Steven Helmer Publications

As I continue my chronological re-watch of the series M*A*S*H , I find myself asking questions about the series I never thought to ask before. This includes "where did Frank Burns ( Larry Linville ) go when he lost command to Colonel Potter ( Harry Morgan )?" and "if Henry Blake ( McLean Stevenson ) was so loved, why wasn't his widow invited to the 4077th family party?" However, one unsolved mystery from the series really has stood out for me in particular - who was the thief? I am, of course, not referring to Ho-Jon ( Patrick Adiarte ), who was caught stealing in the season 1 episode I Hate a Mystery . Instead, I am referring to the thief (or gang of thieves) that strikes at various other times throughout the series, with the thefts including a camera, a bag of money, and even a wounded soldier's personal effects. While some of the items were eventually recovered, the thief was never caught. At first, it would be easy to assume the thief was an outsider. Af...

I've been spending a chunk of my free time re-watching episodes of the television series M*A*S*H in order. As I have done this and have been reminded of the various characters on the show (both starring and supporting), I've noticed several that had the potential to keep the series going in spin-off form. Yes, I am aware the show already had spin-off attempts, including AfterMASH and W*A*L*T*E*R (both failures). However, if used correctly, some of the characters mentioned below might have been successful. Nurse Meg Cratty - Even though she only appeared in two episodes and was played by two different actresses ( Hope Summers and Ann Doran ), the civilian nurse, who cared for pregnant Korean women and ran an orphanage, could have been a great subject for a spin-off series. The show, in addition to giving us a little more backstory about how she ended up in Korea doing what she did, could have focused on some of the challenges she faced - trying to find medical supplies and...