which character(s) do you like best and what episodes are your favourites ?
Did you dislike any of the characters ?
Sure, MASH is a classic. Infinitly rewatchable. A reliable old war-horse when I’m channel surfing at 2AM.
I always liked Winchester better than Burns. Burns was just too easy a target, especially by the time they wrote him out of the series, when he was this whining, pathetic twit. Winchester was an equal who gave as good as he got, but at the same time could occasionally find common ground with Hawkeye and B.J. The character dynamics with him were much more interesting.
I disagree
MASH was far more fun when Burns was a part of the series.
The difference between Burns and Winchester was that Burns was a character that was easy to hate. He was overpromoted, a poor surgeon, a hypocrite and a suck-up. Winchester, while being pompous, was otherwise a good person and a good surgeon. You may not like Winchester’s attitude, but you couldn’t really hate him.
The same really applies to early Margaret/late Margaret. Early Margeret was just a playoff of Frank. Once out of Frank’s shadow, they allowed the character to grow and become a respectable officer.
Zev Steinhardt
Big MAS*H fan here…
…although it did start to get a little dopey towards the end. I agree with Winchester over Burns, but all in all I prefer the Wayne Rogers era. Nothing against Mike Farrell, except for that cheesy moustache. My favorite episode is probably the one where Hawkeye and Trapper scored some barbequed ribs from Chicago. I also like any episode with Col. Flagg and/or Dr. Sidney Friedman.
I would rate the scene where Radar walks into the OR and and announced Henry’s death as one of the most memorable moments in television. Great show, one that I watch in re-runs all the time.
Ditto for the overall fandom.
Burns v. Winchester – Winchester. Being a military personage myself, I hate to see the stereotypical moronic power-mad officer. There are way more “I’m too good for the room” types like Chuck, especially during times of the draft. (And so, to answer the OP, I dislike Burns, and not in a love-to-hate way like I mostly do with Winchester.)
Trapper v. B.J. – B.J. I don’t really know why, but B.J. always seemd like a better foil for Hawkeye – they would be like brothers most of the time, but occasionally would go at each other like, well, brothers. Maybe it’s just that B.J. lasted longer and had more opportunity for that sort of thing.
Potter v. Blake – Potter, no question. I mean, Henry had some good points, but Sherman killed. The tontene episode alone, with his toast to fallen comrades, stands as one of the finest episodes of television ever.
Radar v. Klinger – Radar. Even though it’s bucking my trend of preferring later, I’ll always prefer Radar, if only because he was absolutely perfect as the little mousy guy who really runs the place. Every unit has one, and Klinger grew into the role well, but Radar had it cold.
A little-known fact you probably already know, Opengrave, is that the writers didn’t tell the actors (except Gary Burghoff, of course) that they were going to do that so they could get their unrehearesed reactions.
Then someone screwed up the lighting, so they had to do it again. The best-laid plans…
The restaurant was called “Adam’s Rib.”
Although too much Alda could be annoying at times, I liked the episode in which Hawkeye had a jeep accident and suffered a concussion, forcing him to stay with a Korean family for a day. Some great one-liners in that episode.
BJ pranking everybody was great. “Air raid!”
My favorite series of episodes would probably be those that featured BJ as newly arrived through the transition from Burns to Winchester. The little vignette at the end of one of the first Winchester episodes was classic: Winchester, throughout the episode, has been recording a “letter” back home to his parents on his tape recorder. At the end, he is sitting in the Swamp, about to wrap up the letter, as he tries to pour some tea. The tea won’t pour, and he takes the top off the pot and pulls out a rubber chicken. The last line of his tape, “Get me the HELL out of here!”, along with the facial expressions he displays during that two-minute segment, are just wonderful.
I’ve heard several times that nobody on the set knew that Blake was going to die when they filmed his going-home episode; they just told the actors they needed some operating-room footage and sent Radar in with the message. So the reaction to Blake’s “death” is completely real – the actors are stunned. I hope that’s true, because it seems like a wonderful bit of television lore.
It was still more funny when Burns was there.
MASH became more political correct after Burns. It was more crazy before that. Especially when Trapper was a part og the series.
Here are the “periods”:
Trapper: 1972-1975
Burns: 1975-1977
Radar: 1972-1979
Hawkeye: 1972-1983
Hot Lips: 1972-1983
Potter: 1975-1983
Wichester: 1977-1983
Klinger: 1972-1983 (had only guest roles in the first season).
I like the periode 1972-75 best and 1975-77 second best.
Winchester was OK but he was a bit too pompous for me. They exaggerated his pompous maners.
I agree in the things you wrote about Margareth.
Col. Flagg was good. They should have used his character more.
I think my favourite episode is the one where BJ and Hawkeye plays poker with Burns. The one where they fasten a name tag on his toe in the end.
Let’s not forget the classic putting of Lt. Col. Penobscott in a body cast for his wedding!!
Zev Steinhardt
Are you saying Burns wasn’t on it the first 3 years? I’m positive he was there with Trapper and Col. Blake.
Yes, he was. It must have been a typo on POWER_station’s part. Larry Linville (as Burns) was part of the original cast.
Zev Steinhardt
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by stankow *
**Ditto for the overall fandom.
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Again I disagree.
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I like BJ, but think that Trapper is funnier. I have the impression that a majority agree with me in this. BJ was a good replacement though.
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Agree there. Henry is OK, but I like Potter better.
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I disagree, but I’ll guess that many will disagree with me here. I was tired of Radar long before he quited. He was a bit too cute and innocent for me.
Klinger was OK but not one of my favourites.
sorry, my mistake
Burns: 1972-1977
by the way:
have anyone seen the spin-off “Aftermash”. I have heard that it was a fiasco
Bwaha! One of my favorite all-time MASH moments!
I suppose I like the period from 75-79 the best. The first Blake/Trapper episodes were definitely great, but I prefer the direction the show took after they left. I also much prefer Potter and Hunnicutt. I have no real preference for Burns vs. Winchester. They were both good in their own ways.
In the last few seasons, the show began to suffer from an affliction that I have titled MASH-itis. MASH-itis is when the characters in a show become SO well-developed that they all become good guys. It’s hard to have a funny show with all good guys. Margaret is the perfect example of this. In the early years of the show, she was just a 2-dimensional bad guy. Over the middle years, her character became more developed as we learned more about her. She was still officious and annoying, but we learned that she meant well, and did have a sense of humor after all. We also learned about her insecurity, which explained, but did not excuse, a lot of her bad behavior. By the last couple of seasons, though, she had morphed into a good guy, and was no longer any good as a comedic foil.
(Contrast this with Seinfeld-itis, where the characters’ bad characteristics become so exaggerated over the course of time that the characters lose all believability.)
Eh. It was on for a very short time. I remember that it was pretty bad, but I don’t know that it was any worse than anything else, if you know what I mean.
I don’t know why, but whenever I think of the two of them, I think of the mustache painted on B.J.'s surgical mask, and that just kills me for some reason.
Might be my militaritude peeking through, but I just got tired of Klinger. After about his third bout of wackiness, any decent commander would have said, “Fine, you’re out of the unit. Luckily, there are two buses leaving today. One’s to Leavenworth for the rest of your damn life for attempting to desert, and the other’s to the front lines. Take your pick, wisenheimer.”
I’ll grant you that they didn’t develop Radar as well as they could have, and that’s why Burghoff left, but I also think that in his last season, he was playing the whole clueless-farm-boy thing pretty tongue-in-cheek.