# Things that bother me about M asterisk A asterisk S asterisk H (the TV show)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted
**Created:** [June 4, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583 "2021-06-04T02:10:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 11
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/202 "2021-06-09T18:39:28Z")
One episode in which Rizzo had a bigger role than usual was “Wheelers and Dealers” (S10E6).
Klinger & Zale shared a b-plot in “End Run” (S5E18), the one where Frank gets them into a boxing ring.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/203 "2021-06-09T18:55:38Z")
I was curious if Jamie Farr was still alive (he is) and Google found this interesting fact: Jamie Farr and Alan Alda were both in the Army and were at some point posted in Korea. Farr was in entertainment and Alda was an artillery officer. Mike Farrell was also posted to Korea as a Marine. All of them were there after the armistice. The dog tags that Farr wore in the show were his real dog tags from his service.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/204 "2021-06-09T19:55:19Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> I was curious if Jamie Farr was still alive (he is) and Google found this interesting fact: Jamie Farr and Alan Alda were both in the Army and were at some point posted in Korea. Farr was in entertainment and Alda was an artillery officer. Mike Farrell was also posted to Korea as a Marine. All of them were there after the armistice. The dog tags that Farr wore in the show were his real dog tags from his service
My themed death list is living cast members of MASH(movie and show). Living members are not limited to, but include:
Alan Alda
Loretta Swit
Mike Farrell
Jamie Farr
Gary Burghoff
Jeff Maxwell
G.W. Bailey
Donald Sutherland
Elliot Gould
Sally Kellerman
Robert Duvall
Fred Williamson
Tom Skerritt
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### Author:  [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/205 "2021-06-09T23:31:22Z")
Farr and Switt are coming to Steel City Con in Monroeville, PA this weekend! The guest list is pretty impressive this year. [Steel City Con June 6-11](https://www.steelcitycon.com/)
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2021, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/206 "2021-06-10T12:12:15Z")
Jeff Maxwell (who played Igor, the guy on the chow line) co-hosts a podcast called MASH Matters, in which he discusses all sorts of behind-the-scenes topics, occasionally interviews other cast and crew members, and basically celebrates various aspects of the show. Available on most fine podcast apps.
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/207 "2021-06-10T15:36:56Z")
A similar episode was season 9’s “The Life You Save” where we learn the officers rotate through overseeing various camp functions (garbage, laundry, motor pool, etc.) yet they all act like it’s the first time they’ve ever been assigned this duty.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2021, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/208 "2021-06-17T14:01:42Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> And this thread is not about the oft-cited MASH complaints that have been beaten to death here and elsewhere – When it became the Alan Alda schmaltzfest, the fact that the series lasted longer than the actual war, the revelation that it is not about Korea but Vietnam.
Just a comment about that complaint. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen M_A_S\*H, but I don’t recall there ever being a lot anchoring the episodes to specific historical events or locations. I can suspend my disbelieve in that it took 11 years to tell a story that took place over a year or so, 30 minutes at a time each week.
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> - In an army hospital, where there are only four surgeons, and incoming wounded could arrive at any moment, would we expect that these surgeons regularly get themselves absolutely shitfaced?
Yes. It’s not like they ever expected a visit from the medical board.
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> - The fact that The Swamp has no walls other than a see-through screen. Where do these guys go to change their undies?
I would imagine they would just change them in the tent, regardless of who was around.
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> - It is supposed to be a mobile hospital, but check out the facilities. There are actual buildings. With floors. And walls. How they gonna manage those components in a bug-out?
> - Speaking of bugging out – is it a big deal or not? It’s only happened twice in the series to my recollection: in the two-part “Bug Out” episodes, and when BJ wanted to organize a “reunion” of family members back home. During the former, folks were flipping their wigs at the thought of a bug out, as if it were the greatest of inconveniences (and it was portrayed as such). And then, in the reunion episode, they bugged out as casually as if they were running to 7-11 for a Slurpee. Then, they turned around later that day and de-bugged back to whence they came. Nobody fussed, nobody got their thongs in a twist.
I don’t know much about operating procedures for a MASH unit in Korea. But I guess my question is how “mobile” are they expected to be? “Mobile” as the unit is quickly deployed in-theatre and then largely stays put? Or “mobile” as they have to constantly move to support whatever operations their parent unit (“I Corps” IIRC) was conducting?
As you pointed out, many of those buildings looked semi-permanent. Not to mention those those mine fields probably didn’t go with the 4077th when it relocated.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/209 "2021-06-17T15:53:21Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> I can suspend my disbelieve in that it took 11 years to tell a story that took place over a year or so, 30 minutes at a time each week.
Patrick O’Brian in his acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series crammed something like half a dozen novels and two and a half circumnavigations of the globe by sailing ship into a couple months in 1812.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/210 "2021-06-17T15:59:24Z")
Another data point for the was-Frank-considered-a-good-doctor discussion:
Early on in Season 1, Episode 9 (“Henry, Please Come Home”), Henry says something like “Leave Frank alone, he’s a great surgeon and we need him.”
mmm
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/211 "2021-06-18T02:24:27Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> Another data point for the was-Frank-considered-a-good-doctor discussion:
>
> Early on in Season 1, Episode 9 (“Henry, Please Come Home”), Henry says something like “Leave Frank alone, he’s a great surgeon and we need him.”
>
> mmm
I think part of the problem they had with painting the character into a corner included making him less competent as they made him less stable and more cartoonish.
His motivation for being a doctor was certainly always financial. He wasn’t good with patients. He took twice as long to go through medical school because he failed out. He cheated on his exam. Even if he was competent at the mechanics of being a surgeon he was not ever shown as a good doctor.
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### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/212 "2021-07-07T05:01:28Z")
Bumping this thread because I’ve been watching M_A_S_H reruns, and doing so reminded me of something. Way, way back in the day when I was teaching freshman comp at a local college, I had a student who was a veteran of the Korean War. His two complaints about M_A_S_H were
1. The setting did not look like Korea. I seem to recall him saying Korea was greener.
2. There wasn’t enough bad weather. According to this guy, Korea was either bitterly cold or ungodly hot with not much in between.
He never said anything about hairstyles.
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> It is no coincidence he has not had much of a career since. People don’t much like him.
I just read that the reason Burghoff left the series was that his marriage was in trouble (His wife divorced him during his final season.) and that he was burnt out. One of the directors said during the episode where Radar meets a woman he loves but will never see again, Burghoff broke down and couldn’t stop crying. The director had to walk him around the back lot for 15 minutes to calm him down.
The producers really wanted Burghoff to stay and offered him over 4 million dollars per season, which would have made him the third-highest-paid actor on TV (behind Alan Alda and Carol O’Conner) to stay on. Burghoff refused: it wasn’t the money; it was his mental health.
Jamie Farr said, “Gary Burghoff was an absolute delight.” Alan Alda is still in touch with him. I don’t see how he could have been that obnoxious.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/213 "2021-07-07T05:05:26Z")
> [@nelliebly](#):
>
> 1. There wasn’t enough bad weather. According to this guy, Korea was either bitterly cold or ungodly hot with not much in between.
They do feature that concept quite often in the show, but not all the time obviously. I’ve been to Seoul twice and it was neither way too hot or way too cold, but that is hardly a good sampling.
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### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/214 "2021-07-07T05:11:39Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> They do feature that concept quite often in the show, but not all the time obviously. I’ve been to Seoul twice and it was neither way too hot or way too cold, but that is hardly a good sampling.
The Korean War vet told me this stuff almost 30 years after the war. He might have just remembered the miseries and not the more temperate stuff.
I wonder if he’s still around. A few months after he took my class, he was seriously burned in a freak accident. He survived but his rebuilt face looked very different. A good guy who’d been through too much.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/215 "2021-07-07T09:47:49Z")
Yeah, I thought the weather became a character relatively often. The hottest hots (the bathtub episode) and the coldest colds (Radar’s cotton-stuffed earmuffs). At least a few of the episodes revolved around the weather.
As for Burghoff, I realize he was an important part of the show, but I find it hard to believe that he was offered a salary that put only Alan Alda and Carroll O’Connor ahead of him. Very hard to believe.
Jeepers.
mmm
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/216 "2021-07-07T12:28:30Z")
I was once watching the show with one guy who noted "The scenery in the movie _looked_ like Korea. With TV, you just want to say “Oh, southern California.”
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/217 "2021-07-07T13:43:32Z")
> [@nelliebly](#):
>
> 1. There wasn’t enough bad weather. According to this guy, Korea was either bitterly cold or ungodly hot with not much in between.
Famously, the [Battle of Chosin Reservoir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chosin_Reservoir) was fought in extremely cold.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/218 "2021-07-07T15:45:48Z")
I have a coworker who was born in Korea. He hated the Korean dialog. He complained no one knew how to speak Korean at all on that show.
Now, one must note he was a bit if a chauvinist when it came to Korea. I could not even pronounce Hyundai correctly as far as he was concerned. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bother-me-about-m-asterisk-a-asterisk-s-asterisk-h-the-tv-show/943583/219 "2021-07-07T17:02:32Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> I was once watching the show with one guy who noted "The scenery in the movie _looked_ like Korea. With TV, you just want to say “Oh, southern California.”
Unless they are from Southern California (or Korea) , I suspect most visitors driving through one of Malibu’s canyons would be commenting on how much the scenery looks like Korea.
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