One major difference was that Charles became part of the group, like a big family, whereas Frank was always the antagonist and therefore separate from everyone else.
You would never have seen Frank being part of the group portrait in the 'Picture This' episode. The series became a bit too warm and fuzzy with warm & fuzzy Charles.
Unless we each conform, unless we obey orders, unless we follow our leaders blindly, there is no possible way we can remain free.
The series became a bit too warm and fuzzy with warm & fuzzy Charles.
I didn't mind the anti-war message when the show was funny. "Sometimes You hear The Bullet" was a great episode, with a mixture of comedy and drama, and impressive acting by Alda and Stevenson. However, as the show progressed, yep: It got way too preachy, and what made it hard to watch was the show's taking itself way too seriously.
I really wish it stayed comical. Sure, I'd expect the characters to evolve, too. But they could have done that by making the show darker and perhaps more irreverent--like its movie counterpart.
Then add Hawkeye's annoying and endless preaching. It really got old hearing his irrational anti-war rants episode after episode.
The problem with Hawkeye's preaching is that it came from a simplistic, naive, almost child-like viewpoint. To Hawkeye, the Korean War was about two superpowers who arranged a war for no particular reason and sent innocent kids to fight and die to see who would win. All they had to do was agree to stop fighting and all would be swell.
There was a really dumb episode where Hawkeye tries to help a South Korean draft dodger.
His whole reasoning is so childlike. He feels that if no one took part then there would be no war. Humans don't operate like that. Not to mention all the American and other nations soldiers being killed and yet this South Korean guy thinks he doesn't have to fight for his country.
Frank was a cartoon character played by an actor: he was only there to be laughed at, and you could never take him seriously as a real person.
The writers did a lot better with Charles, who after his first few seasons actually became an occasionally sympathetic, believable character. He maintained his "blue blood" quirks until the end, but the scripts were never consistent with how sympathetic he should be.
I also agree with the other poster about Radar's departure being the show's "jumping the shark" moment. The last three seasons were far too "sit-commy" and repetitive.
I agree.
shareYeah, Frank was over the top and had nowhere to go. The man whined like a fire truck siren the last season or two.
shareI prefer the Charles character but the Frank-gets-pranked episodes were better than the similar Charles ones.
shareI liked both characters but preferred Charles overall as well. I think the problem with Frank was that the character was based on the movie's Frank. Once Frank was replaced, the producers were smart to replace Frank with his complete opposite to open up far more story lines, but Charles character was also not hampered by continuity with the feature film.
Charles would get even which led to him being accepted. Frank tended to lose his temper and go screaming off to high command (MOMMY!!!!)
shareYeah, you got it in one simple sentence!
Charles was a much more believable person than the cartoonish Frank, and the fact that he scored occasional points over Hawkeye and his sidekicks was a good thing for the show. And if the show had continued to make being funny their highest priority, adding him would have been a stroke of genius, but that wasn't how they wanted to run things.
Other difference - Hawkeye was clearly a better doctor than Frank.
shareThat's actually straight from the books, I read the original book like forty years ago and it said that Frank hadn't gone to medical school, he'd been trained by his father and passed the boards. Apparently that was still legal in the first half of the 20th century. And that yeah, Frank was a shitty doctor and that was why.
Charles made the show more complex and believable, and took the focus off the cruel humor that's hasn't aged well. Charles wasn't likeable but he wasn't a villain, he was just... himself. A difficult person, but one who could score the occasional point off of Hawkeye instead of just being a target.
I preferred Charles as I just thought he was better character creatively speaking. Frank was very one dimensional which I think is one of the reasons the actor who played him left.
I do agree though that the series went downhill after that but that was for lots of other reasons asides from Charles.
Frank > Charles
Trapper > BJ
Henry > Potter
MASH ran for way too long, and it probably should have ended after the third season.
Right, that was always one problem "M*A*S*H" faced by making a three-year war drag out for eleven seasons.
The timelines were completely botched because the creators and writers had absolutely no direction on where to take the show. This is why we have episodes such as "A War for All Seasons" when Potter and Charles didn't even arrive at the 4077th until later on. It's like they completely glossed over the fact that Blake and Trapper even existed.
As far as the characters, I would rank them:
• Charles > Frank
• Trapper > BJ
• Potter > Blake
I suppose our opinions cancel each other's out.
shareTo me, seasons 3 and 4 are the essence of the series.
shareFrank should've been written out at the end of the third season when Wayne Rogers left and they decided to kill off the Henry Blake character. He never really fit in the fourth and fifth seasons with M*A*S*H steering away from comedy and becoming more serious.
His whining got old really quick. That and the way he lusted after Hotlips when she was engaged didn't sit well with me.
The guy wouldn't take no for an answer. Him physically going after Margaret should've been a court-martial offense punishable by death. It's a shame the writers gave Frank a happy sendoff by being promoted and working in a stateside hospital, even if they tried making him a little bit of a basket case.
While I'll always love the first three seasons, Charles was way more entertaining. He presented Hawkeye and BJ with a challenge. It was a breath of fresh air when they introduced him in the sixth season.
Oh, and you're right, I can't imagine Frank being in "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". It was a completely different show at that point. I don't think "M*A*S*H" would've made it as far if Larry Linville decided to renew his contract.
Oh, and you're right, I can't imagine Frank being in "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". It was a completely different show at that point. I don't think "M*A*S*H" would've made it as far if Larry Linville decided to renew his contract.
Furthermore- Hawkeye was clearly a better surgeon than Frank .With Charles it was different- a craftsman forced to work.on.an assembly line.
shareFrank's only redeeming qualities were his reactions when he got pranked, or his and Margaret's reactions when their evil little schemes blew up in their faces or got foiled. Nothing pleased me more than to see him go away. Charles was only marginally easier to handle, but only because he was as better developed character, and was more than just a foil for Hawkeye and BJ. Most of the time, he was annoying, stuck-up, blue-blooded snot; but once in a long while, you could see he had a heart, but he was highly selective towards who he showed it to.
This included the concert pianist who had his hand messed up in the war and could never play again - Charles showed him that he could still play using his left hand. The next was the soldier who stammered, and it turned out that Charles had a soft spot for stammerers, because his favorite little sister stammered. He even realized that his bigotry towards his sister almost marrying an Italian was completely irrelevant and counter-productive compared to the devastation she felt when her fiancee's family called off the wedding. He even had a girlfriend who loved him for who he was, and yet he never pursued her as a proper wife!
Frank was boring it would have been better if they made him a little more competent.
Frank leaving also made Hotlips more sensible as she was also cartoonish when he was around.