M*A*S*H

[AmandaByNight]

Fond farewell to the GREAT Harry Morgan. Morgan was one of those actors who when you saw him on the screen, just gave you a warm feeling. Sadly today we don't have much of that in actors.
He was truly a national treasure. RIP.

Well said.

He was certainly likable and Col. Sherman Potter was a wonderful character.

RIP Harry.

[Seaver41]

Though not my favorite, I don't think there is a show that I've ever watched more of then M*A*S*H*. Access is the easy answer. As a kid growing up in NY, the show was shown in syndication EVERY weeknight at 7pm AND 11pm......so over the years I've likely seen each episode at least 5 times over.....probably more. I was too young to watch it in current production until I aged a bit and that was towards the end. Born in 67', it was 2/3...3/4 of the way thru the series run before I was watching the Monday night 9pm broadcast, and even at that I was watching Monday night football knowing reruns happened all the time. Plus it wasn't must see tv down the home stretch, except for the finale.....and that was tough to watch.

MASH had 2 distinct lives. You had the zany, gag like comedy of the Hawkeye/Trapper/Henry years.....and a much more dramatic, mature approach in the BJ/Potter years. One could argue the switch came with the exit of Frank and the entrance of Winchester.....but the true zaniness lied in the years while Henry Blake was in command. I would classify the FRank to Winchester period as the growing up stage and once Winchester was on board the show had a much more grown up feel.

I haven't watched in some time now, but I guarantee you it would take a moment to figure out the episode.

My favorite episodes lie mostly in the early days with Henry/Trapper.

I see one poster in the thread wrote they never saw it.........and I must admit that was shocking, but it must be an age thing as MASH has been gone for quite some time now....so it is easy to understand younger generations not knowing it..............but anyone 35+ years of age had to have some contact with the show in their earlier life.

[Visiting Stewardess]

RIP Harry Morgan.

On the MASH forum it was quite a sad day, although everyone was amazed about the high age reached by Harry Morgan.
He was quite frail in the end but was still in contact with his friends from the MASH years.

There was a nice tribute from Gary Burghoff on the Ken Levine Blog. That made me almost choke, it brought out the man from behind the actor.

The weekend following his death we had our annual Christmas MASH fest.
When everyone on screen was saluting the Colonel, we paused the DVD for a moment and saluted Harry Morgan. It was an emotional moment.


I liked Harry Morgan as Colonel Potter. He was the father figure in the show, the one that every one looked up to. And I guess, looking at his age, he was a kind of father figure for the cast as well.

I do prefer, as Seaver41, the earlier period with Henry Blake and Trapper. But it depends a bit on my overall mood, the Potter/Winchester years certainly had some highlights too.
I have watched a number of documentaries and behind the scenes stuff, including the reunion, and I am amazed how close they were in real life.

When watching my MASH DVDs in sequence I usually leave out the last episode. It's just too much, I usually need several hankies during the show.

[Seaver41]

when watching the reruns you get to see the horrible gaps they left in dealing with the departure of Trapper. Yes, it was due to the contract and Wayne leaving at end of season, but it just sucks that they were such characters together and then he is gone.....poof.....just like that. The writers did a decent job of writing the episode and introducing BJ.

[Stelth]

I know I'm in the minority but I HATE mash...Alan Alda is not funny to me at all. His hokey Groucho impressions and lame jokes? I just don't understand the enthusiasm. Tired cross-dressing schtick that went on and on, the constant disdain for the military...just way too preachy and sanctimonious for my taste.

[Styles Bitchley]

I never got it when I saw it in its first run, but I was a kid back then. Re-watching as a grown up though, I really enjoy it.

[Stelth]

I never got it when I saw it in its first run, but I was a kid back then. Re-watching as a grown up though, I really enjoy it.

For me it's not a question of "getting it" , I just hate it and feel it is worthy of hate.

[ConchRepublican]

I never got it when I saw it in its first run, but I was a kid back then. Re-watching as a grown up though, I really enjoy it.

For me it's not a question of "getting it" , I just hate it and feel it is worthy of hate.

I hear ya Stelth. I liked it a lot more when I was younger. Now I find Hawkeye's arrogance and condescension annoying, as well as the show's preachiness. I haven't seen an episode in a while, but there still were some classic ones, including the all night poker game with Col. Flagg.

Overall I still have some good memories of the first season with Trapper, that was always my favorite season. After that there were some bright spots, but it become more and more like an paid endorsement to me.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Fond farewell to the GREAT Harry Morgan. Morgan was one of those actors who when you saw him on the screen, just gave you a warm feeling. Sadly today we don't have much of that in actors.
He was truly a national treasure. RIP.

Hello N1095A or may I call you N1?,
Check Morgan out when he was a character actor in the 1940's and 1950's when he was aces in flicks like Yellow Sky, and billed as Henry Morgan. I have no idea why he changed it unless the great comic wit Henry Morgan of game shows fame paid him to.
The first MASH book by Richard Hooker was good but the sequels stink, he was just milking them for the bucks. Actually the characters seemed to me more right wing individualists than left wing as in the series, but when it comes down to it they were opposite sides of the same coin as both were making fun of the many insanities and staggering waste in the army.
According to a ex MASH doc who was an advisor to the show and whose book I read about it, most episodes were actually based on true stories real MASH doctors and nurses shared with the producers. Recall the one where everyone dyed their hair red? that happened though it sounds like a dumb Hollywood comedic device.
And the docs did warm their hands from the wound when they opened up patients. They'd put in 35 hours doing operations non stop, their boots would then have to be cut off their swollen bloody feet.
They were civilian doctors drafted over night, given 2 days of "training" so they knew to salute a superior, and were 2,000 yards behind the frontlines of Korea a week later.
Basically they were highly skilled civilians hijacked to Korea overnight who then heroically worked their butts off saving lives. The army understood this and did give them tremendous leeway, when it came to the pranks and inventive antics or gestures of rebellion. RA types may not like that aspect of the series but it was mostly accurate.

[Little Garwood]

I liked it a lot more when I was younger. Now I find Hawkeye's arrogance and condescension annoying, as well as the show's preachiness.

Conch, your view is in contrast to my own, as imo the world has few Hawkeye Pierces and far too many Frank Burnses in it.

As for the series itself, I've come to the following conclusions and probably comes across as "preachy."

So many read "preachiness" into what M*A*S*H was doing but what good would it be if they already told us what the audience already knew---that totalitarianism is bad. For some bizarre reason Americans cannot handle being criticized or parodied and that's what M*A*S*H was doing. The show would be a redundant, hopeless Cold War relic if its emphasis was on how evil the Communists were (and always have been). To be upset about the absence of anti-Communist rhetoric means that one is missing the point of what the program was about. We learn more about ourselves through self criticism, not by constantly saying how bad the enemy is.

Even if what M*A*S*H was saying rankled one's political sensibilities, hopefully one can see that there is truth in what they were lampooning: the hypocrisy of institutions, politicians, and the lesser-qualities of the United States itself. It doesn't make M*A*S*H anti-American or pro-Communist but hopefully gets the viewer to think, whether said viewer agrees with what is being criticized or not.

As for the program's change in tone and humor. I take the view that M*A*S*H is not about merely telling jokes, but about commenting on life and its tragedies, which is when comedy works best--in proportion to drama. I also see someone like, say, Woody Allen's humor this way which is why I understand his need to cover dramatic themes. Humor shouldn't really exist on its own, or even comedy; the same goes for drama. It's not about one liners per se, but rather the context of the one liners and how they serve as a response to something that needs lampooning. You know, all that "state of the human condition" stuff that M*A*S*H has which so many apparently "hate" but nevertheless torture themselves watching which in turn tortures those of us who enjoy the entire series with their inability to handle seasons four and on.

To quote Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, author, and World War II veteran Bill Mauldin:

"War humor is very bitter, very sardonic. It's not ha-ha humor. I asked Tad Foster, a cartoonist I admired a lot from the Vietnam war, if people came up to him and said, 'I loved your stuff from the war--it kept me laughing all the time. Foster said, 'Yup. sons of bitches.' I feel the same way. When someone says Willie and Joe [Mauldin's characters] made them laugh, I tell them, 'You're not supposed to laugh.' Maybe you grin or nod, but it's not ha-ha humor."

I believe that this brand of humor also applies to M*A*S*H and the show was all the better for adopting this attitude.

I don't expect any responses to any of this. lol

[308GUY]

I don't expect any responses to any of this. lol

"Always expect the unexpected." ONE of the things I actually remember from when my dad was teaching me to drive.

Anyway, you nailed it LG! Of course the writers milked their ability to write to the specific audience they knew they already had, but looking at the "big picture", it was very much as you describe, in my opinion.

There were many episodes that just were NOT about entertaining, or comedy, but exposing us, the public, to some of the very tip of the iceburg where war and man's inhumanity to man are concerned. How insane it is, and yet so commonplace that there seems to ALWAYS be somewhere in the world at any given time where it is going on.
Speaking to the most base form of prejudice there is...."If you are different than me...then there's something wrong with you." Don't see where we'll ever really get away from it, but gives us something to work towards, problem is, we won't all see the need for it at the same time, so on the cycle goes.

I took it that the "antics" of the crew was some of what they felt they had to do in order to cope with the situation. A sort of diversion to distract from the gravity of their circumstances. After all, most of them were there against their will, so to speak. Plucked from the life they had chosen and deposited in the middle of somebody else's war. For those who watched the series, (and I also agree, the movie was far superior to the tv version), you'll recall when Pierce "lost it"....he was no longer able to cope or function for that matter. He had a long enough lapse of laughter and diversionary tactics to allow reality to settle in, and he just could not handle it.

Anyway, not trying to defend the show, just saying it had it's place, and it did entertain at the same time it also made a statement, at least in my opinion.

I've watched the series over the years, and it does have it's endearing qualities, though I think it's an acquired taste. Like MPI, there were quite a few notable guest stars over the years.

You can't watch it for very long and not laugh at some of the circumstances, or Klinger...or Radar...and Harry Morgan...one of the best!

"We want something else...we want something else...we want something else!"

(Edited to add a few thoughts.)

[Styles Bitchley]

I liked it a lot more when I was younger. Now I find Hawkeye's arrogance and condescension annoying, as well as the show's preachiness.

Conch, your view is in contrast to my own, as imo the world has few Hawkeye Pierces and far too many Frank Burnses in it.

As for the series itself, I've come to the following conclusions and probably comes across as "preachy."

So many read "preachiness" into what M*A*S*H was doing but what good would it be if they already told us what the audience already knew---that totalitarianism is bad. For some bizarre reason Americans cannot handle being criticized or parodied and that's what M*A*S*H was doing. The show would be a redundant, hopeless Cold War relic if its emphasis was on how evil the Communists were (and always have been). To be upset about the absence of anti-Communist rhetoric means that one is missing the point of what the program was about. We learn more about ourselves through self criticism, not by constantly saying how bad the enemy is.

Even if what M*A*S*H was saying rankled one's political sensibilities, hopefully one can see that there is truth in what they were lampooning: the hypocrisy of institutions, politicians, and the lesser-qualities of the United States itself. It doesn't make M*A*S*H anti-American or pro-Communist but hopefully gets the viewer to think, whether said viewer agrees with what is being criticized or not.

As for the program's change in tone and humor. I take the view that M*A*S*H is not about merely telling jokes, but about commenting on life and its tragedies, which is when comedy works best--in proportion to drama. I also see someone like, say, Woody Allen's humor this way which is why I understand his need to cover dramatic themes. Humor shouldn't really exist on its own, or even comedy; the same goes for drama. It's not about one liners per se, but rather the context of the one liners and how they serve as a response to something that needs lampooning. You know, all that "state of the human condition" stuff that M*A*S*H has which so many apparently "hate" but nevertheless torture themselves watching which in turn tortures those of us who enjoy the entire series with their inability to handle seasons four and on.

To quote Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, author, and World War II veteran Bill Mauldin:

"War humor is very bitter, very sardonic. It's not ha-ha humor. I asked Tad Foster, a cartoonist I admired a lot from the Vietnam war, if people came up to him and said, 'I loved your stuff from the war--it kept me laughing all the time. Foster said, 'Yup. sons of bitches.' I feel the same way. When someone says Willie and Joe [Mauldin's characters] made them laugh, I tell them, 'You're not supposed to laugh.' Maybe you grin or nod, but it's not ha-ha humor."

I believe that this brand of humor also applies to M*A*S*H and the show was all the better for adopting this attitude.

I don't expect any responses to any of this. lol

Very insightful Garwood. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve]

I'm old enough to remember going to see the movie and just don't think the TV show was ever as good (although close at times).........

[IKnowWhatYoureThinking]

I agree Steve! The movie is far superior to the show.

[Stelth]

I wish I could go back in time to 1972 and punch Alan Alda in the throat.