I noticed your question on this web site- (My question would be "Was the idea of location change and the introduction of women to the storyline greeted with a good response from the actors and crew?")
The location change from Hawaii to Valencia California after the first season was not well accepted by the majority of the actors and crew. Zev Braun made this decision to save costs and he wanted to use the old MASH set located in Valencia California. Eventually, it ended up costing more than filming in Hawaii due to several reasons. Most of the scenes required spraying the brown grass and background to look green like the jungle and it was difficult to transport the crew and extras to the filming locations in Valencia. Valencia was cold compared to Hawaii; so, many of the scenes were filmed in cold temperatures which was not pleasant for the actors and crew. In Valencia we had to rent and bring all the coconut trees, palm trees, bamboo and other plants to the set in order to make the background look like Vietnam. Hawaii was a perfect match to Vietnam where everything is green and tropical looking. The ratings started to drop after moving to Valencia and the air time slots eventually moved to non prime time air slots which further impacted the ratings. In my opinion had Zev continued to film in Hawaii the series would have lasted much longer.
Introduction of women to the storyline was well accepted by everyone. During the War in Vietnam many women were involved as doctors and nurses. I don't remember any woman reporters in Vietnam however; I worked at the front line during the War where most reporters were distant from those areas.
Mahalo,
Louise Dushkin
Vietnamese Casting Director, Tour of Duty
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