5. A SAD TWIST

When McLean Stevenson, who played Lt. Col. Henry Blake, wanted out of the show after three seasons, it led to one of its most memorable episodes. In “Abyssinia, Henry” (season three, episode 24), not only did viewers say goodbye to the honorably discharged Lieutenant Colonel, they learned in the final scene that his plane had been shot down with no survivors. (Among the cast, only Alda knew about the twist.) “It felt like you were marching in a parade and then hit a brick wall,” Leverence says of the episode. (Stevenson died in 1996.)