MASH was a good show the first few years. McCleen Stevenson(sp?) and Wayne Rodgers left because Alan Alda insisted on approving the scripts and kept wanting the good lines, and most of the attention. This is openly acknowledged by some who were on the show. Mike Farrell(sp?)took over for Wayne Rodgers and knowing that Alda was "Mr. Sensitive" played up to him and the show got too preachy. They were fighting the Korean war but the comments were aimed at Viet Nam.
A crazy neighbor of mine said the Saturday night line up was a Catholic network because Carroll O'connor, Alda, Mary Tyler Moore and Newhart were all Catholic. How he found this out I don't know but it turned out to be true. Like I said, he was crazy.