M*A*S*H has enriched the lives of many of its viewers through its drama and humor. It provided good company to the anxious during a time of war and tribulation. It also provided great opportunities for artists to expand their careers and for writers to test their skills. It made a tough time in America’s history a little bit livable, which was a big thing.
For some actors, however, their extreme guest appearances netted them some unusual notoriety. John Ritter guested as a soldier who snapped during treatment, his taking of a hostage was frowned upon. Laurence Fishburne played the role of a racist commander who placed black soldiers in hazardous missions. And Patrick Swayze played a terminally ill patient, the tragedy of which foreshadowed his own death from a terminal illness in 2009.
Based On A Novel
For all the smashing success the M*A*S*H TV series ended up enjoying, it didn’t show much promise when it began. In fairness to its creators, they were starting something that was relatively new and potentially controversial at the time. It was the first military-drama-comedy ever aired on TV, and many viewers found the amalgam an unusual one.
Even Larry Gelbart, who wrote the pilot show, didn’t know much about it at all while living in the United Kingdom. What made him write M*A*S*H was his deep appreciation for Robert Altman’s film. How the tides have turned since then! While the TV show has been insanely popular, many fans aren’t even aware that it was based on the book and movie that preceded it.
Never Released
Throughout the eleven seasons of the M*A*S*H TV series, as diverse as the subject matters and themes they tackled were, it is worth noting that only one episode was deemed unfit to air. The episode wasn’t really unlike every one of those that had been shown, but the network regarded it to be thinly unpatriotic.
It concerned a number of military men who were calling for their repatriation back to the States, bidding against each other to travel home first. Management thought the back message controversial and demoralizing and didn’t want to trigger sentiments of those opposed to the war back home. Many soldiers wanted to go home and this episode would’ve incited it even more. So it never flickered to life on our TV screens.
No To Guns
To be in the military and despise guns must be a mountainous oxymoron to tackle. Even when Hawkeye was assigned as the Officer of the Day, he would fulfill his tasks without having a sidearm with him. And this was supposed to be during a time of war!
In one episode, Potter pleaded with Hawkeye to bring at least a pistol along on their way to the aid station, but the latter graciously rejected his request. Pointing his weapon to the sky, he screamed and unloaded all his bullets into the empty expanse above. He was a doctor, in the midst of the war, there to heal the injured, not to injure.
Who Is This Captain Turtle?
If you do not remember who Captain Tuttle was, that’s because there really was no captain to speak of. The only episode Tuttle “appeared in” was aptly titled “Tuttle,” and the so-called captain was just a figment of Hawkeye’s imagination.
However, weirdly enough, Tuttle’s name appeared during the show’s credits for playing himself. How odd for something that no one has ever heard of, nor seen, to be only in a person’s mind and yet become acknowledged in the show credits. Was this an early version of the now popular trend of placing easter eggs in shows, films, and games?