Harry Morgan Dies at Age 96: AKA: The Entertainment Industry Has a Profound Effect

Despite the fact that the final episode "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", aired over a year before I was born, I grew up on M*A*S*H. It was and may still be both my mother and father's favorite tv show. They managed to collect all 11 seasons on DVD, slowly gathering them as Christmas and birthday gifts for each other. One of my favorite memories was when the both bought the same season for each other for Christmas one year. Not to mention that at some point they owned the M*A*S*H trivia game...yup that existed.

Anyway like I said, I grew up on the show, FX used to marathon episodes daily and I would come home from school and watch it with my mom. It was just the normal thing to do, it wasn't until I got to college that I realized it was a bit odd for someone my age to be able to describe entire episodes of a show that had been off the air for over a decade.

This morning I read on TVLine about the death of actor Harry Morgan. There was no big fanfare, in fact I almost missed the article entirely. Just a simple statement really that the man had passes away at the age of 96. You can read the article for yourself here.

It made me sad. I realize how utterly simplistic that sounds, but it's the truth. I talk to my mother often enough, as we do live on very different schedules, but reading the news made me immediately take out my phone to text her, because I knew she'd be sad too.

Despite working in the industry for years, I still am amazed at the way this silly little business has such a profound impact on our every day lives. The way it can cause such deep emotions and connections that you never really stop to think about or even notice all that much. A reminder that on some level my silly little job can, and often does have an impact.

R.I.P. Colonel Potter.