The TV series was based on real events largely drawn during the Korean War, and it was made to look as authentic as possible. In many ways, it was successful at this, but a closer look around the set would gradually reveal a bric-a-brac of inconsistencies.
Like, say, why would an army officer be loafing around the base in a pair of sneakers? Of course, these were shot at an angle to hide the fact. Actors liked to wear sneakers because of their comfort. They didn’t wear real soldier boots because it would be too loud around the set which, by the way, had aluminum cans, a pinball machine in the officer’s club; and a whole host of things that weren’t actually available during the depicted period.
Captain “Trapper”
Wayne Rogers, who played Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre, was one of those fan favorites in the M*A*S*H TV series. He was certainly important, with the business aspect of things considered, for being a factor for sales pull. However, legal trouble loomed when he declared that he intended to quit the show.
Management quickly threatened to sue for breach of contract, and they probably would have succeeded, except for one tiny hiccup: it turns out Rogers hadn’t signed a contract with them in the first place. He had originally been approached to play Hawkeye Pierce but wasn’t keen on how cynical the character was. He was offered the role of Trapper instead, but never actually put pen to paper. While the pair were supposed to have equally important roles, Rogers became increasingly bothered by the gradual increase in importance Alda’s character was given by the writers. In the end, he felt the integrity of the book the series was inspired by had been compromised and, with no contract pinning him down, was able to easily bow out of his role.
Is there a Nurse in the House?
In a setting regularly filled with doctors and patients, expect the number of nurses to be plentiful. M*A*S*H installed many of them in various episodes, some with speaking parts, others stashed in the background, a backdrop of non-speaking roles. The presence of nurses made the show look real, but none of the nurses would stay long in unpromising roles.
Because the nurses never played vital roles, writers started to give them names from Ham operators and the military, from phonetic alphabets, like Nurse Charlie. Actress Kellye Nakahar was frequently credited for her role as Nurse Kellye. She was also Nurse Able. Since she stuck longer than most, she eventually even had a speaking part in Season 11.
McLean Stevenson's Grim Departure
While the writers of M*A*S*H were banging their heads to come up with a consistent creative stream, life up and got stranger than fiction. After McLean Stevenson grew tired of the political power-play between the writers and the cast, he decided to leave and try his luck elsewhere.
He wasn’t so fortunate after M*A*S*H though and eventually passed away in 1996 due to a heart attack. Meanwhile, Roger Bowen, who appeared in M*A*S*H back in 1970, also died that same year of the same ailment. In an extra eerie coincidence, they both died within a day of each other.
Happy Ending
With the TV series struggling badly after its first season, no-one would have thought it would reach as far as it did. Even Alan Alda hadn’t moved his family to Los Angeles, and for a valid reason. They were so close to being canceled by CBS that first year. Yet, during their final episode, which aired on February 28, 1983, they broke television records, reaching 106 million viewers. The previous record had been held by none other than the Super Bowl, showing just how absolutely incredible this feat truly was.
The finale was titled “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.” It ran for two and a half hours, making it the equivalent of five regular episodes, with Alan Alda multi-tasking from acting, directing, and steering its creative process.