The long-running Korean wartime sitcom "M*A*S*H" is something of a workplace comedy, but since it was set in the 1950s and aired in the 1970s, most of the main characters are men. "M*A*S*H" follows the antics of the personnel of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, especially surgeons Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda) and his best friend B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell).

Nurses are mostly secondary characters who exist only to serve as romantic interests for the guys, though head nurse Major Margaret Houlihan, played by Loretta Swit, gets to have a pretty fantastic character arc. Swit was responsible for helping to shape Houlihan into a more fully-realized character and even pitched her best story arc herself, leading to Margaret becoming one of the most compelling characters in the whole series. She even had enough agency to shoot down a proposed plot that would have seen Margaret put petty personal feelings ahead of her duties as head nurse, so it's surprising that following "M*A*S*H," Swit never really appeared in any other starring roles on television.

Sure, Swit starred in the "Cagney and Lacey" TV movie that was spun off into a television series, but she was replaced by actor Meg Foster in the role of Christine Cagney because her "M*A*S*H" contract wouldn't allow her to leave for other shows. So after "M*A*S*H," one would think she would be anxious to take on other TV gigs, but instead, she opted for one-off roles and game show appearances instead.