M*A*S*H

I am curious about what people think of M*A*S*H, the TV series (not the movie).

I have a friend who was pretty insistent that I watch his family's DVDs of this show. I believe I had seen some of this show in the past, but I never got into it.

Well.....after the first sixteen episodes (I think it was), I'm still not into it. I usually only give a show, at the most, 5 episodes to "hook" me, so I feel like I have given this show more than its fair chance, although I think some people say that later seasons are better.

Maybe one reason I don't like it is because I feel kind of like I was pushed into watching it, too.

I tried to put my finger on what I don't like. For one thing, I do not feel like the characters have much camraderie really, except maybe Hawkeye and Trapper John. There seems to be a lot of acrimony. I don't get why Frank and Major Houlihan had so much bitterness towards Hawkeye and John - maybe because of something from the movie, but I don't know if the TV show was really meant to be a continuation from the movie or not. And I think that MacLean Stevenson's character is just too much of a doufas, but not in a fun way. And it seems like there are at least three main male characters who are married but they apparently don't even try to remain faithful to their wives back home. It is too much for me with them all basically acting like this. Maybe that is more realistic of life in the army, but you would think there would be at least one who would try to be faithful......or at least feel a bit of guilt for not being faithful. I don't know what Hot Lips sees in Frank, either.

I don't find even Hawkeye and Trapper's antics to be very funny, in general. One episode that was maybe my favorite was cute, though, when they had this fake captain all invented and everyone was in awe of him and acted like he was their friend. I did kind of enjoy that one.

The show also does not seem to know if it wants to really be a comedy (with the goofy laugh track) or if it wants to be more of a drama. And I think they have too many goofy characters. Almost all of the characters seem rather goofy to me. One or two goofy characters may be sufficient, but this just seems to be like the whole unit is crazy in a way. It just feels too overwhelming to me on this show.

There also seemed to be too many characters all introduced in the pilot episode, but without me understanding what they are all about. And they did not really grow on me after 16 episodes.

Well, that is my take on this show.....I realize that it takes time for a show to sort of find its groove sometimes, but honestly after as many episodes as I have watched, I kind of doubt it is ever going to groove for me.

I liked this show..some of it was a bit over the top, but they did very good episodes, in my opinion on the ugly side of the war and coping. I think they tried to show some "good guys" like BJ who tried to stay faithful, had good morals, and Hawkeye was single, so he just did as he pleased, but living the way they did in reality, you couldn't judge, it was such a different world with different rules, the horror they saw daily would change some, for better or worse.

I like that it was consistent, showed characters and mentioned people and talked of them again, they just weren't "gone". I liked the ones where BJ, Hawkeye or Major Winchester wrote home about what they were seeing, in their eyes to their parents or wife. I loved the one where they got Col Potter his horse as a gift. There were ones that touched on stress disorders, who is the enemy?, lack of food, lack of medicine, orphans, etc.
I think the show got better as it went on..sometimes it just isn't something you like, but sometimes it's what you happen to see.

I liked the BJ/Hawkeye/Winchester episodes better and they developed the characters later, Hawkeye had another side, "Hot lips" wasn't hotlips anymore, people left and it still stayed strong because the new characters had different views and sides of them.

Whether it's your cup of tea or not, is a personal thing, but they don't make shows like this or Little House anymore.

251 episodes on eleven seasons indicates that someone liked it. It was basically an anti war message with humor thrown in. That was the mood of the country in 1972 when it premiered and I think it had a lot to do with the series success. As with any series, there were good and bad shows, but all in all it could be pretty entertaining at times.

Being a Viet Nam vet, I took it for what it was worth.

I rarely missed it when it was on, but now I don't care for it.

As a vet, I'm sure (like when my husband watches cop shows) you see things that you feel aren't portrayed well, but I remember veterans saying they felt the horror of the wounds, mentally and physically, the things you did to try to stay sane, hit home and the lonliness.
I watched the reunion show not long ago and it touched on how much was done without script, adlibbing which also showed the talent of the show.

I love MASH, but I always felt that the current of anti-Americanism that seemed so hip in the early '70s didn't age real well. The show sold a version of the Korean War that Kim Il Sung would have been proud of: the brutish U.S. had attacked North Korea for no reason; American generals were stupid, lecherous and bloodthirsty, while the Korean and Chinese generals were noble and honorable. It was very one-sided, and we were the bad guys.

Also, how in the world did Henry Blake graduate medical school?

Or Frank...LoL

I did love the pompous Dr.Winchester though and how they showed he had a pretty big heart when he wanted to show it. (how they tortured him at times)

Charles might be my favorite.

Yeah, but Barney was in the war before the Korean, doing his part "to whip the dreaded Hun," as he put it.