Notoriously known for being a series that lasted longer than the actual Korean War it was depicting, it can be hard to say that M*A*S*H overstayed its welcome, simply because fans loved the series so much.

By the time the series said goodbye, it had been on the air for a little over ten years. If M*A*S*H was a child, it would have been in the fifth grade and learning long division by the time the finale rolled around. 

While great writers and an amazing cast are the perfect ingredients for a wonderful series, it's not necessarily surprising that as the series progressed, good plotlines became more and more difficult to unearth as more and more ground was covered.

Moreover, as M*A*S*H took place in a fairly isolated setting, there wasn't any hope for relocations to spice things up. So, as time went on, more and more brain power was spent to come up with interesting and engaging themes and episode arcs.

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M*A*S*HAlan AldaKellye Nakahara

Kellye Nakahara credited Alan Alda with helping her expand the character of Nurse Kellye on M*A*S*H

It was a shift that did not go unnoticed by the cast members. In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Harry Morgan, known as Colonel Potter, remarked, "There was a feeling they were scraping the bottom the last couple of years. Good stories were harder and harder to come up with, and they were starting to repeat themselves." 

Still, Morgan wasn't attempting to find fault with the writers. Rather, he was sympathizing, as he shared their love for the series. He continued, "The whole thing was so delicious that we all felt lucky to have another week. It was a basketful of goodies."

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