# More gratuitous death than Maude Flanders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654 "2007-07-05T21:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/61 "2007-07-06T14:39:00Z")
Gary’s bike accident on _Thirtysomething_. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/62 "2007-07-06T15:54:08Z")
Speedles death on CSI:MIami - actually was the last straw in that show for me. Tess’s death in the Highlander Series. Tripp’s death in the Enterprise Finale. All seemed pointless and out of the blue, for shock value only… ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/63 "2007-07-06T16:04:01Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] No, it was done simply to keep Stevenson from coming back. That’s definitely gratuitous, even if the method of his death was logical. [/QUOTE] As opposed to \*sending him home \* from the Korean War? a draftee? What were they going to write in a new plot of him re-enlisting and getting the exact same assignment? Edit to add that I see that point has been made. Also, Richard Hooker was constantly bitching over something with the MASH television series, so whatever. I bet he still cashed his checks. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/64 "2007-07-06T16:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] He was the first character they actually wrote out of the show, as opposed to Spearchucker, who apparently just wandered off into the minefield, and Ugly John, who disappeared, changed his name and became a crooked MP. [/QUOTE] Well, they had to get rid of Spearchucker, since it was pointed out to the producers that there **weren’t** any black surgeons in the Army in 1951, particularly in any MASH units in Korea. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/65 "2007-07-06T16:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] As opposed to \*sending him home \* from the Korean War? a draftee? What were they going to write in a new plot of him re-enlisting and getting the exact same assignment? [/QUOTE] As I pointed out, they could just as easily have had him transferred. This would have made more sense, since the orders came as a surprise. If they’d set it up across a season or so, sending him home would be understandable. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/66 "2007-07-06T16:25:39Z")
Clare Kincaid’s death (well, long lingering unspoken about coma and eventual vaugely hinted at death) seemed to be kind of tacked on to what was a great episode. It would have been much better if she had of gone out kicking and screaming and serving McCoy with some sort of sexual harrassment suit… I’m surprised no one had mentioned Adric’s death in Dr Who, but then perhaps the forum feels as I do that that death was richly deserved and long, long overdue. Oh, and any child of the Slaughters on _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_ and didn’t Ted and Georgette kill and eat their Vietnamese baby? mm ---
**Author:** ![gulliver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@gulliver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gulliver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/67 "2007-07-06T17:18:37Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] What I challenge is the notion that the producers of _M_A_S_H\* killed Henry out of spite because Stevenson chose to leave the show. It was an ensemble comedy, and Henry was fourth or fifth banana after the Swamp denizens and Margaret Houlihan. He wasn’t important enough to the show to engender that kind of venom by leaving. [/QUOTE] In defense of the notion, I remember hearing something similar on a _True Hollywood Story_ type show. However, I recall the claim being made by Stevenson and backed up by Wayne Rogers, who had his own dispute with the producers about his subordinate role to Alan Alda’s character. It came off more as sour grapes and bridge burning than actual fact. Like someone said earlier in the thread, they probably weren’t so upset that they refused to cash the residual checks… ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/68 "2007-07-06T18:21:17Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] Clare Kincaid’s death (well, long lingering unspoken about coma and eventual vaugely hinted at death) seemed to be kind of tacked on to what was a great episode. It would have been much better if she had of gone out kicking and screaming and serving McCoy with some sort of sexual harrassment suit… [/QUOTE] What show was that, please? ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/69 "2007-07-06T18:26:24Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Well, they had to get rid of Spearchucker, since it was pointed out to the producers that there **weren’t** any black surgeons in the Army in 1951, particularly in any MASH units in Korea. [/QUOTE] So there was a black character in MASH named “Spearchucker”? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/70 "2007-07-06T18:41:09Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] As I pointed out, they could just as easily have had him transferred. This would have made more sense, since the orders came as a surprise. If they’d set it up across a season or so, sending him home would be understandable. [/QUOTE] But would have been less tragic. The whole reason this isn’t gratutious is because it sets up the understanding of war as tragedy. Henry is going HOME, to his wife who he does seem genuinely fond of. Its over for him. And he doesn’t make it home. It may have been done for political reasons - but the death itself made a point. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/71 "2007-07-06T18:51:51Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] So there was a black character in MASH named “Spearchucker”? [/QUOTE] He was a javelin thrower. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/72 "2007-07-06T18:52:18Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] So there was a black character in MASH named “Spearchucker”? [/QUOTE] Yes. It was a transgressive nickname, on a par with calling Major Houlihan “Hot Lips.” ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/73 "2007-07-06T18:54:32Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] So there was a black character in MASH named “Spearchucker”? [/QUOTE] It actually came from the novel. Yes, the only black doctor was “Spearchucker” Jones. I believe he was transferred in to be a ringer in the football game, although I may be getting that from the movie (it’s been awhile). ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/74 "2007-07-06T18:58:22Z")
In another example of the Curtis Cunningham syndrome, Kim Bauer disappeared completely from _24_ after Day 5 (your call on whether that was a good thing or a bad thing). ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/75 "2007-07-06T19:02:31Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] In another example of the Curtis Cunningham syndrome, Kim Bauer disappeared completely from _24_ after Day 5 (your call on whether that was a good thing or a bad thing). [/QUOTE] Unless she moved out of L.A. - you know, the part of that map just past “And here be dragones”. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/76 "2007-07-06T19:03:31Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] In another example of the Curtis Cunningham syndrome, Kim Bauer disappeared completely from _24_ after Day 5 (your call on whether that was a good thing or a bad thing). [/QUOTE] I think Jack mentions her in the first episode of Day 6. Something along the lines of him asking Buchanan not to let on to Kim or Audrey that Jack was alive and back in the US. Basically the same amount of attention her character got in Day 4, a sentence or two to acknowledge that she still exists, and back to the situation at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/77 "2007-07-06T19:04:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I loved Book and Wash as much as anyone, but their deaths were 100% necessary to the story in Serenity. I agree, I’m just still not over it. Which is probably the point. I remember Spearchucker from the book, but don’t remember him in the TV show. Was he only in the very early episodes? I’ll agree about Tripp, but then that whole episode seemed rushed. Didn’t see Tess’s death or much of CSI, so I’ll let others judge. I like Adric a lot, but his death was his shining moment. He joined the Doctor after his brother died and was holding his brother’s “medals” when he met his own end . . . which happened because he was too geeky to get out of a falling spacecraft after he got an idea on how to get it working again. Missed the episode with Clare on Law and Order. (Was it SVU?) So I can’t comment on that either. But Tripp definitely. My only guess is that they did it to preserve Spock’s priority after messing with it so badly. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/78 "2007-07-06T19:05:49Z")
It was Chuck Cunningham. On “All My Children” Bobby Martin went up to the attic to polish his skis and never came down. Years later the attic was shown, complete with chained skeleton. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/79 "2007-07-06T19:18:33Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] IMissed the episode with Clare on Law and Order. (Was it SVU?) So I can’t comment on that either. [/QUOTE] It was Law & Order Classic. She was the second of the assistants, the one with the pixie face, and she was on for quite a while. When she left, they had an episode about the aftermath of New York’s (fictional) first execution since the 60s, which turns out to be a case they all worked on. I think that’s the only time you see Briscoe drinking. Anyway, Claire gets killed in a car accident at the very end of the show ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654/80 "2007-07-06T19:19:33Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] I remember Spearchucker from the book, but don’t remember him in the TV show. Was he only in the very early episodes? [/QUOTE] He was played by Fred Williamson in the movie. Captain Oliver Harmon ‘Spearchucker’ Jones [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-gratuitous-death-than-maude-flanders/410654.md?page=5)