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RIP Trapper John, M.D. (TV Version)

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by qtlaw, Jan 25, 2010.

  1. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    On one of those MASH reunion shows I remember them saying they were upset at the network about something a year or two after Trapper John left the show. To stick it to the network they were going to have Hawkeye get a letter from home saying that Trapper John had been killed in a car crash (of course they were planning this during the first season of "Trapper John MD". The network caught wind of it and forced them not to do the episode.
     
  2. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    Why did Wayne Rogers leave M*A*S*H, anyway?
     
  3. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    I always found it interesting that they had "Trapper John M.D." set in San Francisco, when BJ Hunnicut was actually from the Bay Area.
     
  4. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    IIRC, he wasn't pleased with the money they were offering, and of course the underlying reason was that he felt the series was focusing a little too much on Hawkeye instead of being an ensemble.
     
  5. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Damn good decision by Wayne Rogers![/shelleylong]
     
  6. To his credit, he did say "If I had known it would run that long, I probably would have kept my mouth shut and stayed put."

    But, the man is almost a billionaire based on his investment decisions.
     
  7. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Don't know why I remember "Arnie", but I do.

    Vaguely remember one episode where he was going to work but had nothing in his briefcase. Someone had the great idea to put a brick inside to make it look like he had a lot of work.

    He's standing by the window with the brick in his hand . . . someone enters the room and startles him, and Arnie fumbles the brick out of the window.

    A little later, Hamilton Majors Jr. is wheeled into the office, bitching about some idiot who threw a brick out of a window that (of course) struck him.
     
  8. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    A little too much on Hawkeye?

    They should have just changed the name of the series to "The Alan Alda Show."

    Starring, written, directed, produced and executive-produced by creative consultant Alan Alda.
     
  9. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Actually, according to Wikipedia, TJMD was legally a spinoff of the original MASH movie, not the TV series. Therefore the TV series producers did not receive royalties.
     
  10. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    According to the ever-reliable Wiki, because of disputes with the TV show's producers, "Trapper John M.D." was supposedly a sequel to the movie, not the T.V. show.

    Not that Pernell Roberts looked any more like Elliot Gould than he did Wayne Rogers.

    Although they could have freaked the hell out of the TV audience by having Donald Sutherland do a cameo as Hawkeye, or Roger Bowen as an alive-and-well 65-year-old Henry Blake.
     
  11. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    The producers of the TV series were probably pissed because they considered Trapper John, M.D. to be a spinoff of the TV series. But a court found that Trapper John, M.D. was a spinoff of the movie and the TV producers got no royalties from it.

    I guess there's some logic in that ruling. In the original series of books, you could almost flip the personalities of Hawkeye and Trapper John around. I recall reading that this was why Wayne Rogers decded to quit. Basically, Alan Alda turned Hawkeye into the character Rogers was supposed to be playing.

    EDIT: Hell, look at those two responses above me. Great minds think alike. ;D
     
  12. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    Had no idea the Cartwrights were half-brothers.
     
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