Do You Remember ‘AfterMASH’? How to Watch the ‘M*A*S*H’ Spinoff
Most fans remember the emotional finale of M*A*S*H, but many may not remember the interesting spin-off series that followed. On Sept. 26, 1983, CBS reunited Colonel Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan), Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr) and Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) for AfterMASH.
Despite its familiar faces and strong start, the series disappeared after two seasons and remains surprisingly difficult to find today. On Reddit, fans were wondering where you could watch the show, so we dug into the Internet to find out.
What was AfterMASH about?
Set in 1953 after the Korean War, AfterMASH followed the characters as they tried to adjust to life back in the United States. Potter returned home to Hannibal, Missouri, but quickly discovered that retirement did not suit him. He became chief of staff at General Pershing Veterans Hospital in the fictional town of River Bend, Missouri.
Klinger returned to America with his new wife, Soon-Lee Klinger (Rosalind Chao), and eventually accepted a job as Potter’s clerk. After undergoing surgery that restored his hearing, Father Mulcahy joined them as the hospital chaplain. Potter’s wife, Mildred, was played by Barbara Townsend in the first season and Anne Pitoniak in the second.
Which M*A*S*H characters returned?
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Morgan, Farr and Christopher were the three main M*A*S*H stars who continued with the new series, while Chao reprised her role from the original show’s finale. Gary Burghoff returned as Radar O’Reilly for a two-part first-season story, and Edward Winter made a second-season appearance as the always-paranoid Colonel Flagg.
Original M*A*S*H creator Larry Gelbart also returned to help develop and write the sequel. Several other writers and producers from the original series worked on AfterMASH, including longtime producer Burt Metcalfe.
It Was Not a Flop at First
AfterMASH began with an impressive audience, likely coming from the popularity of M*A*S*H. Its premiere ranked first for the week, and the show finished its first season at No. 15 in the Nielsen ratings. CBS renewed it for a second season, although the network also ordered several changes to its cast and format.
The series even received some award recognition. The first-season episode “Fallout” followed Potter and Dr. Gene Pfeiffer (Jay O. Sanders) as they treated a veteran with leukemia connected to his exposure to atomic testing. Gelbart received an Emmy nomination for directing the episode.
Why was AfterMASH canceled?
For its second season, CBS moved AfterMASH to Tuesday nights opposite NBC’s popular action series The A-Team. The show was also retooled, with several characters replaced and Klinger returning to women’s clothing while trying to convince people that he was mentally unfit to stand trial. Ratings fell sharply, and CBS canceled the series in October 1984, less than a month after it moved into its regular second-season time slot.
Gelbart later acknowledged in an interview with the Television Academy that the show had taken the wrong approach and should not have been treated primarily as a comedy. Morgan was even more direct. “AfterMASH just never worked,” he told the Newspaper Enterprise Association, according to MeTV, adding that repeated attempts to fix the series, including cast changes, did not help. Its reputation did not improve with time. In 2002, TV Guide ranked AfterMASH No. 7 on its list of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time.
Did AfterMASH get a real finale?
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
Thirty-one half-hour installments were produced, but only about 30 were broadcast in the United States. The final unaired episode, titled “Wet Feet,” was scheduled to air on May 31, 1985, but CBS pulled it at the last minute. It was not intended to serve as a proper series finale, so the characters’ stories were left without a real conclusion.
Where can you watch AfterMASH?
Unfortunately, AfterMASH is not currently available through an official streaming service in the United States. As of July 2026, there are no streaming platforms for the series, while Reelgood reports that it is unavailable to stream, rent or buy. It has also never received an official VHS or DVD release.
Old off-air recordings have appeared on YouTube and other websites, but these uploads are unofficial, and the picture quality varies. DVD-R sets sold by third-party websites are not official studio releases.
Tell us in the comments what you think about AfterMASH!
Sadly, Loretta Swit has just died, but what have Hawkeye, Radar, Hunnicutt, and the rest been up to?
Remind 
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘80s? See what your favs are up to now!
Buy This Issue