nsequeira-50288 I hate this show. It might have something I'm missing, I'll give it that. maybe I just don't get it. But I think I get it completely. This show is garbage. MASH is TRASH. It's a horrible, horrible show, and it's not funny at all.It's about people in a war- that's not funny at all, to begin with, and it's hard to make something like that funny- but the people have no charisma and no personality. They're 2-D cardboard cutouts. The only way I can distinguish them from each other is that one has black hair, one is a crossdresser, one has curly hair, one's a British snob, one has a mustache, one's a little wimp and one is an old guy. I don't even know some of their names, is how much I don't care about this show.Another thing that bothers me is that the damn thing went on for ten years. TEN YEARS of mundane, pointless drivel. This show had so many seasons that it competes with Gunsmoke and The Simpsons for the number of episodes it had. I just can't imagine a whole decade of this stuff. It's set in the Korean war- which was only two years long- so the characters must be in some sort of time loop- but the Korean War wasn't even a very interesting war. It's the least interesting and obscure war of the twentieth century. A show about the horrid conditions of World War two, I could get. Not about a war that almost nobody was in. That's ridiculous. I also hate how people in the SEVENTIES act like they're people in the FIFTIES- that's an insult to people who really fought in Korea in the fifties- and aside from that, I hardly see how this show is relevant if it's made twenty or thirty years after the time it was set. I just don't know how that could last ten years. Just insane.The people who made this show were penny pinchers, so instead of making the show about REAL soldiers, even, they just set the whole thing in an army hospital- and made all the characters army DOCTORS- which is one of the most dull and uneventful jobs there is to have in a war- because, of course, they didn't ever want to spend money to shoot a cool battle scene or something- or show the gritty reality of war- our characters are as boring as the doctors in General Hospital, if not more. The show, also, has only four sets- again, because they're cheap. watch any episode and the characters will only be in one of four places- the inside of their tents, the outside of their tents, the operating room, and the cafeteria. that's it. I mean, any sitcom has to change the scenery up once in a while. Over the course of the Brady Bunch, they go to an amusement park and the Grand Canyon in some episodes. MASH stays in the same humdrum setting for far, far too long. They're supposed to be in Korea, but it's clear they're in California, and for a show set in Korea, there aren't too many Koreans to be seen.The characters are all egotistical a-holes, as are the actors who play them. Today, they go on little 15 second commercials and say how great their show was. "Ooh, we're a part of history," Loretta Swit will say, and Jamie Farr will be like, "Ooh, I was so funny back then". They behave as if it's more than just a sitcom, they act as if they're literal gods for spending ten years on some worthless trash. They're nothing. I don't like any of the characters. They're all dumb.First, there's Klinger- I don't like him. He has a weird name, he's annoying, he's really Jewish but he's playing a Non-Jewish guy- but worst of all, he's trying to go home on charges of insanity- but he sucks at being a coward. Like, his character could actually be poignant and funny if he was a REAL coward who SERIOUSLY put some work into getting out on charges of insanity- but he doesn't try at all. He dresses in skirts and stuff. Honestly, is that the best he can do? He could just punch somebody in the face and go out into the hills completely nude- he'd be shipped back to the states overnight. He could be a good character if pulled off right- a fragile husk who went mentally insane because of the horrible nature of war- but he never REALLY wants to go home. And he's obviously not crazy, and everyone else can see through his paper-thin act- and he's perfectly normal except for dressing in women's clothes- so by the 3,000th episode his old routine has become stale and boring.The romance between Loretta Swit and Burns or whatever his name is- the bald guy- is OK. Just OK. It's not that funny, because we know that Burns has a wife at home- and he's cheating on her- I don't know how that could be interpreted as funny- it's kind of twisted, when you think about it. Loretta isn't that interesting, she's supposed to be a feminine counterpoint- but there's only one woman in the whole cast and she's treated like a sex object, so what's the point?Alan Alda is a cardboard square- a clean cut nut- who thinks he's hot stuff even though he's just a two-bit phony. He tries to be all philosophical- talk about how bad war is and everything- but he never burns his draft card or anything. He's not funny, not one little bit, his jokes are badly delivered- he's the worst actor I've ever seen. The only character who might even be considered moderately acceptable is Radar- he's kind of adorable- but he's not funny, or very interesting- the whole cast is badly placed. They have no point, and by the seventh year or so, you can tell they're starting to get tired of it. By the tenth year, they've become literal corpses who have wasted their collective talents on a decade of something that never really mattered.MASH tries to be a comedy and a drama at the same time- and it fails on both counts. It never makes me laugh and it's not one bit poignant. It's about people who pretend to be doctors in a war that happened before they were born. The message is badly played out, I could never tell if it was trying to be anti-war or pro-war. The thing is a million episodes of drivel, and I don't know why they're still playing it.I'm rating this a three, not a two, because there are some good moments. There are only three good episodes out of the whole mess. The first two are good because they're portrayed as a kind of documentary- filmed in black and white, and a man just asks the characters what they think about the war, and the emotions are much more heartfelt and realistic. The filming is good and believable- I could almost accept it as genuine- they add some stock footage in there for good effect. Those first two episodes are good because they're more about the situation than the characters. The characters are there to relate a story- tell us why they are how they are, explain to us what the hell is going on, how the Korean War can affect a person mentally. If the show had continued in that fashion, simple black and white footage, and maybe stopped at two seasons- then it would be OK. But when it turns to color, the magic is broken. We just know there was no color in 1952 or whenever. It's ruined.The other good episode is the last one- the series finale- when they pick up their stupid tents and leave. That's the best episode because we finally know that it's over- that the show, the horrendous demon known as MASH is gone forever, and will only continue on as reruns. That's a nice episode because t's the end of the stupidity- the ego filled actors and the cliche storylines and the bad chemistry- that's a great episode, because it's the Titanic sinking into the ocean. The finish. There will be no more. Great episode.This is a bad show. You might say it's a comment on the mental condition of man when he's placed into combat, a historical masterpiece, the funniest show ever made, the saddest show ever made- but I say MASH is TRASH. I'm guessing those letters- M*A*S*H*- stand for "Mundane And Shitty Harlequins". nah, I know what they really stand for- Mobile Army Surgical Hospital- but I think that acronym suits it better. Well, that's it. Don't watch this show. You'll fall into a catatonic stupor.

feakes MASH was a classic black comedy. It was set in Korea but spoke out against Vietnam, When the Movie and book were successful enough to make a TV Series changes had to be made. Gone was the Hawkeye and Trapper John who were anarchists and doing what ever it was to relieve boredom and gone was the movie version of Frank burns a bible thumping hypocrite who was unlikable. Also gone was Duke Forrest the Southern redneck doctor. Spearchucker lasted a couple of episodes. When the show found its footing it focused on the main core group of Hawkeye Trapper John Col.Henry Blake Radar and Frank Burns and hot Lips The Series made Changes suddenly Hawkeye became a crusader who became almost a noble knight. Trapper was the Rebel who rebelled against authority while Hot Lips was the sex symbol and Frank Burns was no longer dangerous but bumbling. You could see thru out the show that these people cared deeply for one another. Great Acting all around and the stories are first notch.designed to make you think while laughing. Then the show changed around 75 gone was Henry Blake and trapper John. Replaced by Col. Sherman Potter and Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. Two of the best replacements. Klinger became more of a focus as well and the show became even more solid. It even survived the loss of Frank Burns and the arrival of Major Charles Emerson Winchester the third. and M.A.S.H felt more like a family. Well until its last episode. Even after Radar left the show didn't miss a beat. M.A.S.H. is one show that has all the magic and it never loses it even after 40 years . One of my favorite shows of all time. And a Show I'm proud to re watch over and over again.

bigverybadtom I remember seeing this show a number of times growing up, but it never really felt like much more than light entertainment. Then again, "Hogan's Heroes" was a sitcom meant more to mock the World War Two-based shows of that era than to educate us about how life was really like in a German POW camp.M*A*S*H was not as ridiculous as "Hogan's Heroes", but it never had any real emotional effect on me. It was a product of its era, coming out at a time when the US was ready to pull out of Vietnam- and the show felt more 1970's than 1950's, like "Happy Days".In the actual Korean War, there was the "mobile phase" from 1950 to mid-1951, when North Korean forces nearly overran the south, then the UN intervened and conquered most of North Korea-only to be pushed back by intervening Chinese forces, back to where the country's original dividing line had been. From then until 1953, there was the "static phase" when there was fighting along the front, but the lines did not shift any great deal. I mention this because I cannot recall the base having to change its location, or any threat of its having to do so. Also, Korean winters can get extremely cold-but I cannot recall that mentioned in the show ever.It would be interesting to know what any Korean War veterans thought of this show.

calvinnme That is, this series started out in 1972 to capitalize on the antipathy people had towards the Vietnam War, plus it blended well with the anti-establishment theme of the CBS prime time lineup as well. Then something horrible happened - that is for those financially backing the show - four months into production the Vietnam War effectively ended. Also, it was announced the draft would end. Poof. There goes the show's reason for existence. This is where the show "rolled with the punches". Rather than just dry up and blow away as an artifact of a time that had come and gone, it explored new avenues and ways to stay relevant. It explored friendship, maintaining family ties when far from home, and the shock of sudden death. At the end of eleven years, when the show called it a day, you had two characters that loathed each other in the beginning of the series practically declaring their love for one another, although they knew in peacetime it could never be.If you ever decide to go whole hog and buy the complete series, have patience with it. The first three episodes are not that good - the humor is very forced and were it not for the laugh track you might not get that a joke had just been told. But it does get much better rather quickly. Back in 1972 network shows were allowed time to get better. Now some network bean counter just pulls the plug and drags out some reality show replacement.