The Real Reason Loretta Swit Didn't Star In TV Shows After M*A*S*H

The long-running Korean wartime sitcom "M*A*S*H" is something of a workplace comedy, but since it was set in the 1950s and aired in the 1970s, most of the main characters are men. "M*A*S*H" follows the antics of the personnel of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, especially surgeons Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda) and his best friend B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell). 

Nurses are mostly secondary characters who exist only to serve as romantic interests for the guys, though head nurse Major Margaret Houlihan, played by Loretta Swit, gets to have a pretty fantastic character arc. Swit was responsible for helping to shape Houlihan into a more fully-realized character and even pitched her best story arc herself, leading to Margaret becoming one of the most compelling characters in the whole series. She even had enough agency to shoot down a proposed plot that would have seen Margaret put petty personal feelings ahead of her duties as head nurse, so it's surprising that following "M*A*S*H," Swit never really appeared in any other starring roles on television. 

Sure, Swit starred in the "Cagney and Lacey" TV movie that was spun off into a television series, but she was replaced by actor Meg Foster in the role of Christine Cagney because her "M*A*S*H" contract wouldn't allow her to leave for other shows. So after "M*A*S*H," one would think she would be anxious to take on other TV gigs, but instead, she opted for one-off roles and game show appearances instead.

In an interview with the Associated Press (via MeTV), Swit revealed why she was done with "M*A*S*H" (and would not be involved with the short-lived spin-off, "AfterMASH")

"I could have left at the end of the 1975-1976 season, but I was seduced by the material and seduced by the people. It's very seductive to stay on after ten years of marvelous scripts and the most congenial of people. But my word, it's time to move on. I want to start playing different characters, not the same one week after week."

After "M*A*S*H," Swit mostly appeared in made-for-TV movies like "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" in 1983 and "14 Going on 30" in 1988, and made fairly frequent appearances as a celebrity guest on game shows like "Match Game," "Win Lose or Draw," "Pyramid," and "Hollywood Squares." She also starred in five different episodes of "The Love Boat," though she was able to live her dream and play a variety of different characters. Only on "The Love Boat" could one actor play both a newlywed in a complicated love triangle and Miss Anoushka Mishancov, Commissar of Cruise Vessels for the Soviet Union. Good for her!

While "M*A*S*H" was groundbreaking and incredibly progressive for its time, it also could occasionally be frustrating in its treatment of women both onscreen and behind-the-scenes. It wasn't anything too unusual or horrible, but Swit wasn't given the same level of control over her career as her male counterparts, and that's a real bummer. She also had a pretty major disagreement with the show's writers about Margaret's ending, as she couldn't imagine the Major taking a cushy stateside appointment when there was another war right around the corner. 

"M*A*S*H" is a brilliant series made all the better by its incredible cast, and Swit was an integral part of bringing the 4077th to life. If Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) was the show's heart, then Margaret was its spine. Swit had all of Margaret's backbone and then some, and she deserves some recognition for her role in making "M*A*S*H" all that it was.