MASH's "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet" was its first dramedy.
MASH was pitched as a sitcom, but calling it that feels inaccurate and misleading now. When the show premiered, however, it leaned into the silliness and hilarity of the 4077 personnel, spearheaded by Hawkeye and Trapper John McIntyre. It was a gradual shift to find the delicate balance between comedy and drama, considering that its backdrop was a horrible war.
Stevenson had regrets about leaving MASH.
Henry Blake's death is arguably the most shocking MASH plot twist, but his demise came on the heels of McLean Stevenson's decision to leave the series. Executive producer Gene Reynolds recalled in the MASH reunion special that there were people around him that some people were convincing him that he could have his own show based on the success of MASH. In Stevenson's archival footage, he admitted that he got carried away by those whispers, failing to realize that people loved Blake but didn't care much about the actor playing it.
Morgan was previously mentally unbalanced Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele in MASH.
As ineffective as he was as the 4077's commanding officer, it was still a tall order to replace Blake. Somehow, however, MASH was able to do it when it brought in Harry Morgan's Sherm Potter. What makes this casting more impressive is the fact that Morgan already played a different role in the show just a couple of years earlier in mentally unbalanced Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele.
Burghoff was the only actor who both appeared in the show and the film.
There have been a lot of rumors about the real reason Burghoff left MASH as Radar. For starters, he was the last major original cast member to leave the series, and he was the only actor who both starred in the CBS war comedy-drama and Altman's film in 1970.
"The Interview" was Gelbart's final episode in MASH.
MASH had so many great episodes. It did have a weekly format, but from time to time, it ventured out creatively to do something groundbreaking.
M*A*S*H Originally adapted from the 1970 film of the same name, M*A*S*H encompasses comedy, drama, and everything in between as it follows the lives of army doctors stationed in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War.
