Theoretically, What If: A Permanent Bug Out?
According Ken Levine, by Season 7, the writers and producers of M*A*S*H kept looking for ways to make the show look more visually interesting, because, "we had seen the same sets over and over and over again for six years." To remedy this, they did things like film out on the Ranch at night, have episodes take place at Rosie's Bar or inside a cave and such.
I got to thinking last night how in "The Novocaine Mutiny," Frank had the 4077th bug out across the road, and then bug out back to the original spot the next day, simply because, "'M' stands for mobile." Well, with this being a MOBILE Army Surgical Hospital, and if they were tired of looking at the same sets over and over again, I wonder what it would have been like if for Season 7, the 4077th had a permanent bug out to a new spot to mix things up a bit? That certainly would give us all something new to look at. I know some people have remarked having the 4077th stay in the exact same spot all those years seemed a tad unrealistic given the mobile aspect of the hospital, and how whenever they do bug out, it's only temporary, and they go right back to the same spot (like in "The Party").
My thinking is the only problem with that would be it might not have been practical for their budget to completely build a new camp in another spot of the Ranch and also have to completely rearrange the Compound on the sound stage because of it.
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