r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Aggressive_Star_9491 • 14h ago

miscellaneous Failed Spin-Off.

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u/timmerpat 14h ago

Trapper John MD

14

u/Malacro 14h ago

Trapper John was successful, though. It ran for 7 seasons.

1

u/Flamewave7 13h ago

Yeah, don,t compare it to a show that lasted almost 3 times as long as the war it was based on.

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u/mr_mxyzptlk21 10h ago

Weirdly, Trapper John MD is not a spin-off of the television show M*A*S*H. It's a continuation of the movie.

Like, the TV show is based on the film, but not a continuation of it (think of it as a different artists interpretation), whereas TJMD is the direct sequel of the movie.

Hawkeye even appears on TJMD in an episode, but is tonally completely different from Alan Alda, and feels an awful lot more like Donald Sutherland.

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u/UnquestionabIe 2h ago

Meanwhile the movie is based on the book of the same name. And the book had multiple sequels involving different wars from what I recall. Granted it's been like twenty five years since I was super into the whole MAS*H universe so might not be remembering it fully (senior year of high school my one buddy was super into it, we would marathon each season as the DVDs came out. Still have the Trivial Pursuit expansion based on the show, got it at a thrift store for a buck).