Not that I have anything against Harry Morgan/Col Potter, but I wonder if they had kept Frank as CO after Blake's departure. With Less on scene time the producers could have little by little undo the silly aspects of the character which in part made Larry Linville quit the series.
shareLarry told TPTB at the end of S-4 that he wasn't renewing his contract and was leaving at the end of S-5; he said that he'd taken Frank as far and done as much with him as he could and felt it was time to move on.
The Frank I would've liked to have seen was the one who told Margaret he thought "a little youth might be nice for a change" and laughed with Hawkeye and BJ that "the convoy just took a direct hit." (S5.1, Margaret's Engagement.) IMO that was the one time when Frank was totally likeable and someone people could relate to; a shame they didn't carry that forward.
Once Larry Linville left, he took a lot of the funny with him.
shareI think they could have done a better job with Frank's character. They could have undone much of the Flanderization of Frank when Potter came on board. They could have had Potter appreciate Frank's efforts instead of condemning them the same way Henry and Hawkeye did, then Frank's whole character could have changed because of a little appreciation.
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I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
As Larry Linville once said, "What do you want? Alan Alda?"
shareThey could have had Potter appreciate Frank's efforts instead of condemning them the same way Henry and Hawkeye did, then Frank's whole character could have changed because of a little appreciation.
She became more human, but the damage had already been done. She shat on the enlisted men, especially Radar and Klinger. The banshee that she was, I don't think there's any coming back from that.
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I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
The scene of Frank on the phone with his mother when Margaret returns from Tokyo to announce her engagement is actually heartbreaking. His one line about Margaret just pretending to be his friend, "the way Dad used to," spoke volumes & really humanized Frank. That would have been a perfect departure point for a more 3-dimensional portrayal.
shareI would have liked to have seen Frank get some decent support and guidance from someone like Potter for example and actually succeed and in turn become less nasty and bitter about life.
I see Winchester as a more successful Burns, still an outsider to the clique and sometimes a butt of their jokes but not incompetent or childish either.
Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.
Let's go with your idea that Frank stays on as CO.
First of all, he will let it get to his head and keep on being the incompetent buffoon leader such as he was in the Mutiny hearing episode.
He would probably keep on moving the camp back and forth across the street every other day.
Ban alcohol.
And just keep on doing other things that would keep on making him hated by the camp.
Second, that is one less character as a surgeon. Then I guess we would have yet another invisible doctor or one who comes and goes, such as Spearchucker or Spaulding.
I just can't see how the OP idea would work.
They needed to bring in another permanent cast member to keep the flow going.
And Potter is almost like Burns with his disciplinary all army attitude. He isn't a moron and he isn't as strict but strict and righteous enough.
Let me know if I'm on your ignore list.
Thanx!
Basically I was just musing on how the powers that be might have had a chance to round off the absurdly comedic aspects of his character in a believable manner.With Frank out of the Swamp and off screen in the. COs office for 90 percent of the time they could gradually make him more human and less cartoon when we do see him or hear Radar complain about him.
shareI don't think Frank was meant to be anything other than what he was. If you look at the show as classic literature, Hawkeye was the hero, with Trapper and BJ as his sidekick. Frank and Hot Lips were the villains. That may sound strange, but within the context of the series, everything Hawkeye did was right and Frank was always wrong. The message was that authority was not always right and rules did not always make things better. To have Frank be more rounded and equal to Hawkeye would be like finding Darth Vader providing jobs and good health care for the galaxy.
I think the show started to lose steam in the fifth season, when Hot Lips got engaged and we lost the Burns/Houlihan team.
Thats a good point however before his Franks character was phased out I think it would have made a nice episode if a Frank went through a through a life changing ordeal and left the show a different person, a wiser and more understanding human being. That would have been good because that war changed so many lives mostly for the worse.
shareHey wordsatplaytoday -
You're on my ignore list.
You're welcome!
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot - than to open it and remove all doubt!
Hey roysfire,
Any chance that you meant "RELEVANT"?..... because there's no such word as "realivant" - and that squiggly red line underneath it when you typed it, should've clued you in!
IMO - there must be thousands of English Teachers in every corner of the USA & Canada who are mortified by what they read on the Internet, or if they've passed on - are rolling over in their graves.
Can anyone explain why SO many posters can't be bothered to use correct spelling? Is it "cool" these days, to come across as an ignoramus? I've only had a computer for a few months, and every site I've been on is fraught with illiterates - I don't understand it.....especially when your computer TELLS YOU that you've made a spelling mistake - wtf?
Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot - than to open it and remove all doubt!
I wonder what they'd say about your brutal butchering of he written word. I see you haven't had a computer long enough to realize that the absence of red squiggles doesn't mean what you've written is correct, candazbest.
If it is cool to come across as an ignoramus, you must be very cool. Please, enlighten us all with more of your wit and spelling critiques.
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I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
[deleted]
Thanks. That's what I expected.
ETA: I can't remember what that post was, but it was insulting, I guess. I don't remember who it was from, though.
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I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
I'm not sure if he should have remained the CO. I do wish he had stayed on the show. Of course, he couldn't have remained the same character. I think they could have changed him to be more like Winchester.
1. He could have inherited money making him rich.
2. Frank could have become a surgeon on par with Hawkeye and BJ. He could have dedicated himself, reading medical journals, books all the time, dexterity exercises etc....
3. He could have become interested in classical music.
Overall they did do a good job of keeping conflict going.
Col Potter wasn't the pushover Blake was and wasn't afraid to put Hawkeye in his place.
BJ wasn't as nasty or cruel as Trapper and at times disagreed with Hawkeye.
Winchester was a better surgeon than Hawkeye and wasn't afraid to say so
I think it would have been great if he had been a great CO, then when Colonel Potter arrived, he could have been put aside, and would really have had a reason to be miffed.
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I blame autocorrect.
You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.
The 4077 had a 97 percent survival rating so Frank could not have been downright atrocious. Frank in civilian life most likely was not a full blown surgeon but was able to perform certain minor procedures. Frank could have taken it upon himself to develop his skills rather than be defensive about his shortcomings.
shareI started watching the show from the beginning. Henry calls Frank a good surgeon about the 3rd or 4th episode. I they started calling him a bad surgeon toward the middle of season 1.
shareI always attributed Frank's direction as a character as laziness by the producers who would oversee development of the characters and the show. Frank was fairly in balance when the show began but devolved into a target for the counter-culture that came out of the 1960's. I agree that Potter should have found common ground with Burns when it came to exercise and following other regulations such as hair length. I can see where if the character was written more honestly that Linville still would have gotten bored as the show overall was not willing to grow. Tune in any episode and the theme will be "war is bad" (well, duh!), pro-military officers are ignorant and foolish, and rich people are not to be trusted at all. The show was never willing to examine any possible short coming with Hawkeye and his followers. Potter had promise when he first came as somebody who would see the merits of both sides but he soon took on the character of a substitute school teacher who had lost control of the class after being there 5 minutes. That his way of coping was letting the class clowns and instigators run the show taking the heat off of him.
shareThe show was horribly obnoxious and preachy.
It was hard to take, for me, and the characters were so black and white.
Which is why if the show was ever rebooted very little of the 1970's show would carry through to today. In all likelihood the problems with the show are the reason the show fell off of a cliff around the year 2000. Reruns drifted over to low rated networks and movies that updated the show never happened.
shareSounds right to me.
Shows like this were the beginning of the SJW thing we're seeing everywhere today.
Too simplistic and annoying.
It is what it is.