Season finales can be a hit or miss among fans, andM*A*S*H premiered its Season 3 finale 51 years ago, which led to an outpouring of complaints from devoted fans. The controversial finale is still highly talked about for the reveal of what happened to one of its beloved characters.
The war comedy-drama was a TV success when it originally aired in 1972 and was created by Larry Gelbart. It was based on the first original spin-off series adapted from the 1970 film of the same name, and the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker. By Season 3 of the series, fans grew attached to its leading characters like Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers as surgeons Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Trapper" John McIntyre.
During the finale of the season on March 18, 1975, M*A*S*H fans said goodbye to Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson) in "Abyssinia, Henry."
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While characters come and go, how M*A*S*H handled the characters' departure is what got fans heated and going against CBS and 20th Century Fox. Radar O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) is informed that Colonel Henry has all the requirements to be discharged from the army and head home.
The episode shows Colonel Henry phoning his family about the good news, and an emotional moment where Radar reveals to his comrade that he saw him as a father figure. He gifts Colonel Henry an engraved Rolex as a parting gift, and a party is later thrown in his honor, where the main characters gift him a tailored civilian suit to go home in.
Radar and Colonel Henry have another emotional sendoff, but it's later revealed by a shaken Radar that his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan and there were no survivors. "Abyssinia, Henry" with a montage of the character throughout the three seasons.
The character's death was reported to have caused over 1,000 letters from fans either in support or hating the finale. Many felt Colonel Henry's death was "cheap," and Reynold's received personal letters from fans vowing to never watch the series again. At first, producers Gene Reynolds and Gelbart wrote handwritten letters explaining their decision that ties into the series's overall reality of war.
The M*A*S*H Season 3 finale also didn't sit well with executives, with CBS and 20th Century Fox openly showing their distaste for the character's sudden death. They even went as far as to air reruns of the episode without the final scene.
Stevenson ultimately left the series to pursue other interests, and his departure was announced before the episode aired. After the finale aired, he even appeared on an episode of Cher, parodying the plane crash that killed his character.
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