# The only M\*A\*S\*H fan. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561 "2003-05-26T11:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/41 "2003-05-27T20:26:37Z")
M_A_S_H was my favorite T.V. show until the Hill Street Blues era, when HSB took over as my favorite. But M_A_S_H still remains in second place even though it’s been off the air for 20 years. I love all the different eras of the show, although I’m not as fond of the silly slapstick of the very early seasons. I know it’s not cool, but I still worship and adore Alan Alda (he’s terrific as the host of Scientific American Frontiers). My favorite actor from the show changes all the time, with Gary Burghoff, Harry Morgan, and David Ogden Stiers as the perennial leaders. There was a time during the run of the show when I would watch three syndicated episodes every single day, and even though I’ve probably seen each episode hundreds of times, I still like to catch them on FX. I saw my favorite episode (“Dear Ma”, in which Col. Potter gets shot in the rear end) again recently, and enjoyed it just as much as I ever did. My favorite obsessive M_A_S_H fan story: back in the late seventies, I had to take some religion classes on Monday nights, conflicting with M_A_S_H. Since this was pre-VCRs (at least in my house), I had my sister take an audio tape recorder and tape the episodes I missed so I could listen to them. I still remember exactly which episodes were taped this way, because I listened to them so many times that I wore out the tape. So no, you are not the only M_A_S\*H fan alive. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/42 "2003-05-27T20:26:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Early Out \* > \*\*Trivia time for the rest of you: which characters, if any, _did_ get promoted during the course of the series? \*\* Klinger (corporal to sergeant) and Fr. Mulcahy (first lieutenant to captain, IIRC). Frank was promoted to lt. colonel when he went stateside. There was also a male nurse who was given an honorary second lieutenant during his last couple of weeks of service. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/43 "2003-05-27T21:16:12Z")
**Jeff Olsen** , that last one is obscure enough to get you bonus points! Very nice. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/44 "2003-05-27T21:20:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Early Out \* > \*\*Truth be told, I couldn’t quite remember whether Radar got promoted (for real) before he left the series. Trivia time for the rest of you: which characters, if any, _did_ get promoted during the course of the series? \*\* Did “Captain Lamb” get promoted posthumously, or did he just get a medal? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/45 "2003-05-27T21:36:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*Right you are. One episode took place over the entire year of 1951. \*\* Which one was that? the family reunion stateside? that must have taken some time to organise. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/46 "2003-05-27T21:48:03Z")
Klinger went from a corporal to a sergeant, didn’t he? Other than that… I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/47 "2003-05-27T22:05:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > \*\*Which one was that? the family reunion stateside? that must have taken some time to organise. \*\* Potter is Father Time at the New Years’ Party welcoming 1951 Klinger runs a baseball bet all season long, taking the Brooklyn Dodgers against the rest of the league. Charles bets heavily, giving very long odds. The episode ends with everyone listening to the Giants/Dodgers game where Bobby Thompson hit “The Shot Heard Round the World.” (“The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”) Charles loses big. ---
**Author:** ![robgruver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@robgruver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robgruver)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/48 "2003-05-27T22:53:54Z")
M_A_S_H_ is actually my second favorite show after Law & Order. But its my favorite comedy! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/49 "2003-05-27T23:20:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\*Did “Captain Lamb” get promoted posthumously, or did he just get a medal? \*\* I think you mean Captain Tuttle, and he just got a medal. Private Lamb was the animal that Radar sent home so it wouldn’t become main course for the Greek’s Easter celebration. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/50 "2003-05-28T03:11:11Z")
“I guess there was a little bit of Tuttle in all of us. You could even say that all of us together made up Tuttle!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![shawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@shawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shawa)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/51 "2003-05-28T04:01:38Z")
I do like Mash, though there are some awful episodes where Alan Alda got carried away with himself. Frank Burns always made me squirm though. They made his character too pathetic IMHO. And I’m not sure but I seem to remember that in the beginning episodes, he was supposed to be an average doctor. It was only later on that he turned into a complete incompetent. ---
**Author:** ![bwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@bwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bwk)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/52 "2003-05-28T08:19:56Z")
Love it. Great show. Yeh, Alan Alda was a preachy-pants, but he was funny. And kind of hot. Trapper was also hot. I’m one of the few people ever (probably) to think Klinger was kinda hot. What? I like swarthy men. Even though I think his legs were probably better than mine. I like the silliness of the first seasons, and the drama of the later ones. The only thing that bothered me as it went along was Margaret’s hair. The stylist or whoever did Very Bad Things to it. It was fun when Harry Morgan was on the show as the nutso colonel who said all the weird quotes and asked the helicopter pilot to sing ‘Mississippi Mud’. That’s one of those things you can only really appreciate in re-runs. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/53 "2003-05-28T13:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*I think you mean Captain Tuttle, and he just got a medal. Private Lamb was the animal that Radar sent home so it wouldn’t become main course for the Greek’s Easter celebration. \*\* Right you are, sir. Thanks for the correction! ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/54 "2003-05-28T14:19:05Z")
In later episodes, I didn’t like Margaret’s hair being down in Uniform - especially Dress Uniform, I could see in Battle or in OR tossled, but down, that’s just not Army regs - especially her being a stickler for Military Discipline. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/55 "2003-05-28T15:21:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > \*\*In later episodes, I didn’t like Margaret’s hair being down in Uniform - especially Dress Uniform, I could see in Battle or in OR tossled, but down, that’s just not Army regs - especially her being a stickler for Military Discipline. \*\* Seems to me that she stopped being such a stickler when über-patriot Frank was sent stateside. She virtually had no direction without him and the divorce from Penobscot made it worse. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/56 "2003-05-28T15:23:07Z")
The one phrase that keeps coming to mind is “all in all, a sturdy woman.” Anyone remember that one? And I’m not sure why it keeps popping into my head. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/57 "2003-05-28T16:45:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*The one phrase that keeps coming to mind is “all in all, a sturdy woman.” > > Anyone remember that one? And I’m not sure why it keeps popping into my head. \*\* Sounds like Frank on the phone with his wife. A friend of a friend had been through the 4077[sup]th[/sup] and ratted on Frank. Naturally, Frank didn’t want to lose his wife nor her money so he called home and portrayed Margaret as an “Army mule with bosoms.” ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/58 "2003-05-28T16:48:34Z")
There was a guy Margaret was seeing - Penobscot? Not sure - and somehow she intercepted a letter from him to someone else, and in the letter he referred to Hot Lips as “a sturdy woman.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/59 "2003-05-28T18:15:16Z")
**dan** , I think you have it, that letter was partly responsible for their divorce. Penobscot’s fleeing to Hawaii instead of discussing the letter clinched it. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561/60 "2003-05-28T18:16:29Z")
I loved MASH, but I feel it ran at least 3 years too long. I always enjoyed the Potter/BJ/Frank seasons and the first couple with Charles, as well as the Henry/Trapper seasons. I just didn’t like it after Radar left and BJ grew the mustache. There were a few episodes w/o the laugh track, such as the black and white newsreel episode and the one where Hawkeye had a jeep accident and was stranded with a Korean family that didn’t speak English. Say what you will about his producer failings, Alan Alda was quite a good actor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-only-m-a-s-h-fan/177561.md?page=4)