I just attended a lecture by Mike Farrell of M.A.S.H. fame and in the Q&A at the end, M.A.S.H. came up. I never knew but found it interesting that it was his and Alan Aldas decision to end the show. Apparently they felt it was time to end it and they first took that decision to the cast and then to the network.
His favorite episode was titled “The Interview” because it incorporated some very spontaneous elements. The producers and writers had each actor answer a set of interview questions in character. Then the writers took those questions and answers and worked up a script. They then interviewed the characters but also threw some other non-scripted questions into the filming so there is some spontaneous material in that episode. As he noted, that required a great deal of trust on the part of the director and writers.
When I was young, I found M.A.S.H. to be pretty boring but I was into the A-Team and Dukes of Hazzard so take that for what you will. I did come to appreciate the show later in life when I had a few more years under my belt. Has any show come close to being at M.A.S.H.'s level since or is that on another plane entirely?
I still watch MAS*H a lot, and it’s nice to watch the uncut ones as there’s quite a bit that’s trimmed out of the syndicated crappy looking versions the local stations usually show. I think the show really suffered when they took out most of the humor, made it mostly serious (not having the laugh track I thought actually hurt), re-used various plots, and did other dumb things. \
I’m only 25, but I used to watch MASH pretty heavily when I was around 12-14 years old. It was one of my favorite shows at the time. I distinctly remember it was the first kind of media that provoked any feeling of sadness in me at that age. The last episode was a heart ripper for me. Oddly enough, I don’t watch it as much anymore, but that may be because I’ve seen it over and over.
Because of the relative cheapness of the season’s on DVD, my wife and I have watched seasons 1-6, and 8 and are waiting till Costco brings them back in for 7 and 9. It’s a great show, and watching the series you get a great sense of the show.
I liked the switch to Winchester over Burns, providing a bit more depth to the Hawkeye and ___ foil than Burns did after 4 or so seasons of the same guy.
Sydney the shrink guy has got to be one of my more favorite reoccuring characters. Usually his episodes are quite good.
I liked once Klinger was able to get rid of his section 8 shtick once Radar left the show, and take on his job as the clerk. Though it seemed before he did that he took care of practiacly every other job in the camp - guard duty, OR room help, KP and such.
My all-time favorite, no question. I have them all on VHS, and am doing same with DVDs, because as nixon66 said, CostCo rulz.
My girlfriend and I play a (really fucking stupid) game. when she’s channel-surfing and hits Hallmark or wherever MASH is playing, I guess the episode in 10 seconds and start reciting dialogue. The game is to see how long she can stand it. Typically, amazement turns to mild discomfort and horror in short order.
This is a show I hated as a kid, but then my wife got me to watch it more recently (around 5 years ago probably, so in my mid to late 20s, and I loved it. I don’t watch it regularly, but I always like it when I do. We both prefer the earlier episodes, as the later ones are often too self-indulgent for our tastes. But some of them are also good. In any case, it’s a great show.
Oh, and my wife had a student this semester who had never heard of it, much less seen it. He was a freshman, so born in the 80s (late 80s?!). Still…
I found it hard to get into the series again after watching the film. The film is such a great anti-war story with Robert Altman operating at the top of his game. The fairly dumbed down nature of the series never quite cut it after that.
I used to love MASH when I was a kid. It was syndicated everywhere in the late afternoons in the late 70s, and I watched it a lot. Always seemed to be on in the summer in the dead zone between swimming at the town pool and dinner. Odd to even remember how big that show was back in the three-network days. They don’t make 'em like MASH anymore.
But I stopped watching it years ago, because the syndication cuts today on Hallmark, Prime, etc. are unbelievably intrusive. I’ve gotta pick up some of the DVDs sometime.
Around 1981-ish I recall a couple stations collectively broadcasting three episodes in a two hour period before the news came on. I watched it quite a bit back then, it’s still one of my favorites.
