M*A*S*H Memories

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Wildest cat from montana, Oct 11, 2019.

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  1. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    Interesting thing about the laugh track which I didn’t realize until I read it somewhere earlier this year... the laugh track was never used when they were in the operating room.

    I can’t recall from every episode if that’s true or not, but interesting trivia if it is.
     
  2. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    If we had more men like him we'd have less men like him.
     
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  3. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    It's true. Never any laugh track in the operating room.

    I think the episode where the wounded soldier thought he was Jesus also had no laugh track because of the serious matter.

    Reruns now switch between laugh track and no laugh track, and I can't make up my mind whIch I prefer.
     
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  4. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Flagg:
    You think you're real smart. But you're not smart; you're dumb. Very dumb. But you've met your match in me.
     
  5. slowhand1964

    slowhand1964 A Tadpole in a Jar

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Trapper John: Elliot Gould or Wayne Rodgers?

    Me Wayne

    Saddest: When Henry died.......
     
  6. ducksdeluxe

    ducksdeluxe A voice in the wilderness.

    Location:
    PNW
    After Radar left the show it was over for me. My favorite episode was "Deal Me Out" from season 2. A massive poker game is repeatedly interrupted by events. Sidney Friedman is there, Captain Pak (Pat Morita) makes one of his two appearances, and Col. Flagg arrives, although in this episode he goes by the name of Halloran, I believe.

    Favorite lines of dialogue, from that episode:

    HALLORAN/FLAGG: Up close you're a guy!
    KLINGER: Far away, too!
     
  7. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    Love Klinger’s, “Far away, too” line.

    Speaking of Radar... for whatever reason, this one has always been a favorite:

    My own father didn't have me until he was 63, and the first time we played peek-a-boo together he had a stroke.
     
  8. j_rocker

    j_rocker Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    I believe Hawkeye asked if she was eighteen and BJ informed him that she was sixteen. I always assumed that joke was meant to say Hawkeye would not permit himself to further fantasize because of the age.
     
  9. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    Flagg: You haven't got the clearance to hear what's in my head.

    Trapper: I don't think I have the stomach for it!

    Some other lines I remember -

    Trapper (drunk): I knew one guy who shipped himself home in a harp case. That took a lot of pluck!

    - and -

    Col. Potter: Congratulations, Mrs. O'Reilly. It's a bear!
     
  10. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI

    Radar didn't grow as time went on, he reverted to childhood... Early on, he was more of a lech, and he'd sneak Henry's cigars and liquor, he'd spy on people/read their mail, etc., he was unshaven a lot, and he'd eat meat (he even traded the long-johns for an entire leg of lamb)...

    Then as the show went on he became, for lack of a better term, a "ninny" (which of course is what Hawkeye referred to him as in an episode I hate, titled "A Fallen Idol" IIRC)... Just a bad de-evolution of a character... From what he was, to what he became, I didn't hate to see him go...
     
  11. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Seasons 1 thru 6 for me, with emphasis on 1 thru 3...

    There's really nothing funny enough to even use the laugh track in the later seasons, is there? :)

    I don't hate the later seasons, but as others have said thru the years, it really was a different show by the time it ended... I own all the seasons on DVD, and watch episodes from them all occasionally... They have enjoyable episodes throughout, but I prefer the show when it was basically a straight-on comedy (with the occasional "drama") or as I've heard Alda refer to them at one time or another, "hi-jinx on the front"...
     
  12. "Do I know you? And don't try to deny it!" :laugh:

    Such a great, and very quotable, character.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2019
  13. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    "Be careful son, the dullness rubs off."
     
  14. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Well...knowing Hawkeye as I do I think he was thinking otherwise.
     
  15. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    [QUOTE="slowhand1964, post



    Saddest: When Henry died.......[/QUOTE]
    The scene where Radar enters the operating room to break the news of Henry' s death is one of the finest in the series. The room goes dead quiet and all you hear is the clinking sound of the operating equipment. The staff can't even take a minute to express their sudden grief.
     
  16. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    And , to be sure , Radar in the MASH movie was a totally different character than Radar in the TV series.
     
  17. JakeKlas

    JakeKlas Impatiently waiting for an 8-track revival

    Location:
    United States
    Fair enough if that’s your interpretation. I don’t see it that way at all.

    We could probably go back and forth with episodes that support one view or another. I think of the episode where his friend gets sent home and Radar cares for the friend’s wife (or was it girlfriend) and baby. I don’t see the earlier version of the character doing that. The same with the episode where B.J. arrives and Radar runs into the minefield to get the Korean girl who has been injured. That’s what I mean by growth. (Whether that’s good or bad growth is debatable.)

    But I get that whatever changes they made you didn’t care for. Frankly, I wasn’t sorry to see him leave either. While I do think he grew, I thought the character had become a bit boring.
     
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  18. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    But I get that whatever changes they made you didn’t care for. Frankly, I wasn’t sorry to see him leave either. While I do think he grew, I thought the character had become a bit boring.[/QUOTE]

    I would rather have seen Klinger go...
     
  19. Bluesman Mark

    Bluesman Mark I'm supposed to put something witty here....

    Location:
    Iowa
    Still my all time favorite TV show, & the way that Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar, BJ, Blake & Potter interacted with each other & treated each other, (& others they met), shaped me a lot into the person I am today, including my liberalism, (which was there before, but in a nascent stage, M*A*S*H & the political & social goings on of the 70s all helped to shape that). Their basic decency, kindness & support towards themselves & others, coupled with the fact that each had their flaws, shortcomings & feet of clay was a massive influence on me in my formative adolescent & teen years. I have the entire series on DVD & watch it frequently.

    On Radar changing; that was Gary Burghoff's idea, since the characters on the show were different in tone & concept from the movie, he saw that playing Radar the way he had in the movie, (& in the TV show at first), wasn't going to interact as well, so he made the decision to adjust accordingly, at least as he saw it.

    CBS insisted on the laugh track, but Larry Gelbart & Gene Reynolds also insisted it not be used in the operating room, which CBS agreed to.

    Seasons 1-5, (especially 1-3), are my favorites, but I love them all in general. Some latter individual episodes I can take or leave however. As far as wishing which characters left & which ones stayed, since it was the choice of the actors that played those characters that departed to do so, I don't play that game. In real life, people would have rotated in & out of the camp, so the fact it happened on the show made it more realistic & logical.

    The reason it became, (or was perceived to become), the "Alan Alda Show" was twofold, (eventually threefold): Hawkeye was not only the primary character as written, (Richard Hornberger, pen name Richard Hooker, wrote the book based on his experiences as a M*A*S*H doctor & based Hawkeye on himself), but also became the show's breakout character. Second, the TV show was conceived as a protest towards the then ongoing Vietnam war, & when the US pulled out & Saigon fell that thrust & focus had to change, & it did. That's also when all the characters really started to grow, (including Hawkeye), as the creative staff started focusing on the more personal stories. The threefold part ties in with that, as once Larry Gelbart & then Gene Reynolds departed the show & Burt Metcalfe & Alan Alda became the creative consultants that furthered the changeover to more personal & character driven stories, a lot of which did indeed focus on Hawkeye, instead of politically based ones.
     
  20. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    Hawkeye: "Over my dead body."

    *Flagg merely looks at him*

    Hawkeye: "eh, let me re-phrase that..."

    :laugh:
     
  21. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    " Caramba ! Mister Big !"
     
  22. slowhand1964

    slowhand1964 A Tadpole in a Jar

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    And we can't forget about Captain Calvin Spalding (AKA Loudin Wainwright III) the singing surgeon....think he only lasted 2 episodes



    MASH :: Big Mac 3x21 :: SONGS
     
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  23. slowhand1964

    slowhand1964 A Tadpole in a Jar

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
  24. Jay_Z

    Jay_Z Forum Resident

    There was likely more room for plots in going the innocent route with Radar. How many times can you have him be slaked. It just got too cliched and cartoonish. A character that is becoming even more childlike every day despite dealing with the horrors of war.

    In the end Burghoff himself got sick of playing the character that way. And got too old to do so. Probably why he starting taking episodes off. When they stretched out Radar leaving, Burghoff was clearly checked out of playing the character as he had.
     
  25. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader Thread Starter

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Never could figure out what he was doing on this show.
     
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