Thx for posting. Good show despite how leftist it was in some ways. Alda always seemed like one hell of a *****, but he and his role were iconic and pretty authentic in many ways. so many great characters and iconic roles. I grew up with it and can still hear the intro.

cbr said:

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Thx for posting. Good show despite how leftist it was in some ways. Alda always seemed like one hell of a *****, but he and his role were iconic and pretty authentic in many ways. so many great characters and iconic roles. I grew up with it and can still hear the intro.

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It was a great show. Period. You don't need to add the political disclaimer. Sad.

One of the best shows ever to air on TV. Still one of my favorites to re-watch whenever I find it airing somewhere.

Anti-stupid war isn't leftist.

Great show. Remember watching reruns before I went to bed as a teenager in the 90's.

Four Seasons Landscaping said:

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Anti-stupid war isn't leftist.

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The Korean War was stupid? We were just supposed to let the North Koreans conquer the south?

Go derail something else.

It's a tale of two shows.

The first 3 years with Trapper, Frank, Henry, and the rest is almost entirely comedic, with a sprinkle of overtly anti-war rhetoric. From season 3-6 a shift occurs as Henry and Trapper leave (replaced by Potter and BJ), and then Frank finally moving on after season 6. During that middle stretch, the humor style changes drastically with the goofiness of Henry missing and BJ being much more of a straight man when compared to Trap's slapstick, freewheeling style. Trap and Hawkeye were two peas in a pod, BJ and Hawkeye were best friends but two completely different humans.

Seasons 7-11 were mostly blah. When the show didn't have Frank to pick on, and Klinger goes straight, and every other episode seemed to be a sermon, you had to rely on Sidney and Flagg to show up periodically and insert some humor into the mix. It had its moments from time to time during that window but they're limited.

I can watch seasons 1-6 multiple times and be just fine never seeing much from the last 5 seasons again.

Buck Turgidson said:

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FL_Ag1998 said:

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cbr said:

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Thx for posting. Good show despite how leftist it was in some ways. Alda always seemed like one hell of a *****, but he and his role were iconic and pretty authentic in many ways. so many great characters and iconic roles. I grew up with it and can still hear the intro.

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It was a great show. Period. You don't need to add the political disclaimer. Sad.

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I grew up with that show on TV too. It was a tedious, overrated show, in addition to the pervasive anti-military tone. I never understood why most of the fans of the show that I personally knew were also otherwise quite pro military. It would be like small town cops being big fans of the Dukes of Hazard.

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WTF? Why wouldn't small town cops like Dukes? It's just a tv show. Only an idiot would think all small towns cops are like Sheriff Rosco

Buck Turgidson said:

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FL_Ag1998 said:

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cbr said:

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Thx for posting. Good show despite how leftist it was in some ways. Alda always seemed like one hell of a *****, but he and his role were iconic and pretty authentic in many ways. so many great characters and iconic roles. I grew up with it and can still hear the intro.

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It was a great show. Period. You don't need to add the political disclaimer. Sad.

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I grew up with that show on TV too. It was a tedious, overrated show, in addition to the pervasive anti-military tone. I never understood why most of the fans of the show that I personally knew were also otherwise quite pro military. It would be like small town cops being big fans of the Dukes of Hazard.

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Maybe because most people can watch a tv show for 30 mins without stewing in their own political beliefs to the point it taints everything they see or hear.

Overall agree but there's still some great episodes in the later seasons. The one that immediately comes to mind is in season 10 (or 11) where BJ does the prank competition against everyone which turns out to be a massive fake prank on just Hawkeye.

And I'm probably in the minority but I always found Winchester to be a better "villain" than Burns…..don't get me wrong Frank was always hilarious, but having someone that's equal to (if not better) than Hawkeye and BJ was such a great idea and having him be less of a cartoonish bad guy on top of it……and he still had morals and ethics which at least made him relatable

Winchester was an actual character that had depth and went through a relatable transition throughout his time on the show.

He's the only character we actually see regarding his old life before he joins MASH....still living a luxurious lifestyle only to get thrown in to a horrible situation which to his credit, was insanely unfair and he had every right to have a bad attitude from the start.

to add to it, he was an amazing surgeon and equal to our 2 heroes which at least made him respectable, even if he was a terrible person from time to time.

i could go on and on about Winchester as throughout the show we begin to see glimpses of his heart and ethics (christmas episode where he tries to anomously give toys and treats to orphan children first comes to mind)....

with frank....he was a cartoonish jerk in season 1....he was still a cartoonish jerk at the end of season 5....and has no character development or depth added on throughout his entire time on the show......granted it was hilarious, but i'll take good character arches over a funny punching bag any day

That looks just like a 2 X 4!

Thank You…

Richard Lee-Sung. Best character on MASH.

Pat Morita asking Radar about the local he "hit" in the Jeep cracks me up every single time I see it. My dad always described someone who was really short as five-foot-nothing.

Tanya 93 said:

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Stive said:

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I literally said that the later seasons had "its moments from time to time". They were simply fewer and farther between.

And are you the one….you know….the one guy in the world that thinks Winchester was a better character than Frank?!?!

ETA: thought I was clicking on smiley face emoji but ended up with googly eyes emoji.

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I also think Winchester is better than Burns.

Burns was never their equal. Charles was often their superior but cared more about leaving than kicking Hawkeye and BJ out.

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If anyone has watched this show seriously, they can legitimately say there is no "Frank is better than Winchester" or "Winchester is better than frank". There are no characters that were better than others to me. They were different but not necessarily better.

Potter not better than Blake.
Trap not better than beej.
Winchester not better than frank.

The chemistry was perfect most of the time. Not many shows can survive a cast realignment like this one did.