 |
| Gregory Harrison's most memorable role in the 1980s was his seven years as Dr. G. Alonzo "Gonzo" Gates on the CBS drama "Trapper John, M.D." Here he is at left with Pernell Roberts who played Trapper John. Source: https://www.amazon.com/ Erthstore-Trapper-Pernell-Roberts-Harrison/dp/B07WD947ZY (May be subject to copyright) |
That was a breakout role for Gregory Harrison on the drama that aired Sunday nights on Channel 7 of the peasant vision dial, and it started a career that continues to this day.
Super sequel sort-of
“Trapper John, M.D.” was one of the most unique sequels in television history. It followed the exploits of “Trapper John” McIntyre 30 years after he was introduced to us as a field army hospital surgeon in the comedy “M*A*S*H”. On that show, he was the king of practical jokes with his friend Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce. It was their way of coping with all the horror that surrounded them during the Korean Conflict. After three seasons of “M*A*S*H”, “Trapper John” was rotated home, never to be seen and rarely referred to again.
“Trapper John, M.D.” was one of the most unique sequels in television history. It followed the exploits of “Trapper John” McIntyre 30 years after he was introduced to us as a field army hospital surgeon in the comedy “M*A*S*H”. On that show, he was the king of practical jokes with his friend Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce. It was their way of coping with all the horror that surrounded them during the Korean Conflict. After three seasons of “M*A*S*H”, “Trapper John” was rotated home, never to be seen and rarely referred to again.
Until the fall of 1979 that is, when “Trapper John, M.D.” premiered on CBS, and Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial. The opening scene pans across black and white photos of a M*A*S*H unit in Korea, including an operating room, then tilts down to a middle-aged man, obviously a doctor, sleeping on a couch. Suddenly, a nurse bursts in announcing casualties are coming. We discover the doctor is Trapper John. He arouses groggily, calling for Hawkeye and Radar. The nurse, who we soon discover served with Trapper John in Korea, said he is no longer in Korea, he’s in San Francisco.
It gets really interesting soon after. This young man arrives at the hospital and wanders into the emergency room. There he discovers a man who cannot breathe, with no one seemingly caring, so he attends to the patient, saving his life with an emergency tracheotomy. Fresh off that, Trapper John grabs him to assist in surgery.
Only after surgery, does it dawn on Trapper John that he does not know the name of this new surgeon, nor if he actually works at the hospital. Well, the young surgeon introduces himself as G. Alonzo Gates, but you can call him Gonzo. And no, he doesn’t work at the hospital. In fact, he was there applying for a job.
Trapper John is quite concerned he could lose his licence, get sued and the hospital could get in trouble because Gonzo was not on staff.
However, he gets Gonzo to apply for a job, and discovers that Gonzo had also worked at a M*A*S*H unit in Vietnam.
When Trapper John goes to talk to him, a nurse tells him Gonzo is on the Titanic. It is a motorhome Gonzo won in a craps game that he lives in, parked in the hospital parking lot.
He tracks Gonzo down, having a drink on the roof of the Titanic where he discovers Gonzo did not choose this particular hospital by accident. It turns out Trapper John, and his buddy Hawkeye, are legendary in M*A*S*H units. Gonzo sought out Trapper John to work with him.
Trapper John soon discovers, in all his worry over policy, procedure, and administration, he is not the crusading, idealistic surgeon he once was. Gonzo reminds him of a younger version of himself, and one of the nurses points out the same thing to him.
In the pilot, Gonzo alludes to his age being about 28, which was about how old Gregory Harrison was when he debuted as Gonzo.
He would go on to play that role for six season, and more than 142 episodes portraying a doctor who started young and idealistic who became an older, more mature surgeon who still did anything for his patients.
Before Gonzo
My first exposure to Gregory Harrison was in a role he played for barely a season, but left a big impression on me. It was as Logan 5 in the television series “Logan’s Run”, based on the science fiction movie of the same name.
My first exposure to Gregory Harrison was in a role he played for barely a season, but left a big impression on me. It was as Logan 5 in the television series “Logan’s Run”, based on the science fiction movie of the same name.
Logan's run is set in the future, when nuclear war forces humanity to create domed cities to survive. Since, there is limited space inside the City of the Domes, a whole religion evolves around the idea people can only live until they are 30. At that time, they enter Cathedral for Carousel, which is essentially a death ritual. However, there are those who do not want to die, and seek to escape. They are called Runners. In response, the City has an army of soldiers called Sandmen who hunt Runners and preserve order. Logan 5 is a Sandman who meets Jessica 6. She convinces him to run with her, to escape the City of the Domes and see what is outside. Francis 7, Logan’s best friend and fellow Sandman, is dispatched to hunt down Logan and Jessica. The TV series chronicles the adventures of Logan and Jessica as they explore the outside world while trying to elude Francis.
I really liked “Logan’s Run” and even pretended to be a Sandman, using this pocket knife as my gun or blaster.
A few years ago, I bought “Logan’s Run” on DVD and watched about half of it. I still enjoyed it especially Gregory Harrison’s portrayal of Logan.
Ironically, Gregory Harrison also had a guest spot on an episode of – “M*A*S*H”, and it was in 1976 when Trapper John was still at the 4077th M*A*S*H.
Beyond Gonzo
Gregory Harrison left “Trapper John, M.D.” part way through the final season in 1986. He had already done some other work, like TV movies such as “For Women Only” and later “Oceans of Fire.”
Gregory Harrison left “Trapper John, M.D.” part way through the final season in 1986. He had already done some other work, like TV movies such as “For Women Only” and later “Oceans of Fire.”
He would appear in the spoof “Fresno” in 1986. It was on CBC and I recall staring to watch it but somehow lost interest and never finished watching it. It was a send-up of prime time soap operas such as “Dallas” and “Falcon Crest”. It repeated in the fall of 1987 because I recall catching a few minutes of it when I was living in res at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Harrison closed out the decade by appearing as the bad guy in the final season of “Falcon Crest” in 1989-1990. By then, I had stopped watching “Falcon Crest” regularly. However, I was home from university in the summer of 1990 and CFAC Channel 7 was playing a marathon of episodes of “Falcon Crest” one Sunday morning. I caught a bunch of those episodes. That’s when I saw that Kristian Alfonso, formerly Hope on “Days Of Our Lives”, was also on the show. I recall Channel 7 doing that before. It was like they had paid for a show then never got around to airing it so they aired a bunch of episodes on a Sunday in kind of a marathon. They did the same thing with the last season of “Happy Days”, where they burned off all the episodes in one day.
Gregory Harrison continued on through the 1980s and beyond, working through to the present day at the age of 71.
Parting thoughts
In today’s day and age where dozens upon dozens of shows have been re-booted, re-imagined, or resumed after going off the air years ago, “Trapper John, M.D.” would not be unique today.
In today’s day and age where dozens upon dozens of shows have been re-booted, re-imagined, or resumed after going off the air years ago, “Trapper John, M.D.” would not be unique today.
Yet in its time it certainly was.
However, beyond the novelty of the show, one of the things that made it stand out was the performance of Gregory Harrison. He was essentially a newcomer to network TV. He injected the youth, energy and exuberance needed to play a brash, young, idealistic doctor. It is hard to believe that in the opening episode, when Gonzo refers to his age being 29, Gregory Harrison is actually the same age.
It was a role that made his career, and was his most recognized role of the decade. Yet, Gregory Harrison would keep on working to this day, making the transition from young, handsome, and a bit rebellious to a distinguished, older gentleman.
He went from playing the son to the father. It is kind of ironic that Evan Buckley, whose father Gregory Harrison portrays, is young, brash, and a bit rebellious, just like Gonzo Gates was in his day.
That says a lot about how far Gregory Harrison’s career had come.
That says a lot about how far Gregory Harrison’s career had come.
No comments:
Post a Comment