The Most Important Episode of MASH
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- Опубліковано 26 лис 2024
- Edit:
Thank you all so much for 100,000 views! This video has done far better than I ever could've imagined, and rest assured, a follow-up is in the works.
Also: I AM AWARE that I misused the word 'Titular'. This was a grammatical error I didn't catch on my last pass of the script. I caught it after completing the video, but I felt it was too minor an issue to warrant re-editing the project (for the third time). Grammatical issues like these will be minimized going forward, as I no longer have to crunch to get these videos done by a college due date!
Original Description:
Hi all,
This was a project I made for my Modern American History college course. There are a couple things here that I would love to go back and tweak, but at this point, I've kind of moved on from the project (and onto other college projects, heh). I consider this not half bad work, and certainly work I'd be happy presenting publicly. This is my first video essay as well, so please be kind!
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My father was in a medical unit something like a MASH in WWII. He entered the Dachau camp the day after liberation and later went to Mauthausen. This was one of only two eppisodes of MASH (the other being a newsreel format of interviews) that my father didn't despise; he never saw comedy in war.
What is wrong with him. Mash is the best show ever made
@@jacobwalsh1888 Maybe because he helped clean up two of the worst Nazi concentration camps, he saw no humor in war.
@@jacobwalsh1888 Go away, troll.
@@captainjohnh9405 I think it depends on your experience how you view the war. I had three uncles who were all simple infantry. They only told the funny stories of their time in combat, and it was clear humor was used extensively as a coping mechanism. Having said that, none of them faced the kind of scenes found in the camps. Even generations later people become traumatized from the images. I can only imagine what the reaction must have been to encounter these places in real time
@@glenchapman3899 The only time he ever talked about the war was when I was home on leave and I asked about it. We exchanged half a dozen sentences when he spoke the last point of the conversation: "The people that went to Auschwitz were lucky. They were gassed and it was over in a few minutes. The people we saw were starved and worked to death."
The Christmas episode where they were trying to keep a dying soldier alive long enough enough to save his children from seeing Christmas as the day they lost their father was heartbreaking.
That episode so sad but you actually felt their pain with not being able to save him but still trying to protect his family
Yes it was and still makes me cry
Potter: “ If anyone should ask, I’ll tell them you three ( Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret) are working on a special present for some kids back home”.
That and the scene where Max brings Charles dinner, I remember seeing the episode when it aired on Wednesday at 9pm sometime in 1981/1982 (I was 9/10 at the time), I still use Klingers lyrics for the 12 days of Christmas (...2 turtle necks, and a partridge in a pair of trees). Death takes a Holiday - season 9 episode 5, in case anyone wondered.
Ohhhhhh my it’s worse than I thought they told us Christmas was in July and they make us celebrate it in December 😂
The episode where Col Blake got sent home… gets me every time.👏
this is one of the very few shows that can genuinely make someone laugh and cry several times in just one episode.
So true!
The fact that this show is still shown, and still loved, says volumes about its quality.
Ameritards love war. Love feeling righteous.
The episodes with Sidney were some of the best
100% agree! Sidney was my favorite character in the show hands down, and is also partially the reason I'm majoring in Psychology in college!
They were good but I really liked the ones with Colonel Flagg.
I totally agree they were good
“Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice.” Dr. Freeman.
“
Such a great character and they cast Sidney perfectly. Arbus' portrayal was spot on. Perfect disposition.
I would argue that, while the "Yankee Doodle Doctor" bit Hawkeye is doing throughout the movie is Him at his usual self, the final scene of that "Documentary" is the real Hawkeye. Looking dead at the camera and making it clear that war is no place for human beings to be. He says this best in an operating room conversation between himself and Father Mulcahy:
"Hawkeye: War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.
Father Mulcahy: How do you figure that, Hawkeye?
Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell?
Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe.
Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander."
Season 5 Episode 20
Hawkeye has no love for war, and would sooner see every one of them home and safe than anywhere near a battlefield. But, this is what the show would eventually turn to. It was an "Anti-War" War sitcom.
That is the truth I liked both episodes
That is true as hell.
Did You ever read the TEXT of the book or SEE the episode of STAR TREK.."THE 500 YEAR OLD WAR? Maybe the TEXT of the story did a better job of talking about WAR. William Shatner as Captain Kirk
Should make an anti glacier sit-com.
M*A*S*H takes on a new meaning when you've served. I did 20 years in the US Air Force, retired earlier this year. Deployed three times, and took my M*A*S*H DVDs with me every time. You see some of everybody in the show, in reality. The people who are great at their jobs (Hawkeye/Trapper/BJ/Winchester/everybody but Frank), the people who are super gung ho, but will still do right by their people (later seasons Margaret), the officers who think their shit don't stink (Frank, early Margaret), the young kids forced to grow up really fast (Radar), the malcontents (Hawkeye/Trapper/Klinger. I may have fallen in here, I could be something of a smartass) the arrogant guys who could back it up (Winchester), and who couldn't back it up (Frank) the family men, who are away from those they love most (BJ). I've seen people crap on BJ because "He's always whining about his wife and kid". You try missing your newborn child's life, time you will NEVER get back, and see how well you deal with it.
People forget that military service members are some of the most anti-war people you'll meet. We serve our country, because we love our home, for some of us it's a calling. But while the anti-war protestor will go home that night, put their sign down, post online about how they stuck it to whoever, and sleep in a warm, soft bed, the soldier half a world away might be sleeping on the ground, worried that some damn fool will try to kill him, and that he may never see his home again. Trust me, he's not pro-war, at that point, and he wants to go the hell HOME! All three of my deployments were support roles, I was never in combat, never even close to combat. But when you come home after 4 months, or 6 months overseas, for a while you feel like the world just moved on and left you behind. You have to relearn your normal routines. So, in a lot of the later episodes, you can see yourself, or some of the guys you knew in guest characters, or you can at least understand some characters, even if you've never experienced their trauma firsthand. Like the season 8 episode, when Edward Herrman guest starred as a surgeon who just broke in the OR, after a bad push sent them a huge load of wounded. He just walked out, and Hawkeye and BJ had to pick up slack, since Winchester and Col Potter were down with mumps. Sometimes, a guy just finally can't take anymore, and he breaks.
The show really nailed the boredom of deployments. The down time when NOTHING is happening, and you have to fill the hours with anything, like when Frank was so bored he arranged all the condiments on the mess tent tables by height and popularity, and then made sure they were perfectly aligned. No point in that except something to do. And how the people there could hate the war, hate the place they're in, hate the situation, but still love the people they're with. Guys from a deployment you'll probably never see again, but you'll never forget them, either. M*A*S*H worked, because it was real, at its core. And I've said this for many years, even when I was still active duty, I learned more about how to be a leader from Captain Picard and Colonel Potter than the Air Force ever taught me.
Excellent post...and you loved through trauma regardless of in "action" or not... well done!
My Marine Corps dad (Vietnam vet) would have agreed with your sentiments about M*A*S*H. He loved the humor the show brought, but also the overall portrayal of service life. Much in the way you described it. The boredom, sacrifices made, camaraderie, you speak to as well, were in his view, portrayed very well in the tv show.
Thanks for giving me even more insight from a veteran’s perspective. Men from my dad’s generation were not the best communicators when it came to their feelings. Your description of the characters as well as the video gave me more insight into why M*A*S*H had so much meaning to veterans.
I've never heard people crap on BJ. Maybe they should crap on those who kept cheating on their spouses (Trapper, Frank, Henry).
Army says, "Well done, Air Force!"
I would have to agree. Excellent Post. I Joined the US Army in 1981. I liked it, so I stayed in, retiring in 2009. 27 Years of a little bit of every single character in the series. I have seen it all. The good, the Bad, and the oh so very ugly! Eleven combat tours will teach you to look at life a little differently. The Camaraderie, the love of your brothers-in-arms, and the utter hatred, and search for vengeance when one of them gets his career ended early due to enemy fire. War sucks folks, no sugar coating it. War Sucks!
Wonderful video, M*A*S*H really is something special.
The scene of Col. Potter toasting his old friends, who have all died, wearing his Great War uniform and then toasting to the doctors, nurses and staff of 407 is a scene that has always made me have to take it slow, I'm welled with emotion.
Some of the finest characters ever writen, and some of the greatest TV put to the screen.
The episode that gets me is when Henry Blake gets discharged and Radar comes the the OR door and says his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan and there were no survivors.
Nobody expected that and other than Radar the cast did not know that was coming. The reactions were genuine.
I actually watched a behind the scenes bit on this! The first take was their genuine reaction, but Alan Alda (and maybe others? I forgot) didn't like how the take went and decided to refilm it. Very, very good scene tho!
The tontine… I remember reading that there wasn’t a dry eye in the tent while they were filming. The producers, cameramen, etc. etc. I still watch M*A*S*H on a daily basis on Hulu started watching with my grandfather. I can damn near recite every single line by every character it’s hilarious…
Potter was the only one with a practical view of what was going on around him and the business of war, if you will. While certainly many "war" films of the day painted an unusually rosy picture (much as the "documentary" that was to be made in that episode was likely to do) so too the criticisms from Hawkeye were also very narrowly focused and simplistic. The idea that "war is never necessary" is as naive as "see the war isn't going so badly."
Cavalry no less! I thought about that scene when I saw War Horse, although that was British cavalry.
I remember watching this episode as a kid. My father had been a lab tech in a mobile army unit in WWII. After watching that scene, he got up and started out the back door. Mom asked him where he was going. He replied, "I need to take a walk." It wasn't until he was in his 80s that he gave any indication how much his military time messed with his head.
@Hello there, how are you doing this blessed day?
GOODBYE,FAREWELL,AMEN 😔
I’ve only seen that episode once and I will never watch it again. Broke my heart
@ it’s a very hard watch 🥲✌🏻
Well said.
For me, MASH was something I first saw as a very young girl in the late seventies, I was 5 or 6. It was one of my dad's favorite shows and I was allowed to stay up late to watch it with him. I laughed when he did but never understood what I was laughing at. Later when I had grown up, I watched it again and understood everything. The commentaries on racism, sexism, war, sexuality..
My father passed away in 2013. When I rewatch MASH now, I feel close to my dad. So yeah, MASH is quite special to me x
MASH was, still is, and always will be one of THE greatest series to ever come on television.
I remember watching MASH growing up in the 70’s and reruns in the 80’s. They were like part of the family. We had fewer choices on TV back then but this will stand the test of time. A true classic!
I'm 23. My mom introduced MASH to me when I was around 10 or something like that. I've rewatched it multiple times and I still love it to this day
Frank Burns eats worms...
I never get tired of MASH.
I think it’s a few episodes after this one called “sometimes you hear the bullet” and to me that’s one of the best episodes that walks the line of comedy and seriousness that the show got so good at.
Hawkeye has to end up operating on his childhood friend but still can’t save his life. At the end Hawkeye is in tears over his friend, but also because he doesn’t understand why he his crying for his friend when he has had so many other patients die on his table. It’s a really moving scene
I remember watching it & cried. Didn't expect it & all the sad painful feelings were so well 😢 portrayed.
Starring a young Ron Howard.
This episode has a solemn reply from Lt. Col. Henry Blake. Henry sees Hawkeye sitting outside the operating room. Henry sits down next to him; seeing Haweye crying over his friend's death and regretting as a doctor his own inability to save his friend's life, Henry tells Hawkeye what he learns in Command School:" Rule #1: in war, young men die; Rule #2: Doctors can't change Rule #1."
That was a good one.
That was when Alan Alda became an actor.
The mash episode that affected me the most, and made my bullet proof, armor plated, indestructible, 23-year- young butt cry like a little girl with a skinned knee was when Henry got his papers to go home.
I'm now 61 years old and I can neither turn away from that episode nor not shed a tear when it comes on.
Another one is when Hawkeye finally remembers that he watched his friend die as a child.
@@JaleelJohanson62 Same
That was brutal. Stays with me.
That and the Korean woman who smothered her "chicken."
You'd be laughing like crazy one moment and then they would rip your heart out the next. M.A.S.H. will forever be relevant. It is timeless. The subject matter---WAR---is serious business but M.A.S.H. put a lot of humor in it. Very good actors at their prime and top-notch writers at their best, too.
If I remember correctly the General loved the movie. He wanted to use the last bit to send home, but the first bit he wanted destroyed save for one copy for himself.
Agreed - His introduction and Hawk-eye's ending stayed in, the comedy in between was cut out.
Actually, I think there are *two* really important episodes of MASH
One is the episode "Follies of the Living-Concerns of the Dead" where the soldier has already died on arrival and we see the episode from his point of view as a ghost as he walks around trying to find help until the final moments where he meets a another ghost before the camera pans and shows dead from all nations in the war walking off to the great beyond.
The second is "Death Takes A Holiday" where a soldier is dying but Hawkeye, BJ and Margaret all try to keep him going until after midnight for the sake of his family. They don't make it but Hawkeye walks over to the clock, changes the time and says he made it. Very quietly and softly, Margaret says "Falsify a record - that'll be a first for me" and its almost inaudible if you don't have the sound turned up... You can tell the character was utterly shaken and broken
They really don't write them like they used to
Death take a Holiday is one of my favorites. Because of the work they put in just so a family they would never meet would never have to think of Christmas as the day that Daddy died. Hawkeye moving the clock was nothing new for him, he never cared about Army regulations, he was a doctor first and a soldier barely at all. But it was a huge moment for Margaret. Early seasons Margaret would never have gone along. Here, she's fully behind it, even though it's technically a crime, she doesn't care. Their crime will save a family undue suffering. The other plot line, Winchester giving candy to the orphanage, and the man who ran it selling the candy to buy rice and cabbage to feed the children, and Winchester's reaction to his gift being so well meaning, yet "Sadly inappropriate to offer dessert to a child who has had no meal". And Klinger overhearing and cheering him up with food from the party, and the knowledge that he knows the whole story. The perfect exchange from the snobbish Boston blue blood to the working class guy from Toledo: "Thank you, Max." "Merry Christmas, Charles." Not two soldiers, not officer and enlisted, not doctor and clerk, just two men, acknowledging each other as people. But the part that gets me crying every single time, and I don't know why, is when Colonel Potter meets Hawkeye, BJ, Margaret, and Father Mulcahey after their ordeal, and tells them they've been very good boys and girls, and that little guy toddles up to them, holds up a plate and simply says "Fudge". I don't know why I lose it there. Maybe the innocence of a child, who has no idea what has gone on, offering them a small reward for their incredible act, an act they will never be formally recognized for, but would mean so much to people who would never know them.
I don’t like “Follies of the Living” very much; it’s a little too weird for me. But I love “Death Takes a Holiday”. That was by far their best Christmas episode.
I totally agree with you about those two episodes. I remember seeing each one when they aired. They were tear jerkers. Yet, whenever I am able to see them again I readily watch.
Death Takes a Holiday is a christmas episode.... only 'christmas' episode of any TV series I remember and it brings tears to my eyes every time.
One time while I was working a shift in the ER at Fort Carson, Colorado, we had a 42 year old E-7 come in with flu- like symptoms. This was sometime around the late 1990’s, cell phones really weren’t a thing, or email, and he was actively in the process of retirement. His paperwork was on his commander’s desk, but needed to get to about 8 different places until it was finalized. He started going downhill very quickly. Turned out he had no spleen from a previous injury. The spleen helps filter out infection in the blood. We kept trying to get him up to the ICU, but every time he was moved, he coded. Eventually, we just continued doing manual CPR on him while the MP’s ran his retirement papers all over the post , with full lights and sirens. As one person wore out, another took their place. Eventually there was a line formed from around the hospital as word spread. The doctor waited respectfully until we got word that this man’s family would receive his full retirement benefits, then he pronounced time of death. Of all of the incredible things that I was privileged to experience in my time as a combat medic, this one sticks with me. A sudden, tragic loss for this family, yet so many people spontaneously came together in order to help make their lives going forward just a little bit easier. Reminds me of the Christmas episode of MASH. I used to watch it with my Dad. He passed away right after I finished basic training so I never got to watch the last episode with him. To this day, I have never seen it. In my mind it never ended.
If you are going to start watching this series I recommend getting the DVDs where you are given a choice in the audio selection of the dialogue without the laugh track. Once you go no laugh track, you can never go back. Makes the show so much better.
The producers thought so, too, but CBS wanted the laugh track, and got their way.
No9 Laugh track in the UK, and when I first saw and episode in the US with a Laugh track I realized how lucky we were!
The BBC accidentally broadcast one episode with that inane Laughter track, it led to a deluge of complaints , and it never happened again.
There was one episode that was broadcast in the US with no laugh track. If I remember correctly, it was the episode with a clock in one of the corners and the surgeons were in a desperate race to save a life. Powerful doesn't even begin to describe it.
i personally find this to be the only show where i prefer a laugh track purely because of how sudden of a change it is to go from jokes and laughing to all of that being cut, and its just silence accompanied by some of the saddest scenes in TV history. just the sudden change of tone brought on by the laugh tracks stopping improves the vibe for me a little, also the laugh track is more subtle in this than other shows so i often can ignore it
The episode where they are all suffering from nightmares still makes me cry at points. Especially Charles' and Hawkeye's nightmares. Such powerful statements. Prime time has never been so honest with us.
I loved the “ Dreams” episode. It was so surreal.
I watched that one last night as it was on MeTV. For me, the most haunting dream is Colonel Potter's where he's a boy again and his mother is calling him while he's riding his horse to come in and eat.
While military police, I was attached to a medical unit; force protection and administrative medical paperwork. Their 'pajama party' was tops. In appreciation for my duties, the unit gave me a set of military scrubs; those scrubs meant more than a medal. Blessings to the Medical Corps.
MASH is the best TV show ever made.
Perhaps not the most important episode, but it stuck with me through the decades.
In "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet", an old friend of Hawkeye's is shot and dies on the table. Henry tries to console him and says:
"All I know is there are certain rules about a war.
Rule number one is: young men die.
And rule number two is: doctors can't change rule number one."
It is profound in its simplicity.
That is the episode with Ronnie Howard playing a 15 year old who used his brother's ID to join the marines.
There were a lot of really famous people who showed up on MASH. I always had a thing for Marcia Strassman, who played Margie Cutler (and is in the early season episodes, including Yankee Doodle Doctor) and went on to play Mrs. Kotter.
But guys like Alex Karras (Webster) and George Wendt (NOOORRRRRMMMMM!!!!!) were there, too, among many, many others.
Alda said it was a defining episode. Until then they really hasn’t hit the dramady formula. .
😭😭😭
Growing up in the 70's in a violent home. MASH helped me to laugh in the worst of circumstances.
I hope from that experience you've learned how to live a loving existence with your own family.
When I was younger around 8 or 10 or so. My mother recently got Hulu. Along with some other streaming services in exchange for cable curtesy of our new dad. And she found out mash was on there. She tells me that she herself would sneak to watch it while her parents fell asleep. She used to watch it with me and not knowing a whole lot about anything at that age, I still felt comfort by how the voices sound and Alan Alda’s smile. I find myself watching more nowadays when I am feeling sad or need something playing something recognizable to sleep or to get the tinnitus out of my head. My favourite episodes were the ones where things get real quite, very few laughs, and it’s just people in Korea trying to do and be and live the best they can. I remember a single episode. Where Hawkeye crashes a jeep near a homestead with a family on it, and he suffers from some head trauma as he starts bleeding and it remains on his face throughout the episode. Not a single person who speaks English is present aside from Alan Alda’s B. F. “Hawkeye” Pierce and the only other people there is the Korean family who doesn’t speak English. And it’s calming to listen to him try his best to explain the war in his own jaunty and juxtaposed and interesting way of explaining it. If the one you showed was the most important one, then I think the one i’m talking about might be a close second. I mean, not just anyone can do an episode with just a one sided discussion like this about any subject or coming from just anyone, especially on a show that routinely doesn’t do that and instead lets people play off one another. It’s like if speeches were less boring. Anyways just a sharing of my two cents and stories.
My third is probably the one where a soldier becomes so unbearably traumatised that his mind hurts his own person inside of itself and believes himself to be Jesus Christ instead of a soldier. Just hearing him say, “They’re my children. Why would I hurt my children?” makes me teary eyed.
The episode with Hawkeye alone with the Korean family was a tour de force for Alan Alda ( that’s what it said in T.V. Guide). He was great in that one, and the Korean family probably probably thought he was crazy, like all Americans. But he had suffered a concussion when his Jeep overturned, and he was trying to stay awake to keep from going into a coma.
I saw the premiere episode in '72 at 7yrs old and watched pt2 of the last episode on the night before I reported to active duty at Ft Benning via Ft Jackson for in-processing at 17yrs old . I've seen every episode more than 10x and still love to watch M.A.S.H.
@Hello there, how are you doing this blessed day?
I remember in 1979 the very first year of college we would go to like a dinner and race home back to the dorms to watch MASH it was and still is one of my favorite shows
I was lucky, I lived at home so I was already home. I watched the repeats so much that I can do the punch lines. And then I bought the Columbia House VHS tapes of the series. At some point, I'll get the DVDs so I can 'chill' and watch 'em some more.
I bought the DVDs of the series, and tbh, they are very overrated. The quality is awful, seems like it might be worse than VHS. Your best bet is the HD version on Hulu!
@@bikeny the dvds are questionable if your in Canada or maybe the US it’s on Disney+ and the quality is amazing
Oh snap, did not know it made it's way to D+! Good to know :D
I was an Army Nurse. 22 years of service. the show was accurate . Some people dont like the last episode. Me. I completely disagree. there is only so much death and horror a mind can handle.
I was in the Army when MASH ended they had a big party at the bar most of us patronized we had a blast.
She killed it! Oh my God she killed it!
The chicken?
It WASN'T A CHICKEN!
OH MY GOD IT WAS A BABY!SHE KILLED HER BABY!
I absolutely lost it at this. It was hard for me to continue to watch it. Those words haunt me to this day.
Thank you for your service 👍
It’s truly amazing the amount of lives that you and your colleagues saved given such an unsterile environment. I applaud your dedication and commitment. Especially on this day of remembrance.
My favorite TV show of all time. Grew up with it in the '70's, watched the finale in 1983 in my college dorm, and love watching the reruns to this day. Just the best!
Growing up, MASH was my favourite TV program. I still remember sitting on the floor in front of the TV in the living room captivated and shedding tears as the final credits rolled on the final episode. So many years ago but it’s still a raw memory. That’s a great accomplishment for what my grandpa always referred to as the “stupid box”.
Getting into MASH (the Series) over the last year, I have noticed that who ever was in charge of the audience laugh track should've received an award as it's not played during serious moments, even if there's a bit of humor written in (I've noticed it most during surgeries/operating times). Such a great show that still plays well today.
There was an agreement with the network that the laugh track would never play while they were in the OR. It wasn't the doing of any operator.
@@chrissygerwitz520 The producers and most of the cast were appalled that there was a laugh track at all. CBS insisted on one, because the comedy-drama genre had not come about yet. The rule about the OR was a compromise.
The BBC never used the laugh track on its airing of M*A*S*H. To this day, when you watch a UA-cam of the show with no laugh track, that's the British version.
@@brianarbenz1329 Not so much a compromise, I believe. I seem to recall that Alan Alda almost blackmailed the studio to leave out the laugh track for the O.R. scenes. I also recall there was one episode done completely laugh track free.
As a young man I would watch this show every night before I went to bed. I love every episode. Sadly, I think the reason it ran so many seasons is that it wasn't diluted like today's television. In my younger years there were very few channels to choose from. Today there are literally hundreds. Even still I watch these old episodes with a sense of nostalgia.
I grew up watching this show cause my dad bought the whole series in dvd. Now it’s on Hulu and my brother watches it on repeat as his primary source of background noise. He’s probably watched it over 10 times since the beginning of COVID. Even my wife knows plenty of references from how often it’s been playing in the background from the time we’ve spent with him. This is a show that I think can transcend generations indefinitely if maintained for the people who love it. And it’s our job to share it with others who haven’t.
There are more episodes of MASH that make me cry than anything else in life...I find myself so fortunate to be born in the time I was. How terrifically horrible life was during the Korean War. Nothing does it justice better than this show.
Excellent perception and observation. One of the best sitcoms ever.
I met the author Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr. in the early 90's for lunch at the Branding Iron restaurant in Winthrop Maine. At the time he was pretty much retired from his practice of thoracic surgery. He was fascinating to talk too, sitting in the booth, smoking cigarettes with another of his surgeon friends and my buddy John H. ( he and I were not smoking) Before the lunch JH told me not to mention MASH as he was bitter about the fact that he sold the rights to the book that eventually made millions from the movie and TV show. On display at Thayer hospital in Waterville Maine is his surgical smock. He did surgery there and at the Togus VA hospital. A graduate of Bowdoin College and Cornell University Medical School, he did a lot of good in his life and should be celebrated.
''MASH goes to Maine'' was a bit of a hoot. Like 'near' Spruce Head Island, or so.
Thanks for that. I think MASH is the best tv show ever. Sense of humor is amazing and balance between drama and fun is perfect. There are so much scene that make us to rethink some stuff, think deeper about it and main character's attitude, sense of responsibility, solidarity and brotherhood, even if they make fun of each other or are angry and don't like someone, it's exemplary. For example, they don't like Frank at all, for good reasons, but when he was depressed after Margaret's engagement, they stood up for him.
They had to stand up for Frank. Bros before hoes. Them's the rules...
That was the one time I felt sorry for Frank.
Nice video… Mash is special. I heard Alan Alda in an interview saying one of the turning points was season one episode 17 sometimes you hear the bullet. The show evolved from sort of a slapstick comedy to thought-provoking masterpiece.
The script writing and character development was phenomenal. Even as they replaced characters the show continue to grow.
I always thought the arrival of major Winchester took the show to the next level. His character was more believable than major burns. And the script, writers, ingeniously, had him both an adversary, and sometimes friend to Hawkeye and BJ.
I always thought the spin off should’ve been an hour, long drama centered around major Winchester, when he went back to Boston after experience in Korea.
This type of spin off was done successfully with Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore show.
By the way the episode, sometimes you hear the bullet has a pre-Richie Cunningham, Ron Howard appearing.
Agree one hundred percent!
‘Hawkeye’ & ‘Trapper’ weren’t titular characters, but rather lead characters. And ‘M*A*S*H’ (the show even more than the film) was more of thumb in the eye or satire of the war in Vietnam than the Korean War it used as a set piece. At least in the eyes of the movie’s director (Roger Altman) and the cast & crew of the show.
All in all this is a great video, about maybe the greatest military ‘themed’ TV show in history. Certainly one of the most important. Well done!
Thank you for the constructive criticism! I'll take this into account for my next video essay :)
Larry Gelbart who brought it to TV and Alan Alda both said that to them M*A*S*H was about ALL wars. This is what makes it timeless.
As a 10 year old, I distinctly recall watching the first episode and instantly loving the show. It was a time of the young and against 'the Establishment' and M*A*S*H portrayed that so well for me. From the original movie to Catch-22 to Kelly's Heroes and many others, it was a poke in the eye against being told what to do, something that appealed to this soon to be teenager.
As the show altered course with the changing times and cast, I'll admit it appealed to me a bit less, though I still watched every episode without fail. I had favourites and there were characters I could have done without. But so many memorable moments and episodes of all of them more than made up for what I saw at the time. I never liked the Winchester character (though I gained an admiring appreciation for David Ogden Stiers later on), yet the Christmas episode where he and Klinger grow a huge respect for each other still speaks to me as among the best. I never knew how much I like Frank Burns until after Larry Linville was gone and I really missed his own level of the same lovable insanity carried by Hawkeye and Trapper. The recurring characters that came in and out on occasion were always highlights, Sidney and Colonel Flagg as two great examples. The transformation and growth of Margaret Houlihan was both wonderful and disappointing. I missed how offended she would get, yet equally loved how she could be portrayed as cold by rank and by being a woman fighting for respect in a male dominated world, yet she could be emotionally human in the same episode. I appreciated how the nurses lost the role of being objects of amorous attention and got the respect they deserved for the job they did.
Colonel Potter was no Henry Blake, Max Klinger was no Radar O'Reilly, BJ was no Trapper John, and Winchester was no Burns. Yet each was their unique self and a lesson that I should take each person I meet on their own merits.
As a 21 year old, and changed just as much as M*A*S*H had in those intervening years, I watched with rapt attention to the final episode. It was upsetting to see Hawkeye suffering as he had been. It was emotionally tearful watching everyone saying goodbye in much the same way as it had been for me on the final day of high school. It was the end of an era and, in a way, a goodbye to what remained of my own childhood.
In irreverent and disrespectful comedy, in the stages of life where friends and acquaintances leave our personal path, in the serious moments where we have to face our own emotions and demons, M*A*S*H transcended from a goofy TV comedy sitcom and echoed the paths of our own lives. I watched the characters grow and flourish as I was also doing, set for new adventures and growth after the show ended and we all had to find our own place in the world.
In so many ways M*A*S*H was a reflection of myself and I am all the richer for having seen it all.
Many MASH episodes were a divine mixture of laughter & tears, all in the same 1/2 hour.
MASH portrayed the worst and best of humanity with enough humor thrown in that we didn't lose our sanity over the ugliness that humanity can really be. I grew up with MASH from its beginning, waiting anxiously for each new episode and happy to watch reruns when they started up. I love MASH. Best show ever.
A M*A*S*H video essay was not what I expected to see on my for you page today, but it is *very* welcome. A well done video, my good sir!
Great commentary. It's refreshing to hear someone your age who is articulate and does not mumble. Thanks for the posting.
Fantastic series. Never tire of watching episodes.
Charles is probably my favorite character of the series, which is ironic as I definitely prefer the first three seasons before the character ever arrived. I wish he had a chance to interact with Henry Blake and Trapper.
They never would have been together, because the Charles character was an over-correction to the wackier characters of the early seasons.
I love Charles. He was one of the main reasons why I prefer the later shows.
Geezus - Charles and the little orchestra.
There were some episodes displaying classic military memes...such as "Adam's Ribs", depicting the underground economy in the Services. I've always craved BBQ so badly after watching that one!
And IMO Trapper and Hawkeye were the original masters of trolling - who could blame them, with a roommate like Frank. Good Times, Good Times...
Hawkeye and Trapper were awesome together! I thought BJ was a bland character played by a bland actor.
I like B.J. Better than Trapper. “ Adam’s Ribs” is one of my favorite early episodes. I can never eat BBQ pork ribs without thinking of it.
One of the best epeisodes was the one where they have the timer on the clock on screen to save one patient with another patient who was clearly not going to make it, the episode shows that and the other timer to save another patient during the same time. Showing how quick the jobs need to be done in, about 1/2 the time a regular hospital does things if I quote Sherman Potter in his first season on the show.
That episode when they're racing against the clock, Father Mulcahy says to God, "If you're going to do it anyway, take him quickly, so they can save the other boy."
I can't get through that moment without crying. And I'm one who was never in a war.
But, I thank all of the veterans for my freedom because I wouldn't be free without them.
@@karenrich9092 Same I could never get pat that moment in the episode without crying.
MASH is one of the few TV shows that I can rewatch over and over again... even though know how the episode ends it's just damn good storytelling and keeping the viewer engaged.
I’ve seen each MASH episode at least five or six times, maybe more. I could watch MASH every day for the rest of my life, and not get tired of it. And next to watching MASH, I love talking about it.
Remember the audience had a huge number of Vets who lived this, and Nam was going. As a kid I liked the smarter darker humor, and these vets were my buddy's, bosses, teachers, and family.
M.A.S.H. did indeed address many moral issues that concerned war and the military. The show was also condemned by some as being too liberal or "commie friendly." Not nearly as much as it would be today, though.
You might want to look into the sitcom Barney Miller. I believe it is the best example of serious social issues that were broached and defined in 70s sitcoms.
Even now, nearly 48 years after the show began, many of the issues brought up are still extremely relevant.
Every year, my family watches “Boxing Day” and “Death takes a Holiday.” They’re among my favourite episodes, and Christmas wouldn’t feel right without them.
Thanks for the insightful take on an early MASH episode. MASH is also unique because, as you briefly touched on, it became a very different show by the final season. The final season was very much a serious dramatic depiction of the time, with distinct moments of comedy to lighten the tone. Judging by the final episode, l think it became apparent that the show COULD have survived without Alda, but by then, l think they were all ready to move on. Glad you are able to look back and appreciate the intent of this amazing show!
When the opening music played, i got shocked and tears just ran out. I've heard that music after 30 years. How quickly life goes by.
Too true.
I've seen every single episode of MASH at least twice in my lifetime and would watch them all again. It's true that the series started out as a comedic tale but over the seasons it became much more. It became a series that didn't mind pointing out the cruelty, ignorance, and glory of war. Unfortunately as a veteran i understand that from time to time it becomes necessary to go to arms to defend those who can't always defend themselves even though you know what the cost will be in doing so. My one fantasy has always been that those that make the decision to go to war and send men and women into battle had to go with them and face the same dangers as the soldiers they are sending in. If that were the case i'd bet there would be a lot more negotiation and effective peace talks before any gunfire was started. What a wonderful world that could be.
Like that season 11 episode when John Anderson guest starred as a general whose son was wounded. They boy died of a blood clot, or fatty embolizm, or whatever, some mundane post-op thing that sometimes happens, and there just isn't time to save the patient. He remarked to Hawkeye how easy it is, when they're just pins on a map, and when it was always "Other men's sons" that he sent into battle. Now, when his own son has died, does it truly hurt.
The show also shows Disfunctional things and how to work around it. Also Dark hummors .Keep doing your best for others and hope for better.
Mesh was filmed at Malibu State Park I've actually seen the site where it was filmed when it was still some of this outstanding
M*A*S*H - sheer genius. Remains in my top (probably) 5 favourite US sitcoms. I can't think of a series that could mix comedy and some very dark real world subjects in such a way. The version without the laugh-track - in the UK, I think - gave the whole thing a different tone. Decades ahead of it's time.
I remember on the final episode the power went out in my area. The network ended up playing the episode again the next day.
That’s very impresssive.
I watched the original movie and have watched every episode multiple times over the years and not many shows can even come close.
I remember this episode vividly. I was six years old when MASH premiered on TV. It was must-watch TV for my family growing up. My father served in both Korea and Vietnam, a total of 22 years in the Army and the Air Force. I was in high school when it finally left the small screen, and enlisted from college to do my own service. I come from a military family, and both my father and I believed MASH to be the best sitcom on television. It is still the best military show ever on television.
As a firm Treckie, and a devout Whovian... I can say with all honesty and earnest, Alan Alda will always be my Doctor.
Mine, too.
I’m fortunate enough to have been in the time frame where they were still airing the seasons. New shows, character arcs, character changes, the death of some characters, divorces, infidelity , the show took on a life of its own. Some of the biggest plot twists in a tv show happened on mash. The last episode was so popular, we had the tv guide page ripped out at magneted to the refrigerator so we would not miss it.
@Hello there, how are you doing this blessed day?
MASH will always be evergreen so long as nations go to war for what they think are the "right" reasons. Doesn't matter the issues and politics involved, MASH taught us better. As Henry Blake once said, "There are certain rules about a war, and Rule Number One is young men die, and Rule Number Two is, doctors can't change Rule Number One."
You just earned yourself a new subscriber. Thanks!
I love MASH, maybe even more than Star Trek. Well, not really. But one of my favorite episodes was Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, where Hawkeyes best friend dies on the table because he just cant save him. Great episode!
As another Star Trek fan, I must agree with you. 🙂
The last episode of M.A.S.H (1983) held the record for the most watched television broadcast in history; until the record was beaten by the Super Bowl in 2010. Pretty wild considering the small number TVs in 1983 compared to the prolific amount of technology in 2010.
One of the great ensembles ever ensembled. Not only that, so many stars or future stars made appearances. A truly special show.
An ironic one is a very young Patrick Swayze playing a soldier who had leukemia. A blood cancer. And then he died of cancer so many years later. I think that was is very first screen credit, too.
@@specialk9424 absolutely! That episode leaves me a little teary eyed whenever I see it!
Especially Father Mulcahy’s sermon.
@@valerietaylor9615another good one!
I was two years old when match premiered on TV and I grew up watching it as a kid on my black and white television set. To this day I still remember the final episode of MASH very well, it was not the tragedy of Hawkeye which touch my heart would rather the tragedy of Charles Emerson Winchester. The very real way he grieved for the loss of the North Korean musicians and his final speech about music being a reminder stays with me to this day. I still tear up every time I watch this episode, without fail. 😢
The first four seasons with Larry Gelbart at the helm as head producer and writer is the Golden Age of the show, in my opinion. I wish they had kept Rogers and Stevenson longer.
Rogers was originally the thoracic surgeon. When they gave that specialty to Alda, he felt there was nothing to set his character apart and left. Stevenson always wanted to have his own show and left to pursue that. I think he mostly failed because he was better as an ensemble player.
Was a great series, thought it ran 12 years... I remember them saying it ran three times longer than the actual war after it ended. Got pretty heavy with Pierce's mental issues... a mother trying to keep her crying baby on a bus from giving their position away. He said it went to sleep... remembering later that she'd strangled it while he cried. It was a brilliant show.
I may just cover that episode next 👀
This is one of the only shows I can rewatch and not get bored
Same here.
I normally shy away from anything with a commentary, but I liked this a lot.
The fact it's about M*A*S*H meant I was half-way there already, but you did a very good job with it as well,
The theme tune gives me Goosebumps every time, and I still have a crush on the leading Nurse at 2:02 . . . .
M*A*S*H is one of the best shows to have watched. I watched it early in the morning after The Munsters. This was in the mid 90s. I learned a lot from this show. The first three seasons where it was a comedy show and when it got darker in the later seasons. Best two episodes for me is "Blood Brothers" guest starring Patrick Swayze and "Billfold Syndrome."
“ Billfold Syndrome” always makes me cry and I (almost ) never cry. I’m referring to the part where Jerry Nielsen remembered that his little brother was killed. He’d repressed everything, so he had to be hypnotized by Dr. Sidney Freedman.
MASH units were like big triage centers. They could do most of the major surgeries to stabilize the wounded, but those wounded were often sent to Seoul where a full military hospital existed. From there, the patients often were flown to Tokyo Japan.
Watched the first episode on TV in 72 and the last episode at the M*A*S*H party at a local bar in 83. (Standing room only.) And seen every episode in between at least 5 times over the years. M*A*S*H will never get old, even though I will/am.
Wow dude, you are 100% on target. Thanks for saying it like it is.
My family is 3 generations deep into being fans of this amazing show.
That was beautifully done. I'm not sure how many times I've seen it all but I was there for the first run, as well. That final episode... wow.
Really good work, keep it up!
I grew up watching this show back in the 70s. The dialog would probably not come across as funny today as it did back then, but my brothers and dad loved this show.
The episode that stood out most for me out of all of them, including the final episode was the one where Col, Henry Blake's chopper crashed, which was devastating.
The first 3 years of the show with Henry and Trapper John were the best and must watch television. It was a very funny comedy that dealt with darker subjects. The remaining years the show became whiny and preachy which occasionally tried to be funny.
I was so sure you'd be discussing Sometimes You Hear the Bullet, and was surprised to see Yankee Doodle Doctor. But you're absolutely right.
This show was such a huge part of my childhood, I now make mash videos on tiktok lol 😆 best show ever
Awesome!
I am old enough to have been a teen when MASH first aired. It became one of the very few television shows I made a point to watch. That was at a time when you had to sit down in front of a big box at a specific time on a specific day (and sit through the commercials) in order to watch something. MASH was one of the few shows worth the effort.
My favorite tv series of all time.
The analysis is spot on. I will offer my dissenting opinion (and let's face it, everyone has an episode that cuts right to the quick)-- Sometimes you hear the bullet. Blake's answer to Hawkeye's question still to this day just tears me up inside.
I loved watching MASH every week in the 1970's.
A very good synopsis. Even some of the later episodes are now pretty unwatchable, but there was a heart in the show, and a maturity that grew as it went on.
Mash was a good serie !
I really enjoyed this video and I completely agree. I’m also very far removed from the intended MASH audience by some 45 years but I absolutely love this show, it can be a bit dated but they were also ahead of their time on numerous occasions.
One of my favourites.
The bottom line of MASH was do whatever you want to do, but when its time to go to work, you're 100% locked in.
Yea the way they all drank 24/7 and went off to do surgery at a moments notice.
I finished rewatching this episode a few hours ago, genuinely one of the funniest, yet realest episodes yet, I loved hawk's monologue at the end of the film, when you think about it, the film they made is a brilliant way of expressing how they use humor to circumvent despair or insanity.
Nice presentation. I grew up watching MASH. (Hope you got an A)
Thank you so much!
I did get an A, and the class loved it :D
Excellent job on your commentary--MASH was 1 of a kind,I applaud you for breaking it down with the reverence it deserves.
A bit of Alan Alda trivia: he served in Korea as an artillery officer during the war. He had first hand experience.
he was 15 when the war started doubt that he was in the military at all let alone make it to Korea
After attending ROTC and graduating from Fordham University in 1956, Alda was commissioned in the Army Reserve. He was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then spent six months as an artillery gunnery officer in South Korea before receiving an honorable discharge.
@terryrose4804 Thanks for clearing that up.
Just discovered your ideas might check out a few more this is excellent. Peace and be well.
I respectfully disagree. I think abyssinia Henry was really the most important one. It was also their most controversial
Even the main theme is haunting. They couldn't even air the lyrics with it.