Rewind: McLean Stevenson on his last M*A*S*H episode & shocking way he found out he was being killed
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- Опубликовано: 21 май 2022
- In this 1979 interview, McLean Stevenson reveals what was going on behind-the-scenes during filming of his last episode of "M*A*S*H" and discovering they were killing off his character of Henry Blake.
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McLean Stevenson should have never left the show, I loved his character and also Trapper as well. I read Wayne Rogers never had a contract. The first 3 seasons are brilliant.
I agree. It was never the same after those two actors departed. Nothing against Harry Morgan and Mike Farrell, but it was never as funny without Trapper and Henry.
@@gregwilliams3120 Then there are those like me that like the later seasons with them better.
@@julienielsen3746 Which is the reason it lasted 11 seasons. But while the later seasons were gold, the first 3 were close to perfect.
Yep! He sold gold for lead. Big mistake!
I liked Trapper John more than Hunnicutt. He was more of an equal with Hawkeye. BJ was just Hawkeye’s lackey.
Stevenson has said later that the mistake he made when leaving MASH was thinking that the public liked him and wanted to see more of him, but what they really wanted was Henry Blake, not McLean Stevenson. I always thought that was a big learning lesson. Costly.
The same thing happened to Gary Burghoff.
Yeah, he should have stayed.
On Star Trek the Next Generation, the same thing happened with Denise Crosby. Fortunately, they liked her enough that they were willing to bring her back after a couple of years for guest spots.
@@arthouston7361
Gary left for different reasons. He felt that he was putting too much into the show and his life back east was passing him by. His marriage failed soon after he left the show, so his reasoning doesn't seem to be totally wrong. He continued acting but it was in much smaller bites. He was in two movies that were small roles and he did a lot of small 1-2 episode roles in shows like Chips, Fantasy Island, and Love Boat. The royalties from MASH are more than enough to provide him a decent living in rural Wisconsin. To this day, MASH reruns are everywhere, I'm sure that show set all kinds of records with number of reruns shown. Seinfeld is the only show I can think of that is comparable.
The reality is the show ran too many years, it ran almost four times the length of the war.
It was also Wayne Rogers last scene in MASH which often gets overlooked as well.
Zzz.
He is mentioned in the 1st show of the following season,but never seen.
@@thefonzkissClass
Actually, Radarwas not the only character to have lines in the scene where Henry's death is announced. Trapper says, "Radar! Put a mask on!" Hawkeye then says, "If that's my discharge, give it to me straight. I can take it." Then Radar launches into the message.
I thought the same thing. But maybe they ad-libbed because they thought it would be odd if an unmasked Radar entered the ER and no one said anything.
That doesn't mean that the pages they were handed had those lines. They very much could have ad libbed them out of necessity.
@@cobbler88 Last show of the season with what took place , I think Gene & Larry would not have let any freedom fly in that script. Most other scenes yes . But that one , it had to be by the book I’d imagine. Just my opinion.
@@ronniewoodinsteadofmt2615Okay?
I cried twice when McLean Stevenson died. Once when Henry Blake died and once when McLean Stevenson died. RIP
Stevenson only died once.
@@terminat1 You know what the guy's saying, stop being difficult.
As far as I’m concerned, that is the real last episode of *MASH.* All the best characters were gone by the canonical last episode.
Absolutely agree. My Goodness you nailed it . Season 1 ,2 & 3 is it . After that it’s can’t watch cause I’m busy rearranging my sock drawer.!!
@@Attmay perfect perfect perfect comment regarding MASH
One of the saddest cases of genius in Hollywood history.
Genius? 😂😂😂
Yah but Hollywood died in ‘95
That is insanely on point. They started blacklisting anyone nor Democrat, got rid of everyone creative and now just remake crap.
I was a little kid and I cried hard that night when Radar said he died because I loved Henry. So, in that way, it was a genius writing job.
My whole family gathered around the TV to watch every episode of MASH on TV through the 1970's and early 1980's. We loved the show. We all cried - my mum, my dad, my brothers - when Henry was killed in a plane crash on his way home. I still get choked up about it when I watch this episode on DVD ...
I do too...powerful...felt almost like we had lost a family member....😞
Straight up.
Which proved points 1 & 2 by Gelbart as summarized by McLean in the video above. It worked.
I'm not even sure the show would have continued on for so many years had this episode not ended the way it did. This opened the door to so many possibilities in the eyes of the audience because you realized that they were possibly not just going to sugar coat anything they covered. It could go for humor or it could go for the tears. And the actors all had the ability to do either topic without giving up the direction ahead of time.
Best show ever. I was 8 yrs old when the series started, watching with my grandmother. I never missed an episode!
I was 14 years old when Stevenson's character was killed off. Emptied an entire box of Kleenex. Tragic ending but incredibly well done. Saw and interview with Larry Linville (Burns) in which he said that he commented "brilliant" after reading the final page. It added incredible authenticity to the best show in the history of television.
Being a teen in the 70's I think MASH taught us well. Be as crazy as you want when you are not at work, but when you get to work, be very good at what you do. Great show. I thought Wayne Rogers leaving was a bigger deal, but McLean did a good job with his character as well.
One of THE worst career decisions of all time. He was on a hit TV show that lasted for several more seasons and he never had another show that lasted.
Imagine the residual check if he stayed till the end..
What about Shelly Long from Cheers?
@@trvman1 Yup, that was pretty stupid too!
I had heard that the cast wasn’t told ahead of time - that they were supposed to play off of Radar's line - and that the real emotional shock in silence plus the sound of an instrument (scalpel or clamp) hitting a porcelain basin made it all so real
That's the way I heard it, but Stevenson was there. Has any other actor talked about that scene?
yeah i read the same thing.
There was a problem the first time they did the scene and had to redo it. The sound of the dropped instrument wasn't planned but was thought to help the scene so they kept it.
"M*A*S*H" was good (and funnier) during the Stevenson/Rogers/Linville period, but Blake's death resulting from the war led to the show changing its tone and becoming more serious and introspective during the Morgan/Farrell/Stiers years.
In fact, the fourth year, which introduced Farrell and Morgan, had some of the best written episodes of the series.
The different approches to the subject of war and the various characters are what made "M*A*S*H" interesting and gave it depth, and they're why the show lasted 11 seasons.
Farrell's introductory episode was actually particularly grim. There was that scene where they come under mortar fire on the trip to the unit and one of the GI's walking by the road is killed instantly. Not a comedy at that point.
And a few of the worst!
It's strange to think back on these pre-internet, pre-DVD times when you either saw it live when it was first broadcast or you never saw it at all. I vividly remember the scene. So I must have been sitting there when it first broadcast.
Are you kidding? MASH has been in re-runs for 45 years. That episode has been on hundreds of times.
I vividly remember that scene from watching reruns as a kid in the late 1980s.@@thefonzkiss
I hated to see Henry Blake leave the Show, but Col. Potter filled that void and did so outstandingly. The writers knew what they were doing.
I watched MASH from first episode back when I was in high school until the finale when I was married. But the middle years with Potter, B.J., and Charles were the most rewatchable. The last season or so it started to stale.
He was brilliant in this role ..
Ive been watching the episode where Henry dies since it aired in the 70's. Im in my fifties and i still almost cry watching it every time i see it.
Remember my mom watching Mash when I was was young.. I atched the whole series 2 years ago as a then 46 year old... That episode hits right in the chest.
I also cried twice, when he died on MASH and again when I saw the first episode of HELLO LARRY.
🤣
Maybe they should have called it Goodbye Larry?
The futility of war? South Koreans are free people today thanks to American efforts.
Liberal nonsense. That was the headwaters of the even worse nonsense we have today.
It festered and metastasized into the woke of today.
And it costs many many American lives. That might be what is meant by futility
For once the American effort was not in vain. Back in the 50’s it was very hard to criticize American foreign policy as WW2 had just finished and people were on board with everything the govt decided to do. The Korean War merits more attention from all of us
The futility of war..........
"There are certain rules about a war, and rule number one is: 'Young men die.' Rule number two is: 'Doctors can't change rule number one."
You have a good point. Maybe he should have said "the tragedy of war."
I always felt badly for McLean Stevenson after "Abyssinia, Henry". He was leaving M*A*S*H, and that was hard enough without the death of his character. I also feel the death of Col. Blake contributed heavily to Wayne Rogers' decision to leave right afterward.
Daniel, that's a good point. I was told, part of the reason is, that they couldn't deal with Alan Alda's arrogance and controlling nature. Of course, I'm not sure. It's probably not the case. This is what I was told.
@@videonut11 actually Wayne and Alan were good friends, they used to drive to location together. They have both said this. Wayne left because he could make more money as a business man than an actor
@@gerrydooley951 I read where Wayne Rogers did make his fortune in business. In the National Enquirer, of all newspapers. That's right.
@@videonut11 National Enquirer= the original internet
@@gerrydooley951 Yes. We all knew Nat Enq was mostly made up and never took it seriously. The Internet is half true and half lies. Now each person has to figure out what is real and what is fake.
Raad.....yes sir ? Dont do that Radar ... No sir ! What am i signing ? Err , just where you forgot to sign earlier sir ,but left a cross instead ...oh ! Smilesville ... Brilliant acting with the most sublime timing possible .
Larry just wanted the show to be realistic and during war planes got shot down all the time, but on the other hand the cast probably wanted a happy ending for McLean's Henry and when they found out he wasn't going to make it home they were devestated.
The ending was completely unrealistic. The North Korean air force had no ability to project power across the Sea of Japan. A grand total of zero planes were shot down on the route between between Seoul and Japan.
www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Korean%20War%20Air%20Losses%20Updated_1.pdf
They left him no option to return.
Idk. His plane got shot down over the sea of Japan? At that point in the war?
From pretty early on the MIGs used by the communists were only operating in the Northwest corner of the Korean Peninsula. This way they operate from airfields in China where the U.N. could not destroy them on the ground. They wouldn't be out in the middle of the Sea of Japan fishing for some random american plane because they knew they were much more likely to simply lose their own plane that way for little to no tangible benefit.
By the time Blake would have been eligible to ship out the MIG pilots didn't even come near the now-DMZ.
Some U.N. reconnaissance planes were shot down over the sea but that was, again, fairly close to China where Blake's plane had no reason to be.
The navy on the north korean side would be even less likely to shoot down a plane going back to the states as it was totally boxed in. Look at a map of Korea and Japan..they would have flown south or directly east, far away from north korea and China to get to Japan through airspace and waters that were totally controlled by the U.N. and Japan.
@@user-yy3gm2ub2i So, Henry lives?
One of the biggest career mistakes in the history of show business. Ego's get ya every time.
Very True. I always think of David Caruso leaving NYPD Blue thinking he was a lock to be a movie star. EGO.
Shelly Long’s career was spotty after Cheers.
Although EGO didn't seem to hurt Alan Alda's career. In fact, after Wayne Rogers left it seemed to be the Alan Alda show! Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, and David Ogden Stiers were nice additions to the show but, the message was clear in the killing of McLean's Character. Tread lightly!!! Hollywood is made on ego, broken dreams, and tears in the stream! And just like almost everything in life driven by choices and decisions. That's Entertainment!
McLean made the show its first three seasons, as far as I’m concerned. One of the best actors on MASH. I always preferred both him and Wayne Rogers to Alan Alda.
McLean might have had a better post-MASH career if he tried to do some dramas. There are several scenes in MASH that prove he had the talent for that.
Maybe. I don't think the public would have accepted him in a drama. It seemed (to me, anyways) that he was always on the verge of laughing, almost like Paul Lynde in a way. Some of his comedy moments on MASH were pure gold, like the episode where he's giving the staff a lecture on the perils of VD.
he did have this older Henry Fonda feel to him. I think you're right. But very likely those roles were never offered to him
No way could I pick a favorite. There were so many funny ones. 😂Time to break out the dvd set again.😂@@jamesanthony5681
@@jamesanthony5681 Well we all know how those short lived comedy shows he did after MASH worked out. He really couldn't of fared worse doing drama.
He should have stayed, he wasn't as popular a star as he thought, and his post MASH gigs were less than successful. Oh well, tv history is full of actors that thought they were the big cheese only to find out they weren't. Still his work in MASH is stellar.
Not a lot of ensemble players really made it big completely away from the character they played in their original show. I can think of Howard Hessman being successful in "Head of the Class" after "WKRP." No one from MASH. Maybe Ted Danson in "Becker" and Danny DeVito in "Always Sunny"? Tony Danza in "Who's The Boss"?
I actually thought I'd come up with more, easily.
His character was killed off.
I remember I was a kid when this episode first aired. I was watching it with my parents. When Radar announced Henry Blake's death being shot down and no survivors, my mom was shocked!! She didn't cry, she was more appalled! She said something like "this show was supposed to be a comedy not a tragedy!! "
There was some kind of tragedy in EVERY single episode!
@@mauertal not in the first few seasons
@@sureshmukhi2316 In the first seasons are no wounded soldiers? Indeed....that must be a funny Mash in a ongoing war!
@@mauertal i mean it was not a tragedy in the sense that someone died or there was some emotional stuff. It was for the most part a comedy.
@@sureshmukhi2316 In the "US-Version" they put those "background-laughter" in........in the German-Version not! So everybody could decide, what to laugh about and what not!
Wow, I remember watching this when it premiered as a kid, I was about 9-10. It was pretty shocking.
I remember my mom later saying that she read how the network wanted it so he couldn't come back. I told my fifth grade teacher that, and he said it was just to show the horrors of war.
Nice to see 50 years later that my mom read correctly!
I also like how after almost that long someone finally found the bit Stevenson did where he was in a lifeboat in his Col. Blake gear shouting "I'm ok, I'm ok!".
It was on Cher's variety show and it's here on RUclips someplace..
His version of what happened that day is nothing like the director's version of what happened. It would be interesting to hear someone else's take on it.
Actually Larry Gelbart collaborates Mclean's story They did say that he told them off to the side that Blake was going to die, but they did not tell them HOW the death was to be written. In fact, Gelbart says the skeleton in Blake's office was actually a 'Easter Egg' if you will to show that if McLean ever left, his character was going to die.
ruclips.net/video/g3Rh2EkQWhw/видео.htmlsi=nr9A47PK9f-6FPku
We all see things differently through our own eyes.
This episode kills me everytime
Not as much as it killed Henry.
As a kid I was a huge MASH fan. It influenced me into joining the Navy and going into medicine. I admired his stumbling at times and how honest/vulnerable his character was. I learned a bit about humility and frailty. I knew it was acting but felt it relevant to my life. I teared up when his character was killed. But also that's what happens in war. If I could meet him today I'd thank him.
Now that’s one heck of a story! Life is real - sometimes even on a soundstage.
I once saw Mclean Stevenson on a flight from Chicago to L.A..
He was in first class and I was in coach and I could actually see him if I peaked around the rows of seats. And I saw him walking behind him when we were at LAX.. Cool guy.
One of my favorite actors from MASH .
The creators of MASH were pissed that Maclean Stevenson decided to leave the show and that's why they killed Henry Blake off. There was no chance of Henry returning.
That's actually the story I heard. I wonder which story was true?
How could he have returned? Why would a character who was discharged back home ever come back to a MASH in a war?
They could have had him discharged, promoted, transferred...to keep the door open..
@@diamonddog13I don’t remember if his tour was just done and he was being rotated back to the states. Not everyone that came home retires immediately vs going on to continue their military career particularly officers. Plus, the war wasn’t over when he left?
@DDELFIERRO He was a surgeon, not a career officer. The storyline was he got enough service points for honorable discharge.
My question would be “What were you thinking?
Love. McLean Stevenson ❤😊and. HENRY. BLAKE 🎉❤😊
I cried like a baby when it was announced that there wasn't any survivors.
I was really pissed when they killed Henry off . But now i understand their reasons because in war not everyone goes home alive.
as long as i live , that was the saddest moment on t.v.
Not the best career move for Stevenson. He pulled a real 'George Lazenby'!
How is it a "career move" when the writers killed off his character. It was not his choice.
To me MASH is seasons 1-3. That cast is what made the show brilliant. Nothing against Harry Morgan and David Ogden Stiers who played their roles well, but after Wayne and McLean (and then Larry after season 5), the show started its rapid decent. I can't even watch reruns after season 6 as its a shell of its former show.
I totally agree. It became a different show after Henry and Trapper left. The subsequent show was not a bad show, mind you, but it had been steered in a different direction and just wasn't the same. The original line-up was the best imo! :)
Same. I can tolerate Season 4 to a certain extent
Youre doing better than me. I cant get past the first three seasons when it was poking fun at the ludicrousry of the army ..... "This was a great war, 'till you guys showed up!!".... but after season 3 it became an advertisement FOR the army ....
And I don't care for the earlier ones as much as the ones with Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell and David Ogden Stiers .
There is a reason *Family Guy* chose to parody Henry Blake’s farewell when they devoted a cutaway to this show.
*Futurama* was even more pointed in its parody of the show in the episode where Leela pretended to be a man to enter the military; Dr. Zoidberg worked with a surgical robot called iHawk who had a switch between “irreverent” and “maudlin.”
I wasn’t even born yet when Colonel Blake died. Yet I cried like a baby when he did. What a shitty way to end a character.
One of the greatest scenes in television history.
I was a young person when the episode aired, and the scene was so realistic for me that I was convinced that McLean was terminally ill..
To all the characters who was on Mash that went home God Bless 🙏 to all rest in peace 😊
You’re praying for fictional characters?
I used to watch MASH reruns as a kid in the late 70s and 80s. It always aired around 5 PM on one of our local stations. This was one of the more memorable episodes.
saw the episode for the first time just last night, definitely didnt expect the death
I think it was to add shock and a dramatic flair to the episode. Like someone said in the previous comment, what are the odds that someone who got discharged from the service, would return to the same outfit...Would be unrealistic.
The producers really blackballed McLean Stevenson when he wanted to leave the show. His career never recovered. But I loved him in MASH, so sweet and funny.
It just goes to show you how ego can ruin a career of someone. What a terrible decision McLean Stevenson made by leaving the show thinking he was the best and most talented person on MASH for his own show. What a bomb, "Hello, Larry" was! If he would of just stayed on the successful MASH and just understand that Alan Alda was the main person on the show, and just accept it, he would of been around for a long time...instead McLean just went to the game show guest career and small, non important parts. What a waste because he did have talent.
"Hello Larry"
@@liquidmagma thanks. I know it was something Larry
He was stupid to leave after 3 years he should have stayed for 5 or 7 seasons.
Just like Shelley Long was stupid to leave Cheers.
Having Sam and Diane actually be married would have changed the dynamic of that show for the worse. TV was still considered lower on the Hollywood totem pole than the movies back then, despite all the attempts to make it more adult-centric.
Just like Pat Morita stupid to leave "Happy Days" for a mash-up sitcom with a girl from a popular pantyhose commercial to create "Mr T and Tina".
ruclips.net/video/mKD7wu4-Iw4/видео.htmlsi=OrABPbqh3gORcA5h
…and the show was never the same again.
it wasn't the same, but it was still great. it was just different. like real life sometimes
He’s got to put the whole interview up.
Some actors make small insignificant mistakes with their careers, others make catastrophic mistakes.
Like when Denise Crosby left Star Trek: The Next Generation after season one to pursue a movie career.
@@stevencramsie9172 Like when Suzanne Somers left Three's Company
Those who still criticize the decision to kill off Henry Blake are crazy. This was one of the most memorable moments in televsion history and took MASH to a different level. It became more than a sitcom at that point. Yes, Alan Alda's politics got in the way of episodes much later in the run and it did end up staying a little too long at the party(Season 10 and 11 were much weaker than previous seasons). But in my opinion the show remained great at least through Season 8 or 9. Whereas losing key cast members usually spells the death of most shows, the lifespan of MASH was greatly helped by the inspired way it replaced cast members. Instead of carbon copy characters to replace those who left, MASH went in the complete opposite direction with its replacements. Potter was completely different than Blake. Winchester was completely different than Burns. Trapper and Hawkeye were very similar characters in the early days. BJ was brought in and made a stable family man instead of a partying playboy to distinguish the character a little more from Alda's Hawkeye than Trapper had been. The only other show I can think of that was as successful in replacing departing cast members was Cheers, and for the same reason.
Well there was the episode of Winnie The Poo where they killed off Eyore- or am I remembering that wrong?
It felt personal, like the writers were mad at him for bailing.
Reason 5 - the network sent a message to any other actor that might leave a successful show that they were NOT coming back even if they begged to...
The saddest part was watching his career die after he left the show.
Makes sense. Stevenson left because he felt a need to pursue a broader range of stuff. It would have been ridiculous for him to do that and then cash in by playing a character that ‘they’ had created. So yeah, I get where the producers felt validated in that. And yeah, it did lend the show credibility as well as garner publicity.
I would think that all of them would have recognized the significance of having a beloved main character die in a show about war.
No TV sitcom about the military had the gall to kill off a major character before this point.
The key take away, it was the CBS lawyers did not want COL Henry Blake showing up in the future!
It was a brilliant choice of ending. Yes, I was shocked and upset, but what a finish!
I think the biggest loss would have been Klinger. In my opinion he held the show together when others left.
I didn't cry because it was a TV show. It wasn't real. I cry for real life people I've lost and love.
Mcleans ego changed the face of that show after only 3 yrs.
He seemed to cop an attitude. Buddy, it was your decision to leave and they frankly could’ve made you stay due to your contract. I also heard from other videos that the cast thought the last scene was a brilliant move. He always had a chip on his shoulder but I think he knew he made a huge mistake leaving MASH.
Exactly right, none of what he said is true about what he claimed Gelbart said at the moment the cast was told.
He was a supporting character (very important character) on a top shelf show. He should have been happy with that.
Very true. Just the way he smugly described the crew's clothing at the wrap party left me thinking what a d-bag he must have been.
Watching this show a PART of my days... -ret. Fed Gov't (USAF, Dept. Vet's Affairs)
After he left they didn’t hesitate about his replacement. The incredible job that Harry Morgan did as Steele ( 3 es not in a row), they call him right off.
Harry said he wanted it but had to call his agent since he was still under contract with another company. He called his agent and his agent said “hang up now, call them back before they call a second person. We’ll work it all out. A couple days later the contract was signed.
When asked about the possibility of Harry not taking the role they said we would’ve stated over .
i heard they killed him off because he felt he deserved more and wanted a show of his own much like charlie sheen
Curious to me is there’s no mention of his contract situation. Wasn’t it him who wanted out of the show ? Other searches suggest that strongly. Heart wrenching episode, yes. Context missing in this post.
He was so good as Colonel Blake and wrote the episode called the Trial of Henry Blake. Roger Bowen, who played Henry in the movie, died one day after McLean Stevenson.
Always liked him! A shamed they killed off! Season 1, 2, 3, was the best seasons of M*A*S*H. After Burns, Trapper, Radar left. The show went down hill after that. The show should had never
lasted 11 seasons anyway.
That's what I call great values and respect 🙏🏻👍🏻☝🏻👏🏻
Hell yeah
I found it odd that McLean didn't like the direction of his character, but he pretty much played the same Henry Blake type, a frustrated inept authority figure, in every subsequent series he tried.
He wanted to be the lead. Ego.
He was better off in supporting roles. Even Disney knew that which is why they had him playing second fiddle to a feline who wasn’t even from this planet, and in a film that also had Ken Berry and Sandy Duncan in it!
@@Attmay Exactly, but his ego could not handle that.
I really liked Henry Blake.
The best 3 seasons of M*A*S*H when he and Trapper were there.
That really shocked me when that happens.
After his exit, the show quickly turned into a trite sit-com where every character was witty and urbane. Those first years were brilliant; the other years bland and predictable.
I prefer the Potter years of M*A*S*H but I wish Mr Stevenson had one more season as mash only just started to find itself in the third season
What a shame it ended RIP Henry
I really wish he never left the show. It makes me so freaking mad 😢
Networks back then were so ruthless to creatives. You would have people that were seemingly out of touch with the world, audience, cast and crew that they would do things that would pit those that care about each other against each other. Reminds me of the nighttime talk shows. Execs can be such a fiasco to something that really does work well.
NBC is lucky to still be a thing after they put Jay Leno on at 10 o’clock.
I mean it was so shocking but so well done.
the show wasnt the same without him
The show also wasn't the same without Trapper John, too.
The way he describes it, it's like he was in that last scene. Obviously he wasn't.
He never did anything remotely as popular ever after
I remember when I was watching football and Howard Cosell announce that John Lennon had been killed. It reminded me of this episode of MASH. Just so shocking! I almost did not believe the announcement about John Lennon. Until I read the news paper the next day, I thought maybe
it was some sort of publicity for a new Album that he was soon to release.
Neither of those memories are as vivid in my memory as the moment I heard of Roberto Clemente's death. I truly disliked the Pirates for beating the Giants in the '71 playoffs. I was listening to the clock radio in my bedroom, and it was announced on the Top 40 station I listened to as a kid.
That's loyalty for you, nobody went to the party, whether anyone liked Blake compared to Potter is irrelevant, we each have our favourite people in any show, I didn't know this, they had the solidarity, support and love for each other, ALL were class actors and actresses
I read that no one knew what Radar was going to say to ensure the other characters' reaction would be genuine.
I can understand him not wanting to be overshadowed by Alan Alda,and wanting to have his own show,but every choice he made didn't pan out,the shows were crap,either cancelled after a few episodes,or barely got a second season. He essentially comitted career suicide by leaving MASH.
He should have never left, obviously.
I thought bumbling Henry had the best humor on the show and his interaction with Radar was great. Also Frank Burns and his interaction with Hot Lips was quite comical. Although the show was ok, it was never as funny after the changes.
I thought that Frank Burns's interactions with Hawkeye were extremely hilarious.
Nothing Last Forever.
McClean Stevenson later on in his career, admitted in an interview with Larry King, that he made a mistake leaving the series. His celebrity status took a hit as time went on. Especially with a failing series after MASH.
Not just one flop, but five consecutive flops between 1976 and 1988, and only one of them got a second season, but that was it, and it was largely because NBC was struggling to come up with any new shows that people would watch. Let’s be fair, though, *AfterMASH* flopped just as hard without him. And when Larry Linville played Florence‘s new employer on *Checking In,* the real Larry was even less successful than the fake one because that show only lasted a month. Yet that failure also reciprocally worked to the advantage of *227* because that eventually allowed Marla Gibbs to have a successful show playing another character.
The American public kept *Diff’rent Strokes, the Facts of Life, Gimme A Break!, Silver Spoons, Webster, Punky Brewster,* and *Small Wonder* on for years but drew the line here. Meanwhile, Punky’s real-life brother Meeno Peluce couldn’t even convince CBS to give the McLean-free *WALTER* a season. The 70s and 80s really were a take-what-you-could-get era for sitcoms, musicals, and cartoons. Thank God for *Family Guy,* the inevitable end result of boomer Hollywood trying to kill them all: a photogenic Gen X polymath saying “not so fast!”
It's a great and terrible episode. So happy for Blake then devastated for Blake.
You could have done “Henry Blake the Early Years”.
Of the MASH alumni that quit during the shows run, only Wayne Rogers had any level of acting success on House Calls. However, one can argue that Lynn Redgrave was the real star of that show. After she left the ratings collapsed and the series was quickly cancelled.
They were so mad that he was leaving and for what? Hello Larry? Big mistake his leaving and it really altered that show - they killed him to wipe him away and to let him know unequivocally he was done
The so he cannot use character in another show…was very true! As with the rest. Makes absolute sense.
Yup, remember Trapper John MD? and After Mash?
He will always be the poster child for career stupidity in the entertainment business. He left "M*A*S*H" for "Hello Larry". They killed his character off so that there was no possible way he could get back on "M*A*S*H". If he had just waited until the show ended, he could have easily had another hit show on his own, but due to how lousy "Hello Larry" was, his reputation as a major TV talent was destroyed. He had become a joke; he was laughed at behind his back.