Sometimes, you need to trust your gut to know whether the activity you're about to invest time and energy into will serve you well. Sometimes, however, you're invited to join a good thing while it's going, and you get to enjoy all of the success and none of the uncertainty.

By the time David Ogden Stiers joined the cast of M*A*S*H, there would be no doubt that the show wasn't successful. Of course, the show's lasting impact wouldn't truly be understood until critics saw it in hindsight, years later.

However, by the late seventies, the show was already wildly popular, and a favorite among viewers and critics alike. So, it wasn't an incredibly hard decision to make when Stiers was asked by his agent whether he'd be interested in joining the cast on M*A*S*H.

Stiers recounted the experience to The Chicago Tribune. Stiers said that he paused for approximately one second before responding, "Okay, I've thought about it. Yes!"

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M*A*S*H

David Ogden Stiers recalled the moment he knew he had made it on M*A*S*H

Still, with all of his excitement, Stiers came from a theater background, not television, so M*A*S*H was an entirely new experience for him. However, Stiers was an incredibly quick study.

"I've learned more shortcuts, more tricks," he said. "I came to this show overly serious - in the sense that I thought, I wanted more rehearsals. I need to run my lines. Let's face it, I was pretty scared when I showed up for work here. But I've learned how to work faster. And the nervousness has diminished."

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