Who are your favorite cast members from M*A*S*H? (Multiple choice)

Only one choice for me: Charles. A man of dignity thrust into an undignified situation, but dealt with it with honor, and occasionally with humor and compassion.

He won me over at the end of his first episode, when he turned around Hawkeye’s prank and mockery by putting the snake back in Hawkeye’s bed - and responding “Please…Mozart.”

The only leads I voted for were Henry and Trapper. They got out before the writers could fuck over their characters.

Of the recurring cast, Sidney and Flagg were my favorites. But I insist on casting a protest vote for Nurse Kellye. She never got the love she deserved, even from this poll.

I agree on Nurse Kellye. I loved it when she dressed down Hawkeye in one of the last episodes. I voted for Charles. I think he was the best actor on the show.

You are absolutely 100% right and I regret overlooking her.
mmm

In most of these polls I’m only voting for one character, but for this one I had to split it among Hot Lips (for looking the best in an Army t-shirt), Potter (for grace under insane circumstances), Chahhhles, and Hawkeye (who is sine qua non).

One of the show’s great moments.

Excellent point. If she’d been on the list I would have given her a nod too.

They kind of spoiled Freedman by having him reprise his best line in the finale (“Ladies and gentlemen…”). It was funny once.

Hawkeye was a little too over-the-top for my tastes, and that spilled over into his immediate circle, so I didn’t vote for any of them. And Burns and Winchester were both rather jerkish (Winchester had his redeeming moments, but he was still always snobbish), which ruled them out too.

I picked Potter, Radar, Klinger, and Mulcahy. Potter was a great leader, and probably the only person who could herd those cats, and wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty when need be. Radar, of course, was just plain lovable. Klinger was mostly just lowbrow comedy, but he was really, really good at it. And the good Father, I can’t put my finger on it, but something about him really resonated for me-- Maybe it was him being stuck as the voice of morality?

I chose:

  1. B.J.-- For being a solid “straight man” for Hawkeye while still bringing the funny and his own unique personality. His wit tends to be s a bit dryer than Hawkeye’s, and often you can hear a low zinger towards the end of a scene that’s almost under his breath. I admire his kindness and overall good humor, and – despite his one-night lapse – his fidelity to Peg. I love the warm relationship he develops with Margaret. There’s this one ep where B.J. is tending bar at the Officer’s Club and Margaret is sitting complaining about something … and she sorta flirts with him, but in a completely safe, friend-bantery way. Also, he was darn cute (Mike Farrell was my first actor crush, believe it or not). The few times he went bare-chested… well, homina homina!
  1. Hawkeye – Alan Alda gets a lot of heat for his supposedly ruining the show’s later years, but there really is no show, early or late, without Hawkeye. Alda’s performance is a thing of beauty. There’s not a moment where he’s not reacting in a perfectly believable way to the other characters or the on-screen action, and most importantly, he’s an incredibly generous actor; many’s the time one of the supporting cast gets to shine while Hawkeye is the designated straight man, or at least the talk-to character. I love how Hawkeye gets such delight from his friends; one of my favorite ever scenes is the one where Father Mulcahy reveals his dilemma about having a nurse crushing on him. Hawkeye is supportive but barely suppressing his amusement at how flippin’ funny Mulcahy’s predicament is. Also he’s simply the funniest character for me. His yiddishisms crack me up.

  2. Father Mulcahy – Vastly underrepresented in storylines, Mulcahy brings a warm, sweet, compassionate and very centered element to what’s otherwise a chaotic situation. His beliefs are treated respectfully too, and he manages to remain true to his religion/calling despite all the frustrations and horrors surrounding him. “Jocularity, jocularity!”

  3. Charles Emerson Winchester – A huge improvement as an adversary for the protagonists, he was three-dimensional where poor Frank Burns was barely two (despite Linville’s brilliant portrayal). A wonderful job by David Odgen Stiers in showing Charles grow and loosen up just a tiny bit over the years. Another of my favorite scenes involves Charles vs. Col. Flagg, where Charles manages to convince Flagg that they’re working together on a scheme to capture Chinese spies.

Alan Alda wrote that for the actress since she had been with them for so long. And Hawkeye deserved to get ripped.

Hawkeye deserved to go step on a land mine. From about Season 7 on. Or maybe a nice artillery barrage while he was driving back from an Aid Station. Or maybe, just maybe, a North Korean mortar crew that can hit the broadside of a barn. Anything that gives that insufferable, self-righteous, smarmy sonofabitch the death he so richly deserved.

I am surprised that Hot Lips is 2nd from the bottom, behind several minor characters-I thought the producers made a wise decision to give the character more depth, something Loretta Swit easily handled. She indicated on several occasions just how sensitive Houlihan is, deep down.

Totally agree with you on everything except the manner of death.
He should have been beaten to death by a sweet little Korean orphan with his adorable fluffy little puppy called Scraps.

Radar should have been given a rifle, transferred to the infantry in the front line where others of his age already were, and told to stop whining already.

Father M should have been questioned on why he spent so much time at the orphanage.

A thing about Klinger: in his second appearance, he doesn’t wear a dress, but he does wear a bandana his mother gave him. Burns calls him on it and tells him to take it off. Klinger thinks the bandana is a talisman of sorts and refuses, knocking Burns out in the ensuing scuffle. He leaves and comes back with a grenade, clearly intending to blow Ferret Face to kingdom come. Father Mulcahy talks him down and defuses the situation.

It seems to me that the writers weren’t yet sure that Klinger was just *pretending *to be crazy.

Wow. Not only did you pick the same four I did, but you did so for the same reasons. The only difference is that I would put Mulcahy first.

The only problem is, I also had to put Hawkeye. I didn’t like him throughout the entire run, but I honestly did enjoy some of his stuff, and he is the person I think of when I think of the show.

Yea, I can understand how you can dislike Hawkeye, but I don’t really see how people can dislike him and still like MASH. MASH was basically the Hawkeye show, even in the later seasons when they gave the rest of the cast a little more depth, they still largely were on the show to interact with Hawkeye.

Hawkeye was a good character until he was pussified by Alan Alda. That’s when I stopped caring about the leads and gave my attention to the secondary characters. If I am forced by circumstances to watch a post-pussification episode, I just imagine violent and crippling things happening to Hawkeye while the action of the episode takes place.

He is occasionally eaten by badgers.

My take was that yes it was a dodge-but it was also a coping mechanism too. Focus all your spare energies on picking out which dress to wear today means less energy spent pondering the true horror of your situation.

I think you touched on a point that needs to be made about show as a whole: It didn’t let itself off the hook for a lot of things. Examples, Klinger finally gets a session with Dr. Freeman where the doctor effectively tells Klinger: “Sure, I’ll get you out on a Section 8. You’ll be classified as a transvestite and a homosexual, and everyone in Toledo will know it.” to which Klinger suddenly looks very nervous.

I actually stopped watching MASH regularly in its last few seasons, precisely for this reason. Hawkeye became absolutely insufferable, and for me it made the show much worse.

I always much preferred the first three seasons, which were more pure comedy than what came much later, which was more drama with a few comedic elements.

I would have voted for the Radar of the first couple of seasons - the sarcastic, highly intelligent, conniving clerk. The later Radar man-child character was nice enough, but annoying and unbelievable. He acted like he was 12 years old at times.

I voted for Henry, Trapper, Hawkeye, Frank, and Flagg, but really that’s because I was voting for the first incarnation of MASH instead of what came later.

These were my exact votes as well, except that I also added Winchester. Most of the episodes and scenes I recall fondly have either Henry or Burns or Trapper (i.e., the “first incarnation”). Flagg was great. I added Winchester because I think he really added depth of character as a foil. I liked the buffoonery of Burns, but also liked what Winchester brough to the show.

Yes, I liked that as well–and I think it was also from the first season. I’d hypothesize that the writers intended this to be the end of the Klinger “arc”, but then went back to the character because–let’s face it–a hairy guy who goes around in evening wear is just darned funny.