# Was M\*A\*S\*H\* Peculiar To Only The Korean War?....
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 9, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266 "2009-06-09T23:06:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/1 "2009-06-09T23:06:15Z")
… and if not, would y’all support a M_A_S_H_ based on our current wars, or (preferably) WWII?
Caveat: It would need to be written with as much insight, empathy and feeling as the M_A_S_H_ we are used to. I would not accept anything less, and neither would y’all, I don’t think.
I know, I know: We’re not going to have Hawkeye, BJ, Trapper, Radar, The Colonel, Hot Lips or Frank, but couldn’t we have the basic _premise_, Kiddos?
Sorry, but count me as one of the “burned-out” on the “franchise” cop/legal shows.
I need positive-ness. (In the midst of all this negative-ness).
Thanks
Quasi
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/2 "2009-06-09T23:18:04Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> … and if not, would y’all support a M_A_S_H_ based on our current wars, or (preferably) WWII?
Well, Vietnam yielded [China Beach](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Beach), which was a pretty similar concept.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/3 "2009-06-09T23:23:34Z")
It took place on the Korean War, as sort of an adaptation of the book series by Richard Hooker and the Robert Altman movie, but it depicted Korea as generically Asian and was generally regarded as a statement about the then-current Vietnam War. Since the name is so closely associated with an existing intellectual property (and the term M.A.S.H. is no longer used by the US Army), I wouldn’t advise calling an updated version anything with the word M.A.S.H. in the title.
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/4 "2009-06-09T23:31:35Z")
> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> It took place on the Korean War, as sort of an adaptation of the book series by Richard Hooker and the Robert Altman movie, but it depicted Korea as generically Asian and was generally regarded as a statement about the then-current Vietnam War. Since the name is so closely associated with an existing intellectual property (and the term M.A.S.H. is no longer used by the US Army), I wouldn’t advise calling an updated version anything with the word M.A.S.H. in the title.
Okay, I agree. No M_A_S_H_ reference, but I am thinking of something _deeper_ and more … _primitive_, but with the same “pathos” (is that the correct term?)
I mean, there **had** to be “Battle Surgeons” in WWII, right?
I think y’all think I’m trying for a M_A_S_H_ clone, aren’t you?
Maybe I am.
Maybe I am.
I just miss that show so bad.
Q
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/5 "2009-06-09T23:59:46Z")
IIRC, the pilot for Union Army Surgical Team was bit of a disaster. The test audience didn’t really go for a bunch of doctors making wisecracks while sawing off limbs.
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/6 "2009-06-10T00:13:46Z")
It depends- do you think that public sentiment right now for the Iraq war more or less matches the dissatisfaction with Vietnam during the run of M_A_S\*H? I don’t think it’s quite as pronounced, and so I wonder if a basically anti-war show would play as well right now.
But I don’t miss the service-comedy aspect, I miss the excellent writing and acting.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/7 "2009-06-10T00:32:28Z")
> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> It took place on the Korean War, as sort of an adaptation of the book series by Richard Hooker and the Robert Altman movie, but it depicted Korea as generically Asian and was generally regarded as a statement about the then-current Vietnam War. Since the name is so closely associated with an existing intellectual property (and the term M.A.S.H. is no longer used by the US Army), I wouldn’t advise calling an updated version anything with the word M.A.S.H. in the title.
The Altman movie was (and the show) but the Hooker book was definitely not anti-war, and his later books even less so. Hawkeye in the books is not a sensitive New Age guy. In the last one he tells a tall tale about how, when the A bomb fizzled, he convinced a sea serpent to incinerate Hiroshima. :eek: He also used “Democrat” as a curse.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/8 "2009-06-10T01:26:09Z")
Though is was set in Korea, I thought M_A_S\*H was about Vietnam.
ETA: Er, the movie and series. The book was about drinking and screwing in Korea. Okay, so were the movie and series, but the book had little other message, and its sequels even less.
ETAA: I can’t believe I read so many of the sequels. :eek:
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/9 "2009-06-10T01:29:28Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> Well, Vietnam yielded [China Beach](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Beach), which was a pretty similar concept.
I liked that show. The theme song in conjunction with what the show was about always made me tear up. Hell, anything like that makes me tear up anymore.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/10 "2009-06-10T01:58:33Z")
Gettin’ old, eh, **billfish678**? 😉
Yeah, gettin’ old, too. ☹
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/11 "2009-06-10T02:37:34Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Gettin’ old, eh, **billfish678**? 😉
>
> Yeah, gettin’ old, too. ☹
Well, don’t read my pit thread then ☹
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/12 "2009-06-10T03:15:39Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Well, don’t read my pit thread then ☹
I won’t. We old fucks know to we need to keep our misery to ourselves. With an exception for anonymous user names on boards for punk kids who don’t know any better. 😉
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/13 "2009-06-10T03:49:30Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> I won’t. We old fucks know to need to keep our misery to ourselves. better. 😉
Christ, **DZ** , I tried to edit, but I think I just screwed up.
Anyway, I think a pre-cursor of M_A_S_H_ is in order.
No Hawkeye, Trapper. Lips, Frank, BJ, Colonel, Klinger…
We can **do** this, y’all.
Get in touch, if you’d like to write the first 26 episodes.
I think we can do this.
Bill
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/14 "2009-06-10T06:03:34Z")
> [@dropzone](#):
>
> ETAA: I can’t believe I read so many of the sequels. :eek:
For those who haven’t the pleasure, there are two sets of sequels. The first, by Hooker, has Trapper and Hawkeye (and Spearchucker, I think) go to Maine to set up the Finest Kind Medical Clinic and bait shop. There is a second series - MASH goes to Paris, MASH goes to hell for all I care, which had the basic TV characters together again. They have Hooker’s name, but were clearly written by someone else. I read one and got sick.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/15 "2009-06-10T12:09:03Z")
Any new MASH would have to include vampires and werewolves in order to bring in the younger crowd. You could call it “Monster M_A_S\*H.”
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### Author:  [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/16 "2009-06-10T14:30:23Z")
I wouldn’t want to see a remake or reboot or anything with the same name but an original military medical show could be interesting. I’m not sure it would do all that well - there don’t seem to be many fictional military series getting aired in the recent past. The only two of I can think of are JAG and NCIS. And there’s that delicate balance of being neither ‘too soon’ nor ‘past due’.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/17 "2009-06-10T14:52:45Z")
Does it have to be a medical show? I wonder if Adrian Cronauer’s original pitch for a military version of WKRP exists anywhere.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/18 "2009-06-10T14:58:07Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> Does it have to be a medical show? I wonder if Adrian Cronauer’s original pitch for a military version of WKRP exists anywhere.
Good Morning Vietnam: The Series?
How about a military version of Seinfield? It could be set on some Special Forces firebase in Afghanistan or wherever where nothing happens.
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### Author:  [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/19 "2009-06-10T15:19:47Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#):
>
> Any new MASH would have to include vampires and werewolves in order to bring in the younger crowd. You could call it “Monster M_A_S\*H.”
It would be the greatest smash…
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-m-a-s-h-peculiar-to-only-the-korean-war/499266/20 "2009-06-10T15:24:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> For those who haven’t the pleasure, there are two sets of sequels. The first, by Hooker, has Trapper and Hawkeye (and Spearchucker, I think) go to Maine to set up the Finest Kind Medical Clinic and bait shop. There is a second series - MASH goes to Paris, MASH goes to hell for all I care, which had the basic TV characters together again. They have Hooker’s name, but were clearly written by someone else. I read one and got sick.
I liked those books. Funny stuff. Hawkeye, as noted above, is pretty conservative, but they have the wacky tone of the early TV episodes. Hot Lips becomes a priestess of a gay church, Radar is a multi-millionaire owner of a restaurant chain, there’s a cajun oil millioniare, an opera singer, a bumbling news anchorman, at least one Sheik, etc.
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