Hey, they can't all be great. You need some lows to make the highs seem even more spectacular. Think of it in terms of a band: Not every release can be a greatest hits compilation. We need some album filler! Sure, some of those deep cuts might be cult favorites, but now and again, every band has a real clunker in their discography.

The same is true for TV shows.

We can't be relentlessly compelled every week. That would be torture! In a way, lots of series need low-stakes, little-remembered stories between the biggest and most impactful episodes. That way the stories that really matter have room for meaning. That's what makes a series dynamic.

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After the second season of M*A*S*H, Jamie Farr issued this ultimatum to the show's creators

However, to hear it from Alan Alda, M*A*S*H had at least one episode that was so unforgivably bad that he and his castmates were all but disowning it in real-time.

The episode in question, "Major Fred C. Dobbs," might not be a surprise in its derision amongst M*A*S*H's fanbase. Lots of people agree with Alda that this one is an all-time stinker. Specifically, the story deflates a lot of what that season was building toward. In the first batch of episodes, it's established that Hawkeye and Trapper John really dislike Frank Burns. Then, along comes episode 22, "Major Fred C. Dobbs," which sees Burns on his way out. Suddenly, Hawkeye and Trapper John are trying to prevent Burns from leaving. The whole thing just doesn't add up.

"There are a few all of us wish we didn't have to do because the idea didn't work," Alda told CNN. "The one about a gold Jeep was a low point."

Alda referenced the episode's ending when Hawkeye and Trapper John pass by Frank Burns in a gold-painted Jeep in one of the episode's too-silly subplots.