Loretta Swit got screwed.
The producers of MASH did not want to release Loretta Swit for Cagney and Lacey. Loretta played Cagney in the pilot movie and could have gotten the role for the series. Not even Alan Alda went to bat for her.
shareI fail to understand your reasoning regarding Alda. Alda wanted the whole thing (MASH) to go on status quo because he most likely feared cancellation of MASH if a couple of key defections took place. I would not expect Alda to go to bat for anyone except Larry Linville who I never thought Alda respected. But even there Alda would have been hesitant as Linville was gracious in terms of playing a strawman character. Fortunately, future actors learned from Swit and others so as not to agree to contracts that may not have been in their professional best interests.
shareAlda wasn't a producer. He had no say in what went on in terms of production, he was just a consultant. And as for Loretta, I agree, she WAS given the shaft. The producers had no problems letting Wayne, McLean, Larry and Gary leave (anyone notice the rhyming pattern there?) but when it came to Loretta, no way, Jose. Weird.
IIRC, all four of the men who left were at the end of their contracts (I know Frank and Gary were, and I think Wayne had only signed 1 year contracts); Loretta wanted out of hers and they wouldn't allow it.
I'm not defending TPTB and I know there's a long story behind the situation, but Loretta was their only female star; maybe they considered her irreplaceable, maybe it was sour grapes.
I would have liked to have seen her alongside Sharon Gless (love those brown eyes and blond hair.)
I'm not defending TPTB and I know there's a long story behind the situation, but Loretta was their only female star; maybe they considered her irreplaceable, maybe it was sour grapes.
It wouldn't have killed them to have a second female lead.
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It wouldn't have killed them to have a second female lead.
It wouldn't have but that is something they should have established early on in the series, like Hawkeye having a sidekick. By the time Loretta did C&L the show was in it's final seasons and it would have been too late to add another character, especially as it became the Hawkeye show by then.
I always wondered whether Loretta's ego would have liked a second female lead too. For a character nicknamed "Hotlips" I always thought it was odd that virtually every nurse was better looking than her.
Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it. share
and it would have been too late to add another character
Not necessarily. It's rare, but shows do tend to add new characters late in their run. Whether or not said characters enhance the show is a matter of opinion.
I always wondered whether Loretta's ego would have liked a second female lead too.
Probably not as long as Loretta got more screen time than her. I always pictured a second female lead for MASH as someone more relaxed and positive than Hot Lips. Someone subordinate to her, but NOT intimidated by her. Someone who was very sweet, but could really take care of herself. A young nurse who was idealistic, nurturing, but tough and competent in her work.
And best of all, she wouldn't NEED a man, so she would've be another of Hawkeye's love interests.
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Nurse Kelly was the closest to a second female lead on the show, it would have been good to see more stories with her in them or another nurse chosen to focus on. She had softness to her that Houlihan lacked. I always felt bored by Houlihan's "toughness" she was more like a brat throwing tantrums to me. Nurse Kelly also first tried to get Hawk's attention and failed but then when she did get it, she turned him down. So that would have been a good bit of tension there. The nurse Hawkeye couldn't pierce....
For a 24 minute show they probably thought they were already too heavy with regulars cast members and didn't want another one.
After Radar left they had room to add someone if they wanted to as they never replaced him with anyone else.
Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.
That's similar to what I always imaged. The second nurse would have Margaret's skilled professionalism as well as her compassion and empathy for the patients. Her views on war and the military would be similar Hawkeye's, but nothing serious would develop between them because the nurse would be happily married and stay that way.
shareIt wouldn't have killed them to have a second female lead.
This conversation has come up many times over the years; I agree with you. I thought at the beginning Dish was supposed to be the second lead: Margaret would be the hardboiled major and Dish the nurse friend to one and all and also the one the guys couldn't have.
I'm fuzzy on details, but I'm pretty sure that Loretta wanted out at the beginning of S-8 (7,9?) about the time Radar left. I've read 3 or 4 articles I Googled but none of them were specific. I know they didn't want Gary to leave and worked hard to get him to agree to return for those 2 s-8 episodes, but his contract expired and he wasn't willing to renew it. I think Loretta had 2 more years on her contract and they weren't willing to let her go. I wonder why she stayed to the end if she was that upset about it? share
Margaret would be the hardboiled major and Dish the nurse friend to one and all and also the one the guys couldn't have.
But, of course, they threw that out the window with that little scene in "Germ Warfare."
I know they didn't want Gary to leave and worked hard to get him to agree to return for those 2 s-8 episodes
Well, if they would've allowed Radar to "grow up" and stop being the naive little man-child he was, maybe Gary would've relented. I mean, the little boyish Radar was cute for a couple of seasons, but it got old by Season 6. That's one of the reasons I like Season 8 Radar, as he was more assertive, acerbic, and adult. THAT is the version of the character they needed.
I think Loretta had 2 more years on her contract and they weren't willing to let her go. I wonder why she stayed to the end if she was that upset about it?
Easy money to stay, I guess. Complacency.
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Actually in the early episodes Radar was more mature and grown but the change was in part Burghoff idea.
shareAlda was not a producer but no doubt he was deemed important by CBS during the late 1970's. I am sure all who were involved with MASH know that the show defied the odds by replacing three major characters without impacting the ratings. I think the feeling was that they were due to roll snake eyes if another major (no pun intended) defection took place. MASH was a money maker for CBS that nobody wanted to see coming to an end. As far as Rogers and Stevenson goes I am sure all the relevant partie knew that those two were unhappy and the policy typically was to let those kinds of actors go down the road. Linville was at the end of his contract and nobody considered Frank Burns vital to the show especially the way the last two years of FB played out.
shareMASH was a money maker for CBS that nobody wanted to see coming to an end.
Yeah, AfterMASH was definitive proof of that.
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It also may have had to do with where they were in their contracts. Linville, Rogers and Stevenson all left in '78, most likely after their first contract was up.
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Linville, Rogers and Stevenson all left in '78
No.
Rogers and Stevenson left in '75. Linville left in '77.
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Just going by what it says on the MASH IMDb page.
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Just going by what it says on the MASH IMDb page.
Well, it's WRONG. Some numbnuts must have changed it.
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I have caught some 'what the hell's' on this site. people are allowed to correct information, change information, do whatever and sometimes it is incredibly hard to add something and sometimes it isn't.
I remember having a hard time adding a tidbit I knew... I was watching tv and an old movie came on and I recognized it from a clip of a movie that Lois watches in the episode of Lois and Clark[new adventures of superman] Honeymoon in metropolis... I had a horrendous time trying to get that trivia bit in there and after literally 2 hours I gave up.
right now, you go to the imdb site for L&C new adventures of superman... they have the WRONG SUPERMAN GENRE showing in the clip box! it is a god damn scene from the Returns movie! complete with lois with long hair!! morons!
other times I added a quote or something and it 'took' fine.
Oh God. Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more.
OKAY, it's WRONG. THANKS for your CONTRIBUTION!
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
OKAY, it's WRONG. THANKS for your CONTRIBUTION!
You're a very bitter person. I'm thinking you must be having impotence issues.
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Give me your number and I'll send you a text that'll prove you wrong.
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
see my post above and it will explain the nuances of what happens when a site is created by random folk.
Oh God. Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more.
The 1978 date is to include "Our Finest Hour," though that was really just clips from previous episodes.
Brad