I loved MASH, but I thought the finale sucked. They ran out of ideas a season or two before, but carried on anyway on momentum. If they series had ended while they were still doing creative stuff like the “Point of View” episode, or genuine emotion as when Col. Blake died, they could have done some all time great TV.
Instead, we got two hours of self-indulgent crap.
The idea became, whoever suffers the most is the noblest, Hawkeye had a psychotic break, therefore he is the Noblest One of All.
If they wanted to do something creative or worthwhile, do the finale about Hawkeye’s drinking. Do a vignette three years after the war, when he no longer has the excuse to drink because “war is hell” - but still drinks.
It was one of my favorite series, and I watched it faithfully. But I have never had the desire to see the series finale again. It just doesn’t compare to their best work
Like the one of the most chilling monologues ever written -
No, he couldn’t. And no one who hears that can not be changed either.
But the finale just rates a shrug.
Regards,
Shodan
I saw it as that even the biggest wise-cracker could be overwhelmed by the hell of war, not that he’d Suffered More Than Anyone And Thus Was Noble. The others saw horrors too, but his got to him on a level where he snapped; perhaps on some level he was even weaker than the others.
I didn’t like the MASH finale either. I always thought the finale should have been the homecoming of the characters and troubles of reintegrating into a “normal life”. Peg finding another love in her life, Hawkeye’s Dad remarrying someone that Hawkeye hated, Charles not getting his dream job, etc.
The series always focused on the waste and destruction of war, I think the finale lost an opportunity to exploit the collateral damage of war on the homefront.
That sort of temporary memory suppression is popular in fictional head-shrinking stories, because it allows for a dramatic revelation. But does it ever happen that way in real life?
I thought the last fourteen or fifteen seasons of the show were terribly self-indulgent.
I read somewhere that the writers heard that anecdote from a real MAS*H doctor. And regarding AfterMASH, I was idly reading Wikipedia the other day and found that there was another spin-off that never went anywhere beyond the pilot stage. It was called WALTE*R and it focused on Radar O’Reilly.
I had heard that William Christopher ad libbed it.
In the books, didn’t Radar become a fast-food magnate?
But the various sequels to the TV series could have been good, too. Deal with the troubles of the characters re-integrating into ordinary life. If, as the Mulcahy character said, seeing what they did had changed them forever, show that.
I already mentioned Hawkeye’s drinking. What would Klinger’s life be like with a Korean wife, in Cleveland (or wherever it was)? What would parish life be like for a former war priest? It wouldn’t have to be a downer all the time - Show the Harry Morgan character and his wife re-establishing a relationship after their separation.
But the writers seemed to have used up all their ideas a year before the finale. Pity.
TVLand just showed (again) the 30th anniversary reunion episode, in which the major cast members reminisce, along with the creator and producers. IIRC, the line Mulcahy says was written, not ad-libbed.
There was Trapper John, MD, but that’s considered a spin-off from the original movie, not the TV series.
MAS*H is simply the best show ever, period. It started at good and kept getting better and better over eleven seasons and went out on top. “Goodby, Farewell, and Amen” is one of the best TV movies ever. Alan Alda’s writing was a triumph–and if that’s being preachy, then I’m shouting “Preach it, Brother Alan!”
I know this isn’t about exactly when MASH** began to suck, but for me it’s when they all started to like each other. Even after Potter, BJ and Winchester came on, they all still gave shit to Winchester and Hot Lips. And even Potter was dealth with at arms length most of the time.
Then Loretta Swit got a horrible dye job, and cried in front of the nursese and they offered a cup of coffee. Then all of a sudden, every other episode ended like it was the finale of Eight is Enough or something.
There was too much hugging in the last three or four seasons is all I’m saying.
The thing is, even in the first few seasons, the non-hawkeye characters weren’t that funny or interesting. Radar was quickly turned into an annoying man-child for some reason, Frank was, well, a pathetic man-child too, and worthless as a foil for the ‘good guys’, Klinger was basically one running gag about cross-dressing which was funny for fifteen minutes and got dragged (heh) out for umpteen seaons, the priest was…well, a slightly more mature pathetic, well, you know, etc. I’m not really sure it was Alda’s fault it became ‘the hawkeye show’, for whatever reason even from the beginning the writers didn’t really have much for the rest of the cast to do.
I love the show. For me, my favorite time as far as characters are concerned are after Potter and BJ have arrived and before Frank leaves. Although I do like Winchester’s character an awful lot for it’s differentness than anyone else there. And after Radar gets the hardship discharge I think the feeling all around was “It’s over now, right?” I’m not old enough to have really watched it while it aired, but I don’t enjoy a lot of the earlier episodes. There are a lot of inconsistencies in the stories for one. (e.g. Hawkeye’s mother was alive early on, Henry’s wife wasn’t named Lorraine, Father Mulcahy was played by someone else, etc.) I guess since I am younger the TV show had very little to do with the movie for me, and it was just any TV show. I actually can’t even sit through the movie and not be distracted.
I actually think Mike Farrell, Alan Alda, David Ogden Stiers, and Harry Morgan are all tremendous actors. In addition, some of them are very active in a lot of social causes. I admire them as some of the more respectable people Hollywood has seen.
Oh, and I think the finale is great and heart-wrenching. Though I do very much wish we had somehow seen a glimpse of them coming home as well.
In the 30th anniversary show I mentioned upthread, there was an interview with the late Larry Linville (made before he died, a fact I feel compelled to relate), and he said he left in part because he’d done everything with the character he could. When people asked why Frank didn’t grow and become more professional and mature, he said, “What, do you want me to be Alan Alda?” or something to that effect.
One thing I despised about the show as it went on was how Radar regressed. In the early episodes, he was about as much a member of the Swamp as anyone, drinking, scamming 3-day passes, etc., but then later, he was like a retarded 6-year old, thinking he could get drunk on grape Nehi. In fact, there was one episode, where he was sitting at the bar, in the O club I think, and was nearly falling down drunk on not even one beer, but about half of one beer.
I think it did get preachy, especially toward the end, and probably jumped the shark by the time Radar left (maybe even before, like when Henry left), but since I said I liked the final episode, I think it had jumped back over the shark a bit.
