Movies - TV
The Creator Of M*A*S*H Had Regrets About The Way Frank Was Written
By VALERIE ETTENHOFER
In its eleven-season run, "M*A*S*H" was one of the best-written shows on television. The Korean War-set sitcom effortlessly blended genres in a way that was rare for its time.
However, creator Larry Gelbart admitted that Frank Burns, played by Larry Linville, got the worst of the writers' work later in his run.
Frank often served as the uncool, status-quo-keeping counterpart to Hawkeye. Frank was at once pompous and pathetic, and he was a brown noser who was always found in the wrong.
In the show's later seasons, Frank went from a terrible force of political opposition against the show's more liberal characters to a bit of a more broadly written loser.
When addressing his regret for Frank, Gelbart once admitted in an interview with Ed Solomonson, "I'd have made Frank a little less silly." He called Frank "just lazy writing."
While other characters grew and changed, he stayed the same until he left the show in season 5. Frank's one-dimensionality is often cited as why Linville didn't renew his contract.