Also, I could use help navigating to other sections. I still can not see a Star Trek TOS board and I would think that there has to be one.
sharehttp://www.moviechat.org/movies/tt0060028
BiffGG, try the above re Star Trek TOS. Not sure how or if/how to we can put links here, so you may have to copy and paste. Watching the MASH marathon now on Sundance.
Anybody?
shareGood to see you Biff.
I hope some of the other regulars show up here.
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It does not hold up given your rules. The show especially in its latter years is very dated today. Further, now that I have recently seen some of the last Frank episodes it is hard to believe Frank as he was written at that point could have been competent enough to shave, clothe, and feed himself never mind being a doctor. I also saw "Peace on us (Hawkeye)" and it boggles the mind that Potter would be OK with Pierce going off to the peace talks as he did. Further, that Pierce did not wind up in the brig especially for his outburst at the higher ranking officers. The episode might have worked if Pierce had just muttered one snide remark under his breath. In my mind this is not even one of the top shows of the 1970's when All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore ran during roughly the same time frame. MASH like the show Happy Days was just a flavor of the decade show where it was not yet widely accepted to tell authority figures to their face to go pound salt. Today nearly every show does that so the appeal of the "pioneer" anti-authority shows to younger viewers is not that great especially when the styling is different although the message similar.
shareI never did understand how Frank could be so incompetent in life and be "acceptable" in the operating room. I get it that they may have been desperate for surgeons (I don't know this) but one conversation with Frank would be enough for me to dismiss him from consideration for the service. He's a boob. 😖
shareJust because you can earn a degree that does not mean you are socially well adjusted. The notion of scarcity of doctors was stretched beyond the limit in my mind compared to the reality of Korea. To hear the show tell it there was never going to be another doctor shipped in from the US to take the place of a current MASH doctor. When an actor decided to leave only then could a replacement doctor be sent in which seemed to piss the producers off as if they actually had to train a doctor. Closer to reality from what I have read is if a doctor was lost due to injury or death it was a hardship for a week or two or maybe up to a month under unusual circumstances until the replacement could be flown or driven in. There is no reason under real life that Burns or Pierce could not have been sent back to Tokyo or the States if the disciplinary issues were too much.
shareThe corollary to my first sentence from above would be just because you are socially inept does not mean you can not earn an advanced degree. That would cover Frank being able to perform in the OR and contribute to the unit's ultra high efficiency and survival rating.
shareVery few series are good through their entire run. Some start out a bit weak but find their footing by the second season. Others start out well but fall flat toward the end. I haven't watched MASH in a while. Can you cite a couple of reasons for why you thought the last two or three seasons weren't so good? I recall some episodes got a bit too preachy, but they were still funny. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.
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shareAs it has been quite a while since I've watched any MASH episodes, I did a little reading about it and was reminded that there were some major changes beyond those caused by actors leaving the series. There were big changes in the writing and production staff (not something I would have noticed or paid attention to at the time).
Writer Larry Gelbart left after season 4, and producer Gene Reynolds left at the end of season 5. These two were largely responsible for the comedic basis for the series. Alan Alda and Burt Metcalfe became producers then and pushed it to a dramatic focus with a comedy undercurrent. This coincides with the introduction of Charles Winchester in season 6, and by the time Radar left in season 8, the entire writing staff had been revamped, hence the drama over comedy.
So your original feeling that the first 5 or 6 seasons are the best is very understandable and valid. The tone of the series changed quite a bit after that. Although it was still a pretty good show, it was also quite a different one. Transitions like this are certainly more noticeable today when we can binge-watch just about anything. In its original form of weekly episode viewings these changes aren't as glaring.
Yes, there were some good episodes in the later seasons, but the first half of the series tops the last half, in my opinion. Yes, I was one of the however-many millions who watched the finale, and by then I was ready for it to be over because it just wasn't what it used to be.
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