The Korean War M*A*S*H unit veteran operates as Chief Surgeon in a major city hospital with his colleagues.
Genre: Drama
Cast:Pernell Roberts , Brian Stokes Mitchell , Charles Siebert , Gregory Harrison , Christopher Norris , Madge Sinclair , Chris Hutson , Simon Scott , Timothy Busfield , Sarah Cunningham , Peter Harrell , Mary McCarty , Lorna Luft , Bebe Kelly , Janis Paige , Marcia Rodd , Lisa L. Nelson , Cassandra Gava
San Francisco Memorial Hospital handles incoming mass casualties from a hotel fire. Chief of Surgery Trapper John McIntyre welcomes aboard an ambitious and unorthodox young surgeon, 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. Meanwhile, Riverside must contend with a very distrusting Gypsy.
A persistent swain of his ex-wife, Melanie, causes both professional and romantic turmoil for Trapper, as his hopes for a reconciliation dwindle when she asks him to treat her new fiancé. Meanwhile, 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. Meanwhile, Trapper and Gonzo decide to protest a decision to divert free-clinic funds to the pet project of a one of the hospital's major benefactors.
A group of radicals kidnap Melanie and give Trapper an ultimatum: either he kills a policeman who has survived two earlier murder attempts or they will kill his ex-wife.
A boy is brought in and he calls his father to come. He offers to donate blood if he needs it. But tests reveal the man is not the boy's father. He tells them he found him a few years ago and took him in. And he eventually would think of him as his son. Trapper tells the authorities and they learns that the boy ran away from his mother. When she comes he doesn't want to be with her. But the man doesn't have any rights so he tells him he has to go with her. And he becomes catatonic.
A brilliant improvisation saves the life of a hit-and-run victim, but causes problems for Trapper and Riverside.
There is a bomb somewhere in the hospital set to go off at midnight, the night of Trapper's 10th anniversary as chief of surgery. The bomb squad can't find it, and the man who planted it is dying from bullet wounds.
Gloria falls for a man in a wheelchair - who happens to already have a wife. Gonzo firmly believes that he can cure a disabled man with surgery, but said patient is against the operation. 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. The patient 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. Meanwhile, SFM admits a gang member who likes to draw graffiti and does so on hospital property.
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 patient who is diagnosed with a serious form of cancer finds inspiration in a woman with Lou Gehrig's disease.
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. Meanwhile, San Francisco Memorial is flooded with patients from a nearby hospital, after it is damaged by fire.
A possible nurse's strike threatens the hospital as well as Gonzo's love life.
Gonzo is suspicious of a young Korean man who comes to the hospital claiming to be the long-lost son of Trapper. A woman with a history of faking illness is surprised when she is diagnosed with a rare disease.
Gonzo tries to date a new surgeon who suffers a loss of confidence after her first patient dies.
Trapper's ex-wife Melanie finds a baby in a fitting room and the hospital is put at risk when the baby is found to have a form of the plague.
Gonzo and the staff decide to start a hot-line for people to anonymously call with their problems. Trapper takes a risk by bringing in a retired doctor with an alcohol problem to help perform a rare eye operation.
A controlling millionaire publisher gives the hospital a large donation in exchange for Gonzo watching over his daughter who has a rare blood disorder that needs round-the-clock care and is smitten with Dr. Gates. Trapper must find a replacement for Starch who has gotten married and retired.
With Gonzo accused of sexual misconduct, the hospital faces a public relations nightmare.
When Gonzo learns that an old classmate has put her health and sanity at risk by following a strict diet which encourages the use of diuretics, he goes after the well-respected doctor who founded the diet.
Riverside comes under fire after he takes over one of Gonzo's patients who happens to be dating his father and she ends up almost dying from an allergic reaction to fluorine.
Gonzo and Trapper are unsure how to treat a college student who has gotten mysteriously sick while doing a research paper on satanic rituals.
When a cop who is found to be homosexual is shot at a gay rally, Gonzo believes that he may have been shot by someone on the force and may be in danger at the hospital.
Trapper and Gonzo go on a trip to a cabin which becomes an adventure when an earthquake hits and the woman staying at the cabin needs serious medical care. At the hospital, Riverside leads the evacuation when the earthquake hits.
Members of the staff are baffled when a Vietnamese woman, who had initially refused surgery, is mysteriously operated on overnight without anyone seeing it. Trapper recognizes a politician who checks in under a false name and is brought in by a younger woman that is not his wife.
A shy and clumsy nurse asks Trapper for advice on how to attract Gonzo. A woman who is obsessed with her appearance is reluctant to have a tumor in her face removed.
A noted con man believes that the hospital is trying to pull one over on him when he is told that he needs a life-saving operation and his girlfriend is pregnant.
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.
Gonzo and Trapper try to track down the family of a 10-year old girl who was hit by a car and is exhibiting erratic behavior. The only leads they have are gang members with whom she was living with.
Trapper convinces the board to fill the position of diagnosing physician with a former war buddy who is a double amputee.
There is plenty of excitement at the hospital for the opening of the day care center. However, the excitement is short-lived when a child is injured in a fall and it is found out that the day care director was once in a mental institution.
Instead of using his spare time to study for his medical boards, Jackpot looks into a sight restoring operation for his blind girlfriend.
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 China. They share a history in North and South Korea.
Seventeen-year-old Dr. Elliot Schweitzer is a new intern at SFMH. He takes his work very seriously, pushing himself to the limit. Trapper tries to help him remember that 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.
A man is brought in who claims to be writing a book on the KKK. Later someone comes and sees him and threatens him. When Gonzo tries to talk to him about what he said, he denies it. Later Gonzo finds in his things that he's telling the truth and that one of the hospital's brilliant doctors is the head.
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 program, due to Arnold Slocomb and the Board of Directors' budget cuts. Mrs Fitch and her niece, Liza, are the perfect candidates, if Mrs. Fitch would only accept Liza's help.
A female 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 con artist, working for Dr. Riverside as his nanny, attempts to pass off her partner-in-crime as his mother.
A street-corner Santa Claus worries more about a sick boy than his own ill health.
A surgeon and friend of Trapper comes to operate on someone he knows. But he's experiencing having visions of actual things. He is told that because of head trauma he sustained, he has gained a sixth sense which he doesn't believe in. And it also causes tension between him and his wife, and she turns to Gonzo whom she knows for solace.
A young man admitted to the hospital following an accident informs the staff that his name is "42" and that he is an alien who is stranded on Earth. While building a transmitter to contact his home planet, 42 befriends a sick and lonely woman.
Trapper buys himself a gun after being robbed but he later 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 teenage 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 prevents him 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 that 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 rumor 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 John and Gonzo discover the vineyard they bought was a scam, finding both infertile soil and evidence of criminal behavior in a basement.
Trapper John and Gonzo are captured while at their vineyard. A representative for survivors of nuclear radiation exposure tries to get help from San Francisco Memorial.
Trapper falls for a hospital scrubwoman, while Slocum falls for a patient.
Jackpot recommends surgery for a man who suffers from Munchausen syndrome, 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.
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 that he has begun to feel worse after an emergency operation. A patient is mistaken for a hospital inspector.
Gonzo's mother introduces him to her new boyfriend, a sportswriter his age. Gonzo is not happy about the situation.
Trapper fears an epidemic after the leader of a research project becomes mysteriously ill.
When Gonzo starts dating a high society woman she tries to convince set up his own private practice and into selling the "Titanic" to Jackpot.
Gonzo rescues a woman who was injured on some broken stairs inside a rundown apartment building. After he traces the ownership of said building to SFM, the board decides that the best solution is to tear down the building and build condos in its place.
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.
Trapper's contract is up for renewal, and a jealous surgeon is trying to discredit him and take over his position as Chief of Surgery.
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 has been training three doctors for cardiac surgery. But he is told due to budget reasons, he has to cut one of them. So he sets out to do that by getting to know them personally.
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 that 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.
Trapper lets his imagination run wild when vintage medical equipment stored in his office makes him wonder how doctors in 1917 dealt with issues considered routine in the 1980s.
The doctors of San Francisco Memorial find themselves under the glare of a productivity analyst whose desire to get more work from staff leads her to bring back a doctor suspended for operating unnecessarily.
When a 12-year-old could be saved with a heart from a brain dead patient, Gonzo and Trapper John argue over the ethics of such a procedure.
Fired from an internship, Trapper's son, J.T., joins the staff at San Francisco Memorial.
Slocum tries to put a stop to Jackpot's moonlighting. When the owner of a favored hang-out undergoes surgery, the staff cover her shifts to keep her business afloat until she recovers.
The staff are stymied by two suffering patients who have decided to cease treatment and let nature take its course.
A friend of Shoop's, a school nurse, is attacked. When the police appear to be doing nothing to find her attacker, she goes and takes over at the school to investigate.
A secret revealed by an anesthetized patient puts J.T. in an ethical quandary, trapped between his desire to do what he feels is morally right and the bounds of doctor/patient confidentiality.
Crippled by Guillain-Barré syndrome, Trapper John worries his medical career may have come to an abrupt end.
A young resident is torn between his desire to accept a high-profile medical position and his sense of duty to return home to serve the community that put him through medical school.
A young patient confounds doctors when he presents with traditional symptoms of vampirism.
A 'bubble boy' needs a bone-marrow transplant to revitalize his immune system.
When a nurse behaves erratically, Gonzo recognizes it as PTSD. He tries to help her but she refuses to admit that's what's wrong with her.
An aging singer learns that she's pregnant. Meanwhile, Trapper John looks to secure funding for a laser center at San Francisco Memorial.
A former cowboy who's given up on life is fading fast, and it's up to Trapper John to reignite his desire to live.
Gloria can't help falling for her landlord, even though he's forcing her to vacate her apartment.
A former hippie suffers a stillborn fetus. A kidnapper brazenly takes the Riversides' son right out of his stroller.
A four-year-old's X-rays indicate that he may be an abuse victim. Riverside doesn't want his wife to know that he was a past contributor at a sperm bank.
Gloria finds out Andrea's issues are drug-related. Meanwhile, a homeless woman has been stealing supplies from the hospital.
A surgeon dies during a complicated operation. The procedure he used was known only to him. Unless his notes can be found, the patient will die. After seeing the ghost of the deceased doctor, Gonzo frantically tries to locate the notes.
Performance-enhancing drugs take a serious toll on two athletes. Meanwhile, a pair of birdwatchers take their hobby to the extreme.
Four witnesses give four very different accounts of what happened when an accident victim died at San Francisco Memorial.
Trapper runs afoul of a bombastic television reporter when he desperately attempts to revive his seven-year-old niece.
One of the hospital's doctors brings a mail order bride from the Philippines.
Gonzo's love life may prevent him from taking part in Trapper John's first implant of an artificial heart.
Trapper John fights exhaustion and his patient's destabilized condition following the artificial heart implant. Meanwhile, Gonzo seeks to assure Fran that his feelings for her aren't out of pity.
Trapper John and Gonzo's push to get a gung-ho new doctor on staff at San Francisco Memorial may be derailed by a skeleton in his closet.
Trapper John thinks that the coroner is stalling in investigating the death of one of his patients.
Libby is crushed to discover an old boyfriend is both homosexual and suffering from AIDS.
A female Nazi hunter thinks that one of the hospital's surgeons who is a friend of Trapper is a Nazi.
A nurse who was paralyzed in an accident returns to work without letting anyone know she is now in a wheelchair. Meanwhile, Jackpot considers becoming a professional musician.
Melanie's about to get married. But she's getting anonymous love notes. She assumes it's Trapper but it's not.
When a young boy is poisoned by toxic waste, his father climbs a billboard to protest the company who did the dumping and won't come down. Meanwhile, Gonzo and Fran get engaged.
Following a stroke, Gonzo is forced to re-evaluate his career as a surgeon.
A Korean refugee is in desperate need for a kidney from his brother back home and Trapper is sent to Korea to set up the surgery. At the hospital, he soon meets the woman he fell in love with 30 years ago and wanted to bring back to America with him.
Neurosurgeon and recent new father Jake Christmas is angry and scared because of his wife's sudden death in a car accident and begins lashing out at Trapper and J.T.
When a doctor who is a friend of Jackpot's is dying and she appears to have given up any hope and wants to die. She goes to court asking that she be allowed to die. And the judge presiding over the case is Jackpot's estranged father.
J.T. finds a boy who is suffering from malnutrition living in a dumpster and brings him to San Francisco Memoral for care. His mother arrives to claim him but seems to be in the same strange condition that he is: very violent and without language.
The doctor who left Nurse Andrews at the altar 38 years ago becomes one of her patients for rehab following his heart attack and has never stopped loving her.
An intern is scared that she may have cancer, but even more afraid of entering the hospital and losing her internship.
The hospital is besieged by protesters. They appear to be targeting a particular doctor who performed dangerous and unauthorized experiments in the past.
Stanley is greatly impressed that Jesus has gotten a job as an orderly. However, soon the teen is admitted for stomach pains and it turns out that the cause is the drug-filled balloons he swallowed. Meanwhile, J.T. is elected the intern representative to the hospital board, and discovers that there is more involved than free donuts.
After J.T. begins taking care of a well-known rock singer with melanoma, he realizes the man is different than he expected him to be. Meanwhile, Jackpot wins a lottery, but cannot find the ticket to claim the prize.
