M*A*S*H The TV Show

[Detective Jim McLeod]

One of my favorite TV shows, I thought I would start this to get others' opinions on anything about it.

One thing I would like to talk about is the replacements in the cast, which one was funnier.

1. Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) or Mike Farrell (B.J Hunnicut.?)
I preferred Trapper and I thought he was funnier. I believed his character was a good contrast to Alan Alda's Hawkeye, more tougher and "macho" at times, though they made a good team. I thought Alda was a comedy genius and Rogers was equally talented to him. I thought Farrell was not very funny, he tried but Alda blew him off the screen. For the first few seasons he just stood around and laughed at Hawkeye's jokes. Later on his charactr became a bit sanctimonious and whiny.

2, McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) or Harry Morgan (Sherman Potter)?
I liked both of them and they were responsible for many laughs. I think I slightly preferred Potter because he was more sardonic and more of commanding officer. Blake was very funny with his bumbling but didn't seem to be able to make a decision.

3. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) or Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers)?
I thought Frank was much funnier than Charles. Burns was a total boob but Linville's performance was hilarious. Charles could be amusing at times but was so pompous and arrogant that he still was unlikable even though the writers tried to give him a good heart. Frank was always the butt of the jokes but it was always funny, Charles would sometimes come back at the pranksters but I preferred him as the target of the jokes.

[Dargo]

One of my favorite TV shows, I thought I would start this to get others' opinions on anything about it.

One thing I would like to talk about is the replacements in the cast, which one was funnier.

1. Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) or Mike Farrell (B.J Hunnicut.?)
I preferred Trapper and I thought he was funnier. I believed his character was a good contrast to Alan Alda's Hawkeye, more tougher and "macho" at times, though they made a good team. I thought Alda was a comedy genius and Rogers was equally talented to him. I thought Farrell was not very funny, he tried but Alda blew him off the screen. For the first few seasons he just stood around and laughed at Hawkeye's jokes. Later on his charactr became a bit sanctimonious and whiny.

Good call on this point Jim, although I always felt Wayne Rogers was under-used in this series. In fact, I think this was the very reason he would leave the show.

2, McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) or Harry Morgan (Sherman Potter)?
I liked both of them and they were responsible for many laughs. I think I slightly preferred Potter because he was more sardonic and more of commanding officer. Blake was very funny with his bumbling but didn't seem to be able to make a decision.

When Henry Morgan took over the role of the C.O., that would be when the series took on a more series tone. But, and as comedian Dom Irrera would say, "I don't mean that in a bad way", as I actually prefer the Col. Potter character over the goofier Blake character.

3. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) or Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers)?
I thought Frank was much funnier than Charles. Burns was a total boob but Linville's performance was hilarious. Charles could be amusing at times but was so pompous and arrogant that he still was unlikable even though the writers tried to give him a good heart. Frank was always the butt of the jokes but it was always funny, Charles would sometimes come back the pranksters but I preferred him as the target of the jokes.

Because I've always felt Linville played Burns as a one-note character throughout his run, I've always preferred Steirs' Winchester character and due not only to it being presented as a more complex character, but also because he always made a much better and more equal foil to Alda's Pierce, and thus in return had occasion to present Pierce's own foibles and thus more fully humanizing his character.

[txfilmfan]

One of my favorite TV shows, I thought I would start this to get others' opinions on anything about it.

One thing I would like to talk about is the replacements in the cast, which one was funnier.

1. Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) or Mike Farrell (B.J Hunnicut.?)
I preferred Trapper and I thought he was funnier. I believed his character was a good contrast to Alan Alda's Hawkeye, more tougher and "macho" at times, though they made a good team. I thought Alda was a comedy genius and Rogers was equally talented to him. I thought Farrell was not very funny, he tried but Alda blew him off the screen. For the first few seasons he just stood around and laughed at Hawkeye's jokes. Later on his charactr became a bit sanctimonious and whiny.

Good call on this point Jim, although I always felt Wayne Rogers was underused in this series. In fact, I think this was the very reason he would leave the show.

2, McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) or Harry Morgan (Sherman Potter)?
I liked both of them and they were responsible for many laughs. I think I slightly preferred Potter because he was more sardonic and more of commanding officer. Blake was very funny with his bumbling but didn't seem to be able to make a decision.

When Henry Blake took over the role of the C.O., that would be when the series took on a more series tone. But, and as comedian Dom Irrera would say, "I don't mean that in a bad way", as I actually prefer the Col. Potter character over the goofier Blake character.

3. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) or Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers)?
I thought Frank was much funnier than Charles. Burns was a total boob but Linville's performance was hilarious. Charles could be amusing at times but was so pompous and arrogant that he still was unlikable even though the writers tried to give him a good heart. Frank was always the butt of the jokes but it was always funny, Charles would sometimes come back the pranksters but I preferred him as the target of the jokes.

Because I've always felt Linville played Burns as a one-note character throughout his run, I've always preferred Steirs' Winchester character and due not only to it being presented as a more complex character, but also because he always made a much better and more equal foil to Alda's Pierce, and thus in return have occasion to present Pierce's own foibles and thus more fully humanizing his character.

Burns was a one-note character, mostly because he was written that way. It wasn't until Margaret left him that we saw another side of him. Still, I remember Linville leaving because he felt there was no place for the character to go. I think Trapper & Hawkeye were probably a bit too similar in character, and Alda won that battle. If Trapper had stayed around for a couple more years, the series probably would've gotten stale. Farce is hard to sustain.

The series did change tone, but it was due to Gelbart and Reynolds leaving (after the 4th and 5th seasons) as well as the cast changes. Most of the farce was gone when they left. It also fit with the more well-rounded characters of Potter and Hunnicut, and later, Winchester. Margaret's character also grew over this time, moving from an essentially one-note hyper-patriotic, by-the-books former Army brat into a more well-rounded character.

[jimimac71]

We still watch the show on MeTV and it never gets old.
Everyone was good and I have a different group of favorites.
While the show is a sitcom, it is also about the war.
Both elements mix well together.
My top characters would be Radar and Klinger.
Can't really choose one over the other but Klinger had better legs, right?
I never investigated why Radar left the show. That would be interesting to know.
LIke Murder, She Wrote, which is worthy of it's own thread (Lorna), M*A*S*H had many fine guest stars.
The show was also top notch for handling serious moments.
The episode where Hawkeye gets examined by Sidney Freeman to find the cause of his sneezing is classic.
Obviously, Hotlips had the better legs.
I was in cable television when the last episode was shown.
In Northern California, serious rain kept many people for seeing it.
https://www.metv.com/stories/stormy-wea ... s-h-finale
Total TV was the name of the Santa Rosa Cable TV company at the time and the Press Democrat is still Santa Rosa's newspaper
I was working that night with a phone surgically installed in my ear.
Never got to see the final episode until the Summer rerun.

Edit: On MeTV, M*A*S*H has just started over.

[ElCid]

I saw the movie in theaters when it premiered - ironically I was in the Army with orders for Vietnam when I saw it. Great movie.
The first year of the TV series was fairly good and entertaining, but after that it became the Alan Alda Show. I never really cared for the show after that, although I did watch it several times each season. Have never watched the reruns because of Alda.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

LIke Murder, She Wrote, which is worthy of it's own thread (Lorna), M*A*S*H had many fine guest stars.

This show never got as many old time movie star guests like Murder She Wrote, I remember Leslie Nielsen and Robert Alda (Alan's father) in the early years. There were some future stars like Patrick Swayze and ones that achieved some later success in TV like John Ritter, George Wendt and Shelley Long.

[jimimac71]

My favorite would be Mariette Hartley.
At this point, M*A*S*H would be my favorite show.