M*A*S*H-ish 15: AfterMASH Season 2 Press Kit

In the era before email, widespread internet, and social media, television networks had to provide physical media to the press to advertise their fall lineups. Twentieth Century Fox Television and CBS were no different, so when new shows premiered or new seasons were about to begin, entertainment reporters were bombarded with press releases and press kits for the fall lineup. Of course, I love this because that means I can preserve this material, and this week, we look at a press kit for AfterMASH. When M*A*S*H ended in February 1983, there were already plans for AfterMASH, and season one of the series was highly anticipated by fans since the series would not only include three of M*A*S*H‘s principal actors, but it also retained M*A*S*H‘s Monday night time slot. The first few episodes of AfterMASH did well in the ratings, however, by the middle of the season, it struggled. For season two, several changes were made to the series in an attempt to win back the audience, but it didn’t work. The series was cancelled before all of the episodes filmed for the second season aired. Despite the lackluster ratings, Fox did try to bring attention to the show with this season two press kit.

I have previously written about two M*A*S*H press kits for season ten and season eleven, and this press kit is very similar. It contains information about the series and photos of the primary cast members. However, there aren’t as many photos and color slides as you’d expect or see in M*A*S*H material. Which suggests that they cut back due to the series’ failing popularity. This AfterMASH season two press kit includes:

• 10 – Biographies of the primary cast members (and producer Burt Metcalfe)
• 5 – 8″ x 10″ Photos (black & white)
• 4 – Pre-written, “human interest” articles about the cast members
• 4 – Color slides
• A document with descriptions for each of the color slides (by Chuck Panama)
• An AfterMASH Season two fact sheet
• A multiple page set of production notes

The primary focus of the press kit were the changes to AfterMASH for season two, and there were several. In the first season, the producers replaced the young, fresh doctor Gene Pfeiffer (Jay O. Sanders) with war veteran Dr. Boyer (David Ackroyd). Then, over the break between seasons, two other cast changes were made. The hospital administrator Mike D’Angelo (John Chappell) was replaced by Wally Wainwright (Peter Michael Goetz). The new character was completely different and lost some of the charm of D’Angelo. They also replaced the actress who played Mildred Potter with Barbara Townsend being replaced by Anne Pitoniak. For season two, they made Mildred less intelligent and the butt of several jokes. She was no longer the Mildred that Col. Potter talked about on M*A*S*H.

But that wasn’t even the worst change they made. The worst case of character assassination in AfterMASH was with Klinger. The first season began with a more compelling storyline as Klinger struggled to adjust to life back the United States. Things were complicated by the fact that he was married to a Korean, and they found it difficult to find housing in his beloved Toledo. That is what brought him to General Pershing Hospital to work with Col. Potter. At the end of the first season, the writers took things too far when they had Klinger assault someone and go on the run from the law. Things only got worse when the main storyline for Klinger in season two was him wearing dresses and pretending to be crazy again before his trial. In the Army, Klinger wearing dresses to try to get out of a war made a certain amount of sense. After all, who wants to be in a war? But having Klinger wear dresses to avoid punishment for a crime he did commit was not amusing, and it was insult to Klinger, his pregnant wife, Soon-Lee, and to fans of the series.

Press kits are very enjoyable to read through because you can feel the excitement of your favorite show returning in the fall. Sadly, this was not the case with AfterMASH before its second season. This proved to be true as the show’s season two ratings were worse than the ratings at the end of season one. AfterMASH had strong writers, including Larry Gelbart, M*A*S*H‘s producer Burt Metcalfe, and three primary cast members from M*A*S*H, but they could not make it work. All of the parties involved have looked back at AfterMASH and admitted that the concept for the series was a mistake. Personally, I thought the first half of the first season was pretty good, and I really liked the episode “Fallout” (01×11). Gelbart wrote the episode, and it was nominated for an Emmy Award. Unfortunately, as the ratings slid, they struggled to find storylines that could bring audiences back. Seeing Klinger in dresses in the United States was not appealing and likely hurt the show more than it helped. It is nice to see that as season two was about to begin, however, that Fox and CBS did have hope that AfterMASH might find an audience again.