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What if frank would of been killed off? As much as hawkeye and everyone hated the guy having him die and not being able to see his kids i think that would of been a very interesting story. What do you all think?

I'm not sure. It wouldn't have had nearly the same impact as killing off Henry did. Frank wasn't beloved by anyone--not even Margaret--by the end of the fifth season when Larry Linville left the series. On the other hand, we never really saw anyone at the 4077th really process Henry's death. We just saw their horrified reaction when Radar broke the news. Killing him off was more for the benefit of the audience, to drive home the point that people die during war.

If Frank had been killed off at the end of Season 3 rather than Henry, well, it still would've shocked the audience but people probably wouldn't have been nearly as upset.

Coincidentally, we were discussing this very subject over at the Best Care Anywhere forum very recently.

My personal feeling is this: I feel like most of the camp would be totally indifferent to the news of Frank's death - especially Henry, considering all of the crap Frank gave him for being such an incompetent commander, Henry would probably be breathing a sigh of relief inside. I feel like Hawkeye and Trapper may possibly feel a little remorse for the way they treated him, I think that reality of war would have opened their eyes to remind them that not everybody got to go home because of the way . . . but, at the same time, I doubt they'd really grieve Frank's loss too much. I think perhaps the only one who would be truly devastated by Frank's death would have been Margaret, since they were still at item at the time, and she still - for the most part - clung to him.

As for the impact it would have on TV viewers, I think it would still be pretty shocking for people regardless if it was Henry or Frank, because the death of a major TV character wasn't heard of back then, so I think even though audiences loved to hate Frank, I still think it would have been a mighty tough pill to swallow if we learned he was killed on his way home.