I'm one of many who tuned in,in Sept. of 1983 to watch this series sequel and help it at least get to #15 in the '83-84 ratings. It wasn't a horrible idea but it wasn't the best of ideas either. I will not blast AfterMASH for it's failure to live up to "M*A*S*H but what I will say is that when a TV series,or movie series or a music act is popular for a long time,it has it's own time and place and when it's over it literally is the end of an era. M*A*S*H debuted in the midst of Vietnam,soon to be Watergate and just a time in America when things were upside down. At the end in 1983,all of that was over (supposedly). AfterMASH is among the many failed sequel shows like: "Golden Palace"(Golden Girls), "The Sanford Arms"/"Sanford"(Sanford & Son), "Three's A Crowd" (Three's Company) and "Joey"(Friends). Simply,enough is enough the first go 'round.The plot lines and writing were very much like the old show and the drama was first rate but AfterMASH lacked a very important ingredient a "star" name. Morgan,Farr & Christoher were famous "yes" but they are and always will be "character" actors. They were great on M*A*S*H but they didn't have enough name or "pull" to attract the numbers M*A*S*H racked up. What also never helps is network tampering. I could be wrong about the show,maybe being successful... and maybe it would have been if not for stupidly placing it against "The A-Team" (if Happy Days couldn't win,what chance would a new show have?). Then,dumping actors (especially a different Mildred in Season 2!) and the old ploy of "special guest star from the original series." I did like the show with Radar and was glad to see him no longer a virgin and dealing with a real issue. In the end,the plot with Klinger on the run from the police for belting a guy was just like,"What's the big deal about punching a guy who deserved it?" I also got tired of Sunn Lee saying .."but Max,our baby doesn't have a name!" I thought,well just name the kid already!As for the results next season,some good shows...especially the final appearance of Col. Flagg at Klinger's court trial,but the damage was done. It may have hurt the actors when it was pulled but for me,well,I simply moved on to the 80s sitcoms I was already watching. Not as deep or poignant but heck,the 70s were long gone. Five stars,it was painless to watch but better for all after the curtain finally fell. (END)

To be fair, I didn't see a lot of this show. Probably because it wasn't as good as the original M*A*S*H, but I seem to recall them moving it around on the weekly schedule. Some shows just aren't worth the trouble of following around every week. But I really did try at first, so it wasn't all bad. Maybe I just kept expecting it to improve, but I can't give this show a 1. In all honesty, I can't give it any more than a 2 either.It wasn't MASH (I'm not going to type those stupid *'s every time). And it was trying to be MASH without putting forth any effort, like it would just magically happen. Well guess what? No magic. The best I can do here is to compare it to other shows.Trapper John, M.D. was a much better show by far. However, they should have called it B.J. Hunnicut, M.D. because Pernell Roberts looked exactly like an older BJ, but nothing at all like Trapper John. Keep everything else the same, just change his name and the name of the show. Presto! After MASH wasn't the only sequel to completely bomb and dishonor the original. Archie Bunker's Place was a lame follow-up to All In The Family. It had no heart, no conflict, no depth – all of the things that made All In the Family so memorable. Likewise, MASH was funny because the doctors were reacting to the impossible absurdity of war. Remove the war and you remove the drive for 99% of the humor. Potter can't yell at Klinger for wearing a dress, because Klinger isn't wearing a dress, because he's not trying to get kicked out of the Army, because he's already out of the Army, because the war is over. (breathe) All of the jokes became forced because there was no motivation for anything. The least motivated was the viewer, to stay around and watch the show.And from what I remember, the whole show seemed to be Potter, Klinger, and Mulcahy just standing there unnaturally, facing the audience like a trio of Vaudeville performers. It was reminiscent of Good Times, where they spent 90% of the show standing behind that couch and talking to the audience, trying to make it look like they were having natural conversation. They weren't. And it felt even less natural on After MASH.Another random tidbit I recall is that the people who made MASH never got any royalties from the spin-off. The studio used the absurd excuse that After MASH was really a spin-off of the movie MASH (which they owned) and not the TV series. Nice try, but Mulcahy was the only one of the three in the movie, and he was never deaf. I guess studio execs will do anything for a buck. Anything other than make a worthwhile sequel, that is.

It would have a perfect ending to M*A*S*H all the characters in civilian lives B.J. and wife Peg and daughter in suburban San Francisco Hawkeye crab~backed in his practice in Crabapple cove Maine Iron nurse Margaret Hoolehan in the big city hospital and severe but gentle Col.Potter and of course Maxwell Klinger! a fine 2 night special it would have made but hollywood turned it into a series after the war Klinger wanted to leave Toledo due to the constant prejudgice to his mixed marriage to his Korean beloved Soon~Lee and the economic decline of Toledo he got a stop~gap job as a bookie to raise funds to move to California he was however, arrested and was on his way to jail for six months he talked the judge into letting him go free because of his troubles and the promise of a job in Long Beach, California far far away from Toledo a letter from his job connection Colonel Potter with train fare enclosed convinces a rather reluctant and prejudiced judge to allow Klinger 24 hours to get of town so he and Soon ~lee hightail it to California mostly the show lacked that certain something to make it interesting and sustainable it was a wearying and tension filled show the only interesting dramatic was the relationship between clerk Klinger and office manager Alma Cox it was a replication of the subordinate Klinger to female authority figure Houlihan role Alma Cox had none of Margaret Houlihan's competence, intelligence, or kindliness but she did have Houlihan's overbearing bossiness and her own innate bigotry, pettiness, and viciousness the show also had Father Mulcahy as the chaplain at Veteran Hospital where they all worked I don't recall if he recovered his hearing though

I don't think the series 'After M*A*S*H' was made to 'cling onto M*A*S*H's former glory' thats just bull. I think that people wanted a continuing story. They wanted to know what did happen when they returned. We know nothing compares to the original M*A*S*H but sometimes people just want an ending. And not just an ending of the 'war'.