Week of January 29: The Episode That Changed Life (and Death) on TV

By Sylvia Gurinsky

This week's sad episode of "Downton Abbey" reminded viewers again of the emotions involved in embracing major characters when they die.

It wasn't always that way.

During the first couple of decades of television, even the real-life deaths of actors and actresses didn't usually influence what happened to their characters on the screen. When William Frawley and Bea Benaderet died, for example, their television characters, "Bub" O'Casey of "My Three Sons" and Kate Bradley of "Petticoat Junction," lived on in "visits" to other places.

Then came March 18, 1975.

MacLean Stevenson had decided to leave "M*A*S*H" at the end of its third season and try his luck elsewhere (a better decision for "M*A*S*H" than for Stevenson, as it turned out). It resulted in a fateful choice by series creators Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart about Stevenson's character, Lt. Col. Henry Blake.

That night, the episode "Abyssinia, Henry" aired - the season finale. Henry was going home. The episode was relatively lighthearted, if poignant, until the final scene, which the cast had filmed without seeing the script in advance:

Final Scene of "Abyssinia Henry"

There was a powerful - and negative - reaction from viewers. CBS and series producer 20th Century Fox received more than 1,000 letters - most of them angry at the killing off of a beloved character.

But Reynolds and Gelbart explained, correctly, that in a war, many never got the chance to go home, and Henry's death reflected that.

Shows also began to get bolder about dealing with characters whose actors left. "Good Times" (in a decision that turned out to be lousy for the show) killed off the character of James Evans when actor John Amos left over a salary dispute in 1976.

"The Waltons" dealt realistically with the death of Grandpa Walton when Will Geer died in 1978. And when Will Lee died in 1982, "Sesame Street" had a stellar episode in which the cast explained to Big Bird - and children - that Lee's character, storekeeper Mr. Hooper, had died also:

Mr. "Looper"

"Abyssinia Henry," powerful to this day, is on the "M*A*S*H" Season 3 DVD.

See you next week. Until then, Happy (if somewhat mournful for "Downton Abbey" watchers) Viewing!