Original title
Trapper John, M.D.
Released
9/23/1979
Origin country
US
Genre
Drama
Production companies
20th Century Fox Television
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
7
Number of episodes
151
Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, concerning a lovable doctor who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986.
Twenty-eight years after the Korean War, former M*A*S*H surgeon ""Trapper"" John McIntyre, now Chief of Surgery at San Francisco Memorial Hospital, is faced with a younger copy of himself - Vietnam vet Dr. ""Gonzo"" Gates.
Trapper and Gonzo deal with a deranged Vietnam vet, while Stanley tries to save on taxes by incorporating himself.
When an employee from a local nuclear power plant is admitted to SFM with signs of radiation poisoning, Gonzo cannot understand why it appears that nothing is being done to protect other workers from exposure.
A persistent swain of his ex-wife, Melanie, causes both professional and romantic turmoil for Trapper. Stanley is determined to get rid of the ""Titanic"".
A wealthy socialite injured in a car accident tries to cover up the fact that she has no real friends by sending herself flowers and gifts.
A medic who once saved Gonzo's life in Vietnam now wants his friend's help in a fraudulent medical claim.
A young widow with a stomach tumor leans heavily on her 14-year-old son, who has dealt with the pressure by becoming a closet alcoholic.
A local street person known as ""Harry the Hinge"" is admitted to SFM with kidney failure, and manages to convince to convince a wealthy hospital patron to keep the free clinic open.
A group of radicals kidnaps Melanie, and gives Trapper an ultimatum: either he kills a policeman who has survived two earlier murder attempts, or they will kill his ex-wife.
An injured boy is torn between the mother he ran away from and the man he considers to be his father. A grateful sheik gives Gonzo a present he can't refuse - his daughter.
A brilliant improvisation saves a life but causes problems for Trapper and Riverside.
There is a bomb somewhere in the hospital set to go off at midnight. The bomb squad can't find it, and the man who planted it is dying from bullet wounds. Can Trapper and Gonzo save his life in time to save San Francisco Memorial?
Gloria falls for a man in a wheelchair - who happens to already have a wife. Trapper resents Starch labelling him ""predictable"", and decides to do something about it.
A former patient who recovered from terminal cancer using a holistic approach he devised has written a book and is looking for converts. He convinces a lupus patient to stop all medical treatment, and nearly allows her to die before accepting that she needs help he cannot give her.
Stanley thinks he has finally found the love of his life in the hospital's excellent new neurosurgeon, until he learns how she made the money to get through medical school. A sleazy reporter looking for dirt around the hospital gets more than he bargained for.
A man diagnosed with terminal cancer tries to come to terms with the fact that he only has months to live, then must deal with something almost equally disturbing: he has gone into remission while the new friend he has made continues to get worse.
At first Trapper is not concerned when an old friend starts to behave erratically, but Gonzo suspects that something is wrong, especially when the doctor freezes during an emergency.
A strike by the nurses at San Francisco Memorial is a threat to patient care and Gonzo's sex life.
A young half-white Korean man comes to the hospital claiming to be Trapper's son, but when John accepts and tries to help him, he runs.
A new female surgeon at SFM suffers a crisis of confidence after she loses a young patient and has to deal with a cowboy who believes all women belong in the kitchen.
When Melanie finds an abandoned baby in the department store she works for, she is ready to adopt him. However, she runs into a couple of problems - the baby has pneumonic plague, and a mother who wants him back.
The only hope for a girl going blind from a brain tumour is an alcoholic retired surgeon. Gonzo starts a telephone help line service at SFM.
Gonzo takes a leave from the hospital to supervise a very rich young woman with a rare medical condition, and is charged with sexual misconduct when he rejects her advances. Trapper looks for a new scrub nurse to replace Starch.
The mother of a little girl who needs heart surgery refuses to let Gonzo operate because of sexual misconduct charges pending against him. Ernie agrees to take the job as Trapper's scrub nurse.
When an old friend of Gonzo's is checked into the hospital forty pounds slimmer but suffering from an overuse of amphetamines and diuretics, he looks for evidence that a famous ""diet doctor"" is responsible.
Stan is accused of malpractice after a woman has a severe allergic reaction, apparently to medication administered by him.
Gonzo tries to heal a student who appears to be the victim of a curse. The staff at the hospital prepare for a costume ball.
The near-fatal shooting of a gay cop at a gay demonstration leaves an important question - was the gunman a demonstrator, or a police officer?
Following an earthquake the hospital has to be evacuated, Trapper is pinned in a basement with an injured woman and Gonzo is picked up for looting.
When a Vietnamese woman is operated on, very skillfully, without a consent form, the staff tries to find out the identity of the mystery surgeon.
A young student nurse, who is the daughter of a friend of Trapper's, is making a serious play for the Chief of Surgery.
A professional con artist is admitted to SFM, where he is outconned by Trapper and Gonzo, with help from his romantic interest.
Trapper's busy hospital schedule becomes even more hectic when family problems crowd in. Melanie arrives to inform him the their daughter Kim is planning to drop out of school.
A young girl who has been in the care of a street gang is admitted after being hit by a car, but appears to have had pre-existing problems. Gloria hides some kittens in the office of Dr. Riverside, who happens to be very allergic.
Leo, Trapper's good friend from his days in Korea, comes to visit. Trapper offers him a job as Diagnostician. The fact that he is a double amputee could be a problem for the board of San Francisco Memorial Hospital.
Gonzo talks Wendy from Personnel into taking the teaching job at the new Day Care Centre at San Francisco Memorial Hospital. She is unsure about her new role. An accident in the class room brings with it the news that she has spent time in a mental hospital. Meanwhile Trapper John is trying to savage his relationship with Ingrid.
Jackpot convinces his friend, Sheila, to undergo radical surgery to return her eyesight. When things go wrong he becomes riddled with guilt almost costing him his Medical Board Exam. Meanwhile Trapper John has just hired a housekeeper who thinks he's a 'soft touch'.
Hub Wendover arrives at San Francisco Memorial Hospital for treatment for his leg and to be close to his son, Gonzo. Trapper operates on Hub finding his body riddled with cancer. Gonzo and Hub have some issues to deal with. Gonzo can't help but love the Father that supposedly walked out when he was four years old.
Gonzo accidentally runs down a homeless deaf girl. Trapper has to contend with Dr. Wang from Red China. Both share a history in North and South Korea.
Seventeen year old Dr Schweitzer, is a new Intern at SFMH. He takes his work very seriously, pushing himself to the limit. Trapper tries to help him remember hat there is more to medicine than science and books.
Gonzo is finally ready to settle down and get married, and his friends are planning a big bachelor party. Everything seems to be perfect, until the husband of the bride-to-be appears on the scene.
A couple desperate for a child adopts a black-market baby, only to discover that the infant is addicted to heroin and has a heart condition. Stanley recruits Trapper and Gonzo to join him in a relay race against Bay General.
Gloria's Brother Brian flies in from Texas for a visit. He manages to turn Gloria's Life upside down. As a result of his drinking problem, her work at the Hospital suffers and she is given an official warning. Meanwhile a patient is trying to set Trapper up with her Daughter.
Stanley wants to upgrade the hospital's image, and puts forth a talented staff surgeon as a ""typical"" SFM doctor - until he learns that the man is a local Ku Klux Klan leader.
The leader of a pop-psychology programme becomes a patient at the hospital, resulting in threats against his and Gonzo's lives.
San Francisco Memorial Hospital is endeavouring to put into place a co-operative care programme. Due to Arnold Slocomb and the Board of Directors, budget cuts. Mrs Fitch and her Neice, Liza are the perfect candidates. If Mrs Fitch would only accept Liza's help.
A woman prisoner gives birth to a premature baby, who is rushed to SFM for care. The mother, upset at not being allowed to be with her child, beats the prison warden who refused to arrange for her to be taken to the hospital.
A street-corner Santa Claus worries more about a sick boy than his own ill health.
A respected cardiologist is so fearful of what he believes to be psychic visions that he has become unable to function at home or at work.
A young man admitted to the hospital following an accident informs the staff that his name is ""42"", and he is an alien just visiting earth. While building a transmitter to contact his home planet, 42 befriends a sick and lonely lady.
Trapper buys himself a gun after being robbed, then has second thoughts.
Someone is killing terminally ill patients at San Francisco Memorial, and it appears to be an inside job. A young woman with chronic pain is learning how to deal with it, but maybe not soon enough.
A mentally disabled man who works at the hospital is able to make friends with a crotchety old hermit who is dying of cancer, but gets embarrassed and quits his job when he misinterprets Gloria's feelings for him.
A woman who devotes her life to getting teenaged hookers off the street is badly beaten by a pimp. Gonzo's disgust at their apparent disinterest convinces the girls to get revenge on the attacker, while having two prostitutes show up at his house seriously hampers Trapper's love life.
The mother of a 16-year-old boy with a gland disorder preventshim from having hormone injections that would cure his problem.
A doctor that comes to SFM with an accident patient is so good that Slocum wants to bring him on staff, but he runs into a problem - the schools the man claims to have trained at have never heard of him. Jackpot is frustrated by a Jane Doe with a high fever and some unusual symptoms.
A former lover names Gonzo in a paternity suit after learning she has a serious cardiac condition.
Ernie is engaged to be married, but begins to have second thoughts when her fiancé expects her to take all of the responsibility for the house, his five children and their relationship while he relaxes after work and serves as nothing more than a playmate to his out-of-control kids.
A 74-year-old woman who is admitted with a blocked artery in her leg has another problem - she is hooked on prescription medications. When Trapper and Gonzo discover that her doctor is responsible, and treats all his patients the same way, they plot to drive him out of business.
Jackpot is put in charge of Emergency Services while Trapper, Gonzo and Stanley attend a medical conference in Mexico. South of the border, Trapper falls in love with another doctor, but they may have too much in common for the romance to last.
Jackpot convinces several of the staff to invest in a promising young boxer he is managing, but after the fighter kills his opponent in his first professional match he begins to suffer mysterious injuries that may keep him out of the ring permanently.
A rumour that Trapper may be leaving SFM for a hospital in Boston has several other staff considering new positions. After 72 hours on duty and the loss of a patient, Stanley is displaying psychotic symptoms, and ends up in jail.
A man who needs a bone marrow transplant to survive claims that he has no relatives that can serve as donors. However, Gonzo soon discovers that the truth is a little more complicated: the man is in the Witness Protection Program, and cannot safely have contact with his family.
A flower salesgirl, who works on the street, wakes up one day at the hospital. The girl is very ill yet refuses to be treated since she considers that doctors are Satan's henchmen. The estranged mother of a cult member has the girl kidnapped from the hospital.
When Melanie's mother comes for a surprise visit, Trapper learns that Melanie has kept their divorce a secret from her for the last six years. Gonzo suggests that a doctor should work as a nurse for a week to get a better idea of the problems they are having, and he gets volunteered for the job.
Trapper falls for a hospital scrubwoman Slocum falls for a patient.
Jackpot recommends surgery for a man who suffers from Munchhausen's disease, a psychological disorder which leads him to fake symptoms.
A miserly industrialist with an obsession for anonymity badgers the hospital staff.
A bitter former hospital employee takes Riverside hostage and demands $1 million ransom.
On a foggy Thanksgiving, Slocum hits Trapper with his car. As John fights for his life, staff members recall (in flashbacks) reasons they have to be thankful for his friendship and help.
Doctor Albright dies from a heart attack. Gonzo and Shoop send Trapper on vacation to Geneva Springs. While Trapper substitutes for a small-town doctor, Riverside is fired and a former patient of Trapper's needs heart surgery.
Talented neurosurgeon Russ Brandis enduring a deadly disease and fits of rage he shows are due to the drugs he must take. The surgeon's personal problems are uncovered as Riverside and Gonzo try to recruit him for the hospital staff.
A Soviet diplomat is admitted with pain from a liver tumor.
Vinnie Duncan, Gonzo's good friend, leads a fund campaign for rare-disease drugs.
A baby admitted to the hospital for a urinary tract infection turns out to be a hermaphrodite, sparking a battle between the parents over which sex it should be.
When Gloria Brancusi learns that Andrea, the orphan girl, has come back to the hospital as a patient her first reaction is to run away. Gloria has second thoughts after deciding to adopt the troubled orphan.
An emotionally troubled musician is released much too early from the hospital. Nurse Shoop suffers a hearing loss.
A brilliant surgeon begins suffering from bouts of forgetful and disoriented behavior.
Gonzo's professional confidence and bedside manner are affected by a malpractice lawsuit, after a young patient asserts he has begun to feel worse from an emergency operation made him. A patient is mistaken for a hospital inspector.
A woman from Riverside's past is obsessed with him.
Trapper fears an epidemic after the leader of a research project becomes mysteriously ill.
Gonzo's mother introduces him to her new boyfriend, a sportswriter his age. Gonzo is not happy about the situation.
Gonzo starts dating a high society woman who tries to convince him to leave the hospital and set up a private practice. She also talks him into selling the Titanic to Jackpot.
Gonzo runs out of gas in front of a decrepit apartment building where a woman has been injured on the broken stairs. When he traces ownership to SFM and brings it to the board, they agree to do something - tear down the building and put up condos.
A professional skater refuses treatment for a heart condition that could be fatal. Stanley and E.J. find out that they are going to be parents.
The new acting board chairman tries to pressure Arnold Slocum into retirement only four months short of his pension.
All About Everett is an episode of Trapper John, M.D.
Trapper's ex-wife starts a self-help group for the wives of doctors, and ends up with one of them on her doorstep. Stanley and E.J. may lose their baby.
Trapper gets called into the hospital on his birthday to deal with a possible epidemic. Stanley is finally able to track down the source of the problem, but that does not do much for John's mood, as everyone seems to have forgotten him.
Gonzo is not happy when Trapper passes on to him the job of proctoring three Cardio-Thoracic surgery residents, and things get worse when he learns that he is required to cut one of the residents out of the programme because of budget cuts.
A 119-year-old man, seemingly in good health, says that he has come to the hospital to die. He changes his mind after media attention makes him feel important again, but Trapper discovers an aortic aneurysm that may kill him after all.
As SFM fills with the casualties of the Bay City Marathon, E.J. Riverside goes into labour three weeks early. Stanley can't be found, because he has secretly decided to compete in the run.
Andrea finds out who her real mother is, and wants to meet her. Trapper's concern over the emotional state of a Greek patient brings out the good samaritan in Gonzo, who decides to contact the man's daughter in Greece.
Against his better judgement, Trapper agrees to staple the stomach of an obese woman. Gonzo goes to unusual lengths to save Andrea's dog.
Everyone is happy for Gloria when she earns her accreditation in Advanced Cardiac Life Support Care, except one doctor. He does not believe nurses should be doing this kind of work, and tries to have Gloria fired.
A nurse/midwife who spreads herself too thin threatens her career and two lives, and may bring Gloria down with her. Gonzo sets up a homey ""birthing centre"" at the hospital.
Trapper's old friend, a former workaholic, turns up after years. Trapper is confused when he finds that the man has quit his job and seems intent on nothing but having fun. An E.S.P. clinic set up in the hospital seems to be bringing out unwanted talents in Ernie.
When an eight-month-old baby is brought to the hospital with respiratory problems, x-rays show that the child is a dwarf.
A cancer patient who dies at the hospital leaves all his worldly wealth to Gonzo, who discovers that most of it was obtained illegally. Jackpot, Ernie and Gloria conspire to trick Stanley into taking his annual physical.
An elderly woman comes to visit with her husband, who died a year previously. A pediatrician has difficulty dealing with a young boy who has cancer.
Gonzo is convinced that the paranoia of one of his patients has a physical cause. Slocum attempts to cut back on nursing costs by employing a robot nurse, who proves to be quite successful.
A patient at SFM who fancies himself a detective is determined to solve the mystery of missing medication, to the despair of the police working on the case.
For two years Jackpot has allowed an elderly friend to believe that $10 a month is paying for full medical insurance, but he runs into trouble when she becomes seriously ill and requires treatment he cannot afford.
Trapper questions Ernie's motives when she accepts a proposal from a long-time suitor only after she finds out that he is dying.
When his office ends up as a temporary storage dump for medical equipment from the WWI era, Trapper imagines how routine cases would have been treated at that time, and decides that SFM isn't quite a dinosaur after all.
An expert brought in by the board to increase hospital productivity only makes life more difficult as the staff deals with a doctor who performs unnecessary surgeries and a shy man with an awkward problem.
J.T. brings in a bag lady who's been wandering in the rain with a serious case of bronchitis; Gloria suspects her 12-year-old daughter of drug abuse.
J.T. discovers that he has two patients with the same wife.
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