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Watching M*A*S*H (1 Viewer)

captain_amazing

Footballguy
I'm watching MASH though for the first time.  I've seen many epsidoes as reruns, but not the whole series linearly.  

One question I have is, being at the end of season 3, why did they kill Henry.instead if just letting him go home?  I just don't get what killing him added that he wasn't getting with going home and need someone to explain it to me.

 
I'm watching MASH though for the first time.  I've seen many epsidoes as reruns, but not the whole series linearly.  

One question I have is, being at the end of season 3, why did they kill Henry.instead if just letting him go home?  I just don't get what killing him added that he wasn't getting with going home and need someone to explain it to me.
Drama, reality of war? Who knows but it’s a great series, one of the all-timers.

 
I'm watching MASH though for the first time.  I've seen many epsidoes as reruns, but not the whole series linearly.  

One question I have is, being at the end of season 3, why did they kill Henry.instead if just letting him go home?  I just don't get what killing him added that he wasn't getting with going home and need someone to explain it to me.
Long contract squabble with too-big-for-britches Stevenson which gave producers the chance to show the costs of war while beating him to the goodbye. Wayne Rogers's contract negotiation was even more protracted which is why they didn't write him out til Ep1 of S4 (without his participation).

 
Has any other show successfully replaced as many key characters and not missed a beat? Blake - Potter, Trapper - BJ, Frank - Charles.

 
Law & Order ran 20 years with none of the original cast. Not a single person from season 1 lasted to season 12 or so. 
That’s a pretty good one. Each one of those was closer to its own stand alone episode though where as MASH kind of continued a story. 

 
Yup. The show was great until the towards the end. IIRC whenever I see Klinger dressed normally and he had replaced Radar it had a chance to be not as good.
I was in Boy Scouts as a kid and MASH was on the same night as our troop meetings. I rarely saw the show in season but watched it in syndication later. For me, the show doesn't hold up well.

 
Long contract squabble with too-big-for-britches Stevenson
He was fourth banana, and thought he should have had the most lines. 

Harry Morgan was a perfect fit. He had been worn down by all the rapid-fire dialogue he had to memorize on Dragnet, and wanted to be a fourth banana. He and Jack Webb had as many lines in a half hour show that some hour shows did. 

 
I was in Boy Scouts as a kid and MASH was on the same night as our troop meetings. I rarely saw the show in season but watched it in syndication later. For me, the show doesn't hold up well.
It’s dated but I was just watching some episodes recently and thought it was still pretty solid. Covered some racial stuff, gay issues, at a pretty early time. Lots of great characters. Probably in my top 5, definitely top 10.

 
He was fourth banana, and thought he should have had the most lines. 

Harry Morgan was a perfect fit. He had been worn down by all the rapid-fire dialogue he had to memorize on Dragnet, and wanted to be a fourth banana. He and Jack Webb had as many lines in a half hour show that some hour shows did. 
i think i might still have the Joe Friday speech you PMed to me years ago in my mailbox

 
I'm watching MASH though for the first time.  I've seen many epsidoes as reruns, but not the whole series linearly.  

One question I have is, being at the end of season 3, why did they kill Henry.instead if just letting him go home?  I just don't get what killing him added that he wasn't getting with going home and need someone to explain it to me.
Have you seen the West Wing? And heard the story?

 
 For me, the show doesn't hold up well.
Same here.  I know it occupies revered territory in television history, but I have a very difficult time sitting through an episode.  I choose to write this one off the same way I write off James Joyce.  It's just not for me.

 
As a little kid I watched reruns of the show during the day, and then when I saw Trapper John MD for the first time I was completely shuked as to how a tall guy with curly hair had turned into a short bald-headed man. 
for all the name baggage "Trapper John" name brought to the series, I can't recall how the MASH character informed the subsequent series. It just seemed like any other CBS doctor show of the time.

 
Potter an upgrade over Henry? I didn't know this was an opinion held by anybody. This is an interesting development.
I wouldn't say he was an upgrade but I liked both characters. Same with Trapper and BJ. OTOH I liked Charles more than Frank. 

 
I'm watching MASH though for the first time.  I've seen many epsidoes as reruns, but not the whole series linearly.  

One question I have is, being at the end of season 3, why did they kill Henry.instead if just letting him go home?  I just don't get what killing him added that he wasn't getting with going home and need someone to explain it to me.
People die in war.  Although considered a comedy (with that ridiculous laugh track), the show deals with the horrors of war all the time.   An incredibly moving episode.

 
As a little kid I watched reruns of the show during the day, and then when I saw Trapper John MD for the first time I was completely shuked as to how a tall guy with curly hair had turned into a short bald-headed man. 
"Trapper John MD" is one of the worst TV shows of all time, and does not deserve to be mentioned in the same vicinity as M*A*S*H. It had absolutely nothing to do with the original Trapper John character. They should have called the show "Generic Medical Drama Featuring Untalented Actors".

 
"Trapper John MD" is one of the worst TV shows of all time, and does not deserve to be mentioned in the same vicinity as M*A*S*H. It had absolutely nothing to do with the original Trapper John character. They should have called the show "Generic Medical Drama Featuring Untalented Actors".
You mean Pernell Roberts wasn't god's gift to acting?  He did leave Bonanza for some reason, you know.

 
The Gelbart years were magic, perhaps the best combination of wordplay, scene development and personal statement in TV comedy history. The Reynolds/Alda years were more admirable than enjoyable, too many ambitiously bad lyrics and forced situations to wade thru between some genuinely great moments.

 
As much as I loved Henry Blake, Best combo was BJ, Burns, and Potter.

i could watch MASH reruns until the sun consumes us all.

 
I'm watching MASH though for the first time.  I've seen many epsidoes as reruns, but not the whole series linearly.  

One question I have is, being at the end of season 3, why did they kill Henry.instead if just letting him go home?  I just don't get what killing him added that he wasn't getting with going home and need someone to explain it to me.
Spoilers, man!

 
I was in Boy Scouts as a kid and MASH was on the same night as our troop meetings. I rarely saw the show in season but watched it in syndication later. For me, the show doesn't hold up well.
To me the snarky word play on MASH holds up really well. The best(and I use that loosely) lines on twitter try to emulate the quick, succinct humor used on the show. But the jokes on MASH flew so fast and furious.... at least in the first 2/3rds of the run before it started taking itself way too seriously imo.... I think the only other show that might have more jokes/second is 30 Rock.

 
I think I agree with this.  Henry and Trapper were awesome, but that combo you mentioned was gold.  Charles, while a good character, was a downgrade, but to be fair, replacing Frank Burns was literally an impossible task. 
I never cared for Burns. He was a cardboard caricature whose sole purpose was to set up jokes for the other guys.

At least Winchester had some depth to him.

 
Winchester when he was extra snobby was very solid, but Frank was really great. TV Frank was much better than Movie Frank.

 
the movie has been running on tv lately. I like it. and the original hot lips was incredibly hot

 

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