barbara Townsend     (1983-1984) David Ackroyd     (1984-1985) Anne Pitoniak     (1984-1985) Peter Michael Goetz     (1984-1985) Brandis Kemp
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	30
Production
Running time	24-25 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 26, 1983 – May 31, 1985
Chronology
Preceded by	M*A*S*H
Followed by	W*A*L*T*E*R

AfterMASH is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from September 26, 1983 to May 31, 1985. A spin-off of the long-running hit series M*A*S*H (the name is a pun on aftermath), the show took place immediately following the end of the Korean War and chronicled the adventures of three characters from the original series: Colonel Potter (played by Harry Morgan), Klinger (played by Jamie Farr) and Father Mulcahy (played by William Christopher). Morgan, Farr, and Christopher had voted in the minority when the cast of M*A*S*H elected not to continue the original series.^{[citation needed]}

AfterMASH premiered in the fall of 1983 in the same Monday night 9:00 P.M. EST. time slot as its predecessor M*A*S*H. It finished 15th 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 Wednesday nights opposite NBC's top ten hit the 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.^[1] 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.

Synopsis

Season One

In the one-hour pilot episode "September of '53/Together Again", Colonel Potter returned home from Korea to his wife Mildred (Barbara Townsend) in Hannibal, Missouri. He soon found retirement stifling, and Mildred suggested he return to work. Potter was soon hired by the cartoonish hospital administrator Mike D'Angelo (John Chappell) as the chief of staff at General Pershing Veteran's Hospital ("General General"), 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 nemesis at General General was D'Angelo's executive secretary Alma Cox (Brandis Kemp), 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 (Jay O. Sanders), attractive secretary Bonnie Hornbeck (Wendy Schaal), who had an eye for Klinger, and old-timer Bob Scannell (Patrick Cranshaw) who served with Potter in World War I and was now a hospital resident of 35 years (thanks to his exposure to mustard gas).

The only other main character from the original series to appear on AfterMASH was Radar (played by Gary Burghoff), 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 and became a police officer. (The series was never picked up, and the pilot was aired in July 1984 as a TV special on CBS exclusively in the Eastern and Central timezones; the show was pre-empted in Pacific and Mountain timezones by the 1984 Democratic National Convention.)

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 (as yet unnamed) baby. Mike D'Angelo was transferred to Montana and was replaced by smarmy new administrator Wally Wainwright (Peter Michael Goetz). Anne Pitoniak was brought in to replace Barbara Townsend as Mildred Potter. Dr. Pfeffier was phased out late in the first season and replaced by Dr. Boyer (David Ackroyd), who had lost a leg in Korea and whose bitterness was only matched by his excellent surgical skills. (The character was never given a first name in the series, but publicity photos referred to him as "Dr. Mark Boyer.") An attractive new psychiatrist, Dr. Lenore Dudziak (Wendy Girard) arrived to begin the daunting task of evaluating Klinger, while Potter was horrified that Wainwright assigned Alma Cox as his new secretary.

The recurring MASH character Colonel Flagg (played by Edward Winter) appeared in the second season, now working for the CIA and 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 (Episode #14: "Chief of Staff") and once in the second season, both times by Sherman Potter. In a second season episode (#26: "Madness To His Method"), Dr. Potter writes a letter to Sidney Freedman, who is mentioned as now working in New England, 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 the M*A*S*H theme song is played; Potter's portrait of Radar and his group portrait of Hawkeye, BJ, Houlihan, Winchester, Klinger, and Mulcahy (from the 10th season episode "Picture This") 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, Col. Blake, and Major Houlihan.

Format

AfterMASH exploited its connection to M*A*S*H whenever possible. Sometimes this took the form of plot devices, such as the episode in which Klinger arranged Col. Potter's civilian office to look exactly as it had in Korea. More generally, however, AfterMASH attempted to parallel the dramatic structure of its parent series. Because it took place in a veterans hospital, most of the episodes featured a storyline that highlighted the horrors and suffering of war, just as most episodes of M*A*S*H the final seasons. A key distinction between AfterMASH and its predecessor was that AfterMASH could deal with such matters only secondhand, thereby reducing their emotional impact. The series never succeeded in recapturing the feeling of its parent series and was cancelled after thirty broadcast episodes. "Wet Feet", the thirty-first episode (which was not season, or series, finale material) was never aired.

Episode List

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Credits from episode title cards
2. ^ ^{a b} Production Code from end credits
3. ^ The premiere episode of the second season aired in a time slot different from the regular schedule.
4. ^ ^{a b c} The episode "Wet Feet" was set to air on the same day with "Saturday's Heroes" but was not shown.
5. ^ ^{a b c} The script for "All Day All Night, Mary Ann" was written but the episode was never produced.

References

External links

• Finest-Kind.net - M*A*S*H website w/info on AfterMASH
• Amazon.com - Listing for AfterMASH, availability pending.
• AfterMASH at the Internet Movie Database
• AfterMASH at TV.com
• AfterM*A*S*H - The Story of AfterM*A*S*H