Re: Season 1-3 is the only real MASH episodes

[Mr Hyde]

AwayBoats wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> MASH turned into Alan Alda's little soapbox after Trapper and Henry
> left.

Yeah baby!!

[Rnstudent1029]

I actually liked the later episodes. I think my favorite seasons would be
seasons 4-7. I still love seasons 1-3 and 8-11 also though.

[Bandersnatch]

I used to feel that way, but I've ended up buying the first 7 seasons of
the show so far, and I'm really amazed at how good seasons 4 thru 7 are.
Lots a great episodes there.

We'll see if my opinion of 8 - 10 1/2 changes...

[H]

I agree. When Alda was given too much say in what happened, the show was not
as good. Too preachy and politcally correct. That's never good. I bought the
first 3 seasons on DVD and that was it.

.H.

"Bandersnatch" <bander...@bandersnatch.com> wrote in message
news:e6a21ef379842da3...@localhost.talkabouttelevision.com...

[History Fan]

> MASH turned into Alan Alda's little soapbox after Trapper and Henry
> left.

I think MASH got better when Charles and BJ arrived. The stories
didn't center around Hawkeye as much, and we got to learn more about other
characters, especially BJ. To me, Trapper was merely Hawkeye's sidekick,
whereas BJ was an equal partner in the stories.

[phantomeagle]

I personally see it so differently. I prefer the later episodes. I enjoy
all the mash shows. But in the later years they got away from all the
slapstick. The slapstick just got old fast. It seemed that they had no
real seriousness.

The later episodes touched on many issues, from blindness, to murder, to
suicide, and many many other serous issues.

[LINKWRT54G]

>"phantomeagle" rand...@yahoo.com
>Date: 1/8/2005 11:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

>But in the later years they got away from all the
>slapstick.

Slapstick? A huge part of mash's early greatness is the writing, not
slapstick.

>It seemed that they had no
>real seriousness.

Maybe because it was a comedy? And real seriousness occurs from year 1 and on.
Just about every episode had a serious scene and the war was never turned into
a joke.

>The later episodes touched on many issues, from blindness, to murder, to
>suicide, and many many other serous issues.

And the early episodes touched on close friends dying, getting medicine from
the Black Market, owning people like The Moose, homosexuality, prisoner
exchanges, operating at aid stations being shelled, Henry and on and on.

[RWF]

In article <20050109003019...@mb-m27.aol.com>,
linkw...@aol.com (LINKWRT54G) wrote:

> >"phantomeagle" rand...@yahoo.com
> >Date: 1/8/2005 11:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time

> >The later episodes touched on many issues, from blindness, to murder, to
> >suicide, and many many other serous issues.
>
> And the early episodes touched on close friends dying, getting medicine from
> the Black Market, owning people like The Moose, homosexuality, prisoner
> exchanges, operating at aid stations being shelled, Henry and on and on.

I think there will always be the "first seasons are better" and the
"later seasons are better" crowds. For me, it's more a matter of the
actors and characters. I watched these as first run, and loved them all
back in the day.

Every time we heard <so and so> is leaving the show, I thought, "oh
geez, Mash is ending, it'll never survive <so and so> leaving". And
every time I was wrong, it managed to survive, and in most cases, IMHO,
improve with the new characters too. The only one that could not ever
have been 'replaced' in my eyes, was Alan Alda's Hawkeye.

I loved a lot of the episodes, ranging from the first season right into
the last. There are very few episodes I *don't* like and while there are
some I've seen so many times I will pass them by when their turn in the
cycle comes up now, there are many more that I'll watch every single
time they're on, if I happen to be home to see it. Even the 'not great'
episodes of Mash, any season, are better than a lot of the crappy pablum
stuff that's on tv now.

--
RWF, the Queen of Diamonds in the eeeevil Cabal.
Broadwallk (not a typo) on the Cabal Monopoly board.
And major Harry Potter fan.
"just add chocolate and serve"

[Mr Hyde]

CLASS?? PAY ATTENTION CLASS! MASH one through three is the ZENITH,
the XANADU, the MECCA and the HOLY GRAIL of all the seasons. But,
Mayberry RFD --I MEAN...the other seasons were good too.

[Jerri]

"Mr Hyde" <mr_h...@hotmail.com> wrote

> CLASS?? PAY ATTENTION CLASS! MASH
> one through three is the ZENITH, the XANADU,
> the MECCA and the HOLY GRAIL of all the seasons.
> But, Mayberry RFD --I MEAN...the other seasons were good too.

I'm thinking there was good and bad in every season. Frank and Hot Lips were
annoying, but so were Charles and BJ. I liked Henry more than Col. Potter,
and Radar as company clerk more than Klinger. Father Mulcahy seemed to come
more into his own in the later seasons, and Hot Lips became more believable
without Frank. Trapper John was the best foil for Hawkeye, being more of an
equal and less of a ... a ... whatever BJ ended up being. Sidney Freedman
was always the bright star in any episode he inhabited, and Col. Flagg the
quintessential spy vs. spy, with himself playing both sides of a
schizophrenic game of dodgeball. I forget which episode /season it was in
which Henry had a cheerleader girlfriend come to camp, but it might very
well have been the funniest episode.
Jerri

[Mr Hyde]

"a...a...whatever BJ ended up being" Thanks for the chuckle.
And "Rah, Rah"!

[Captain Infinity]

The Time Has Come, Jerri said
To Talk Of Many Things...

>Trapper John was the best foil for Hawkeye, being more of an
>equal and less of a ... a ... whatever BJ ended up being.

Sidecar.

**
Captain Infinity
..."This is a job for meat!" --Hank Hill