I was laying in bed last night thinking, and I remembered a bit from an episode of MAS*H. It was the one where Hawkeye and his companion (don’t recall if it was BJ or the other one) met up with an old army doc doing seminars in Tokyo. They invite him back to the front, and he ends up unable to operate due to the fact that he’s plastered. Hawk goes on one of his rants (why should this patient suffer because YOUR to cowardly to stay sober, etc.). So here’s the question: Wasn’t there an episode once where Hawkeye was to drunk to operate, and he defends himself against a disillusioned Radar (I’m not here to be a role model; I’m here because I have to be, or something like that)?
Yes. There was an episode where Hawkeye couldn’t operate because he was drunk. Radar had been injured and Hawk couldn’t deal with it. Radar got all upset with Hawk for failing to perform, Hawk flamed him, and the rest of the show was about everyone in the 4077th pissing on Hawkeye. At the end, Hawk and Radar are both in the canteen and Haweye swaps Radar a beer for a Ne-Hi.
Rather wierd episode IMO.
(Consistency was not a great aspect of MAS*H. You can find several shows that “violate” or contradict the “messages” in other shows. But that is the fallout for spending 11(?) years on the air with different writers.)
Wasn’t there a kind of sequel to MASH (and I don’t mean "After MASH") that showed the life of one of the main characters thirty years later–maybe “Trapper John, M.D.”?
Also, do you remember that there was some computer or office equipment maker (HP? Xerox?) that had most of the cast of the original MAS*H TV show starring in a series of commercials in the mid to late 80s? Henry Blake and Radar and some others were there, I know, except they had some sort of soul transmigration into the bodies of a bunch of office workers. I always thought that was bizarre.
IIRC, the part of the other doctor that was to drunk to operate was played by Robert Alda, Alan’s father. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen that episode, so my memory could be faulty.
Doghouse Reilly: Wasn’t there a kind of sequel to MASH (and I don’t mean "After MASH") that showed the life of one of the main characters thirty years later–maybe “Trapper John, M.D.”?
Yes. “Trapper John, MD” was quite successful on it’s own, running for 7 seasons. It’s only real link to MAS*H was TJ himself. No other characters were brought over.
DIVEMASTER, I think you’re right about that. I remember reading it either on the MAS*H website (the url for which I have long since lost), or maybe in the biography of Alan Alda’s that I read.
I recall this supposed hypocrisy, but this is just one of the reasons I think MASH* was such a great show. Like in real life, and unlike most TV (certainly at the time) it showed good guys with faults, bad guys with redeeming qualities, especially in the later years.
That show, I like to say, explored the “gray areas” in all humanity, where nothing is absolute, much like All In The Family did as well.
How come Trapper and Hawkeye were always drinking when they were on call, huh?
I can remember zillions of episodes where they were sitting around in the swamp knocking back a martini when the alert goes off and they run out of the tent to the operating room.
How did Hawkeye get away with insulting Radar/Iowa like that? I remember him being from Maine, right? That down-east bastion of suave urbanity and jaded cynicism.
*Ukulele Ike: How did Hawkeye get away with insulting Radar/Iowa like that? I remember him being from Maine, right? That down-east bastion of suave urbanity and jaded cynicism. *
They finally settled on Maine, though he once said he was from Vermont.
He interned in Boston, so he probably got his cynicism there.
My question: where’s his New England accent? No dropped/added “R”'s, no “dooryards”, no “ahyup”'s.
AWB: Yeah, it occurred to me, just as I was hitting the “send” button, that he probably got the heck out of lobsterland to pursue his medical studies. And I also remembered that he had a hankering for spare ribs from a barbecue place in…was it Chicago? Or St. Louis?
Maybe that explains his accent…the midwesterners got hold of him at some point and steamrolled all the “ayuhs” right out of him.
I have a bunch of questions now. First, could you guys explain to me what “dooryards” and “ahyup”'s are? I’m trying to imagine a New Englander saying these things, but I can’t. What are these words/phrases translated into non-New Englandish? I’ve never been great at figuring out regional accents, in case you hadn’t guessed.
Second, does anybody know where Alan Alda’s reputation as the epitome of the sensitive guy came from? On MAS*H he’s an arrogant sexual harasser, and I don’t remember what he was like in the movies. But I always here people saying stuff like, “Oh he’s so sensitive he’s a regular Alan Alda”.
Chicago. Adam’s Ribs - across the street from Dearborn Station. Near a dry cleaners. I always wondered if it was ever a real place or not. Anyone from the city want to investigate?
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
