MAS*H, the TV show about the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, based on the movie by Robert Altman and the book by Richard Hooker, is 40 years old today. It first aired on September 17, 1972 on CBS.
Still one of my favorite shows of all time. I know it got preachy towards the final few years, but I still liked the characters quite a bit and is the only show from the 70’s I still enjoy today.
MeTV is showing the pilot episode right at this moment. I remember when the final episode came on, I had to work that night. Fortunately my boss was an early VCR adopter and taped it for me and allowed me to watch it later at her house.
Aw, the early Radar was so much cooler than the later Radar.
MASH is like Olver and Hardy or Chaplin’ movies, you can look at it once at several years and still enjoy it.
We held a MAS*H marathon one evening when my teenage nieces were up here last spring, and they laughed all the way through it. It’s held up really well, mostly.
Yeah, they really dumbed Radar down over the years. My theory is that it was in retaliation for Gary Burghoff being such an asshole.
He was?
I’ve heard rumors that he was hard to work with on MASH, but I’ve never heard the specifics. I do know he was unbearable to watch on Match Game, especially during his extended substitution for Charles Nelson Reilly.
I have all 11 seasons on DVD, and my kids (not just my wife and myself) love watching it over and over. It holds up VERY well.
According to this thread he was. I was just riffing on that.
Is it about boxing?
The pilot episode was the raffle where the prize (a pass to Tokyo? with a nurse) went to a Father Mulcahy that was not William Christopher.
According to Wikipedia’s entry: As summed up by one of the principals: 'Gary had personality problems. He always felt there was a conspiracy against him. He was rude to everyone, but if anyone ever said anything back to him, he’d throw a tantrum.
it got too preachy more than once, but over-all I loved it. in general I liked the earlier ones when they were just flat-out silly.
Fascinating stuff about Gary Burghoff, folks. I had no idea. Thanks. 