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Post by topbilled on Mar 4, 2023 19:37:21 GMT
M*A*S*H
001 Pilot
And so it all starts
The pilot episode of M*A*S*H establishes the show’s original six characters, most of them previously included in the book and feature film. In the opening credits the top three actors’ names are presented first, with a delay before the last three actors’ names are presented while an instrumental version of ‘Suicide Is Painless’ is heard. The first three are Alan Alda playing Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce known as Hawkeye; Wayne Rogers playing Captain John McIntyre known as Trapper; and McLean Stevenson playing Col. Henry Blake.
There are some live action shots with the men and women meeting helicopters bringing wounded to the camp, before we see the other three actors’ names. The last three actors presented in the opening credits are Loretta Swit playing Major Margaret Houlihan, known as Hot Lips (a term she dislikes); Larry Linville playing Major Frank Burns; and Gary Burghoff playing Corporal Walter O’Reilly known as Radar. Jamie Farr who plays Corporal Maxwell Klinger in the series and William Christopher who plays Father John Mulcahy are not seen yet, though the Father Mulcahy character is present in the pilot, played by George Morgan. As for the main cast, Alan Alda and Loretta Swit are the only two who will appear every season, all the way till the final episode.
Speaking of the final episode, that was a five-part finale which aired on Monday February 28, 1983. It was a huge television event and the broadcast obtained very high ratings. One thing I remember about the finale is that people across the U.S. were having M*A*S*H parties to celebrate the end of the show’s iconic run. Many fans referred to this ritual as a “M*A*S*H bash.” I mention the finale because it was slated to fill a 2.5 hour time slot that evening, meaning if you lived in the Central time zone like my family did, it ran from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.. And CBS gave the first half hour to a special rebroadcast of the pilot episode. Meaning this very first episode of the series had a primetime broadcast on September 17, 1972 and then again on February 28, 1983 (even though it was already in syndicated reruns by that point).
The plot for the pilot episode is detailed on the IMDb page, but I do want to reference it quickly because it involves a few of the show’s recurring characters that transitioned over from the movie but did not last beyond the inaugural season. These peripheral characters include Hawkeye and Trapper’s Korean houseboy Ho-Jon, whom they are trying to send to America. And there is also someone named General Hammond, a former paramour of Hot Lips’, as well as a nurse named Lt. Dish. Plus we have two African American characters, one with a derogatory nickname. If the show was launched today, political correctness would dictate that there be at least one continuing black character and most likely a continuing Asian character.
It is fitting that the first characters we meet at the top of the pilot episode are Hawkeye and Trapper, and that it doesn’t take long for us to see them all in the operating room. The pilot quickly finds its groove. The direction and writing were nominated for Emmys, and while several of the characters are a bit rough and will require some polishing as the show goes on, things do get off to a decent start. One thing that strikes me in retrospect, watching the show in 2023, is how irreverent the tone is about war, which probably reminded viewers in 1972 of Hogan’s Heroes. The show would retain a fair amount of sardonic humor but would also become much more dramatic in terms of the storylines that would be depicted over the next eleven years. It’s interesting that a war which started in 1950 and ended in 1953, and basically lasted three years, ran for eleven years on TV though nobody ever complained about the actors aging more than a decade during its 1972-1983 run.
One final comment about the pilot. In the beginning a phrase appears on screen that says Korea 1950, a hundred years ago. So was this meant to be a show that was actually taking place in 2050, with someone looking back at all the stories of these medics in Korea a century earlier? Yes, I get that ‘a hundred years ago’ is probably meant to be sarcastic, but it is kind of fascinating to think that M*A*S*H the TV series suggests a flash forward to a time we have not yet reached, as of this writing.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 5, 2023 2:04:37 GMT
002 To Market to Market
The one where a desk flies through the air
There are some genuinely absurd moments in this fun first season episode of M*A*S*H. One wonders how Henry Blake ever made it through med school and rose to the rank of colonel, since his ineptitude and cluelessness is on full display in this story. The plot involves an antique oak desk of his that will be “traded” by Hawkeye and Trapper for much-needed supplies on the black market.
Jack Soo, two years before he started on Barney Miller, plays the black marketeer who strikes a deal with Hawkeye and Trapper for the desk. In early scenes the two doctors travel off the base into another area, filmed on the Fox backlot, where Soo’s operations are located. Soo is a good comedian whose combination of deviousness and daftness helps him steal scenes opposite Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson.
The funniest moments involve the quandary that Hawkeye and Trapper find themselves in when they get locked inside Henry’s office thanks to Frank and Margaret, and must find a way out (by knocking down one of the walls). We then see them carrying the heavy desk around, trying to reach a truck driven by one of Soo’s men (Robert Ito, who at age 41 looks like he’s in his late 20s). The truck takes off without Hawkeye and Trapper, so the desk is airlifted by helicopter which creates a hilarious sight gag.
Radar doesn’t have much to do, except to help make sure Frank doesn’t get wise to everything or report the guys to Henry or the MP. Father Mulcahy is mentioned but not seen. And General Hammond is heard on the phone. For the most part, this is a light-hearted jab at army bureaucracy. The script was written by Burt Styler, the first of two episodes penned by him. He had scripted a Bob Hope movie in the 1960s, and there is a reference to Bob Hope in the dialogue of this episode.
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Post by sepiatone on Mar 5, 2023 16:53:00 GMT
It makes sense that even in a fictional TV series based around the Korean conflict that Bob Hope would get some mention, given his dedication to entertaining the soldiers of the U.S. risking their lives at many points of the globe.\ To be honest, I never saw the movie M*A*S*H before the TV show. And will also admit to watching the pilot episode because the actress who played Lt. Dish(Karen Philipp) was profiled by PLAYBOY magazine the month before the show premiered. Friends who were Army vets and Viet Nam vets who did see the movie spurred me to watch it as they said if the show was half as good as the movie it'd be pretty damned good. And we now know they were right. And I recall that 2nd episode with Jack Soo. I've seen Soo in several odd TV appearances since the show in which he played wing man-valet to Anthony Franciosa's Valentine Farrow on ABC's single season run of VALENTINE'S DAY ('64-'65). It was the show that made me a fan of Soo, Franciosa and the Jaguar XK-E. Sepiatone
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Post by LiamCasey on Mar 6, 2023 3:29:11 GMT
This is the first episode of M*A*S*H I recall ever seeing. And I suspect that that was when it was repeated for the first time in 1973 after Mannix had been moved to 8:30 on Sundays. Due to my age, it was a number of years later before I watched the movie or read the books.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 6, 2023 14:59:48 GMT
This is the first episode of M*A*S*H I recall ever seeing. And I suspect that that was when it was repeated for the first time in 1973 after Mannix had been moved to 8:30 on Sundays. Due to my age, it was a number of years later before I watched the movie or read the books. It's interesting how we have certain memories associated with TV shows.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 6, 2023 15:01:37 GMT
003 Requiem for a Lightweight
The one where Trapper steps into the ring
The title is a pun on the Rod Serling drama ‘Requiem for a Heavyweight’ which was about a boxer. There’s a lot of sexual innuendo in this episode, and some of the comments that Hawkeye and Trapper make about an attractive nurse’s anatomy would probably not get left in a script today. A scene at the beginning has Hawkeye suggest the nurse kiss him during surgery, which would certainly be construed as sexual harassment today.
The nurse, Margie Cutler, is played by Marcia Strassman before she got her big TV break on Welcome Back Kotter. This is the first of six episodes in which she appears as this character on M*A*S*H and in this initial installment, it is interesting to see how Margaret who’s in charge of nursing personnel, is bothered by Margie. Despite similarity in names, Margaret does not feel close to the new nurse and is eager to transfer her away from the 4077th, presumably so Hawkeye and Trapper cannot continue to ogle her. Though I suspect Margaret may have been jealous!
The episode is helmed by Hy Averback who would direct a total of twenty episodes of the series as well as provide the voice for the loudspeaker announcements. Averback seems to allow the actors to overlap each other with some of their dialogue, especially the amusing scene in which Henry is on the phone with a brigadier general (Sorrell Booke) and Radar is trying to get him to sign some blank pieces of paper.
Getting back to the title, there is to be an inter-camp boxing tournament between the general’s unit and the 4077th. Trapper agrees to fight, with Hawkeye serving as his manager, if Henry will help override the transfer Margaret put in, so that nurse Margie can stay. Not sure if these leaders would want good surgeons to risk getting their hands damaged in the ring, but I guess we can overlook that.
There’s some gay humor with Hawkeye telling Trapper he has a cute body and how some of the other guys sneak peaks at him, including the married guys. Wayne Rogers is in pretty good shape as ‘Kid Doctor,’ despite a line of dialogue where Trapper tells Hawkeye the opposite.
Trivia bits…We learn Henry has a brother who’s a prison warden. Also, Trapper’s weight is said to be 175 pounds. This is the first episode in which William Christopher appears as Father Mulcahy, hosting the fight.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Mar 6, 2023 15:53:42 GMT
My favorite moment in my favorite episode.
We once had MASH re-runs at a convenient, after dinner hour and it was my husband's favorite show, so I've seen them all many times.
I always wanted more Col Blake and Col Potter, I thought they were both great.
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Post by sepiatone on Mar 6, 2023 16:06:17 GMT
We haven't gotten to my favorite episode of season 1, and a favorite of over episodes of all the seasons. Episode 6. Whitefang
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Post by topbilled on Mar 7, 2023 15:17:53 GMT
004 Chief Surgeon Who?
The one where Hawkeye’s promoted
This is a nice episode if you are a fan of Hawkeye, since he is made Chief Surgeon by Henry and we get to see how much confidence Henry places in his medical abilities. Of course, this promotion doesn’t go over well with Margaret and Frank who are the villains of the piece. While Trapper and the rest of the gang help Hawkeye celebrate becoming top surgeon, Margaret and Frank attempt to get word to General Barker (Sorrell Booke, who played the same character in the previous episode) that an inspection is required.
Frank and Margaret hope that if the general visits and sees the unprofessionalism that is occurring at the 4077th under Blake’s command, especially as it is affecting patients, then he will surely demand Hawkeye be demoted. At first, when the general arrives, this goes according to plan. The general finds Hawkeye playing poker with Trapper and some other men and questions Hawkeye about a wounded soldier needing medical treatment. Of course Hawkeye has things under control and intends to operate in about an hour once the patient is ready.
In addition to his run-in with Hawkeye and Trapper, Barker crosses paths with other unruly members of the 4077th including Corporal Maxwell Klinger (Jamie Farr in his first appearance on the show) who is wearing a dress. It's amusing that Klinger's initial attempts to get tossed out of the army are overlooked, which will cause him to take more drastic measures in subsequent episodes. Today this subplot would probably have to be reworked by the writers, since it would be politically incorrect to suggest that an officer parading around as a cross dresser is a psycho (the word Barker uses when he meets up with Klinger).
During the later seasons of M*A*S*H, Jamie Farr's character would stop wearing women's apparel and get married in the finale...even if he did start wearing dresses again in the follow-up series AfterM*A*S*H, a desperate ploy by writers of that show to make Klinger zany and outlandish again.
Anyway, back to the episode at hand. Larry Gelbart received an award for writing this one, his first since the pilot, and it was directed by E.W. Swackhamer who helmed many other TV programs from the 1960s to the 1990s. I like how Booke’s general character journeys through the various tents and outside areas on a quest to substantiate the report he’s received from Margaret and Frank.
This all leads to the operating room, where he observes Hawkeye’s work on the wounded soldier. Ultimately, Barker is impressed with Hawkeye, which means Henry’s faith in selecting Hawkeye as chief surgeon has been restored. There’s a nice tag scene at the end where we see how much respect Hawkeye garners while operating, and in an unexpected moment, some of the respect now comes from Major Frank Burns.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 8, 2023 15:08:00 GMT
005 The Moose
The one where Hawkeye & Trapper help a Korean girl gain freedom
Shades of My Fair Lady in this offering of M*A*S*H. Hawkeye and Trapper learn that visiting Sergeant Baker (Paul Jenkins) has bought a teenage Korean girl for $500 from her family. Objecting to this form of slavery, though it is apparently okay to have wives wait on them hand and foot, the guys try to buy Young-Hi (Virginia Ann Lee) from Baker. However, the price he’s asking is too steep.
This leads to an amusing poker game where Hawkeye cheats with help from Radar to beat Baker. The idea is to win Young-Hi in exchange for canceling Baker’s debt, then set Young-Hi free. But this doesn’t exactly turn out the way Hawkeye, Trapper and Jones figured since the girl now thinks Hawkeye is her owner and she belongs to him. They try to send her away to Seoul on a truck driven by Ho-Jon, but she jumps off and comes back. It is at this point that the guys decide to give her lessons, like Eliza Doolittle, on how to become her own person.
Gradually Young-Hi does evolve into a more independent woman, and she declines an offer from her younger brother to sell her to another man. Though I think the story is overly simplistic in spots, it’s commendable that scriptwriter Laurence Marks (who would go on to write a total of 28 episodes of the series) chose to address something that undoubtedly happened with servicemen and local women in Korea.
There’s a humorous, yet sobering line where Henry tells Hawkeye and Trapper that he can’t really get Baker in trouble with his superiors, since the superior is also a “master” to a young Korean girl. While network censors probably required Marks to put in a line that these arrangements are not for purposes of sex, that is still the basic idea. Henry has an American nurse with him inside his quarters, who seems to help with his own domestic chores, further underscoring the hypocrisy of the situation.
This the first episode that doesn’t feature Margaret or Frank. Frank is said to be in Tokyo, and Margaret’s absence is not addressed. Virginia Ann Lee would appear several more times on the show, usually in uncredited roles.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 9, 2023 14:05:36 GMT
006 Yankee Doodle Doctor
The one where Hawkeye and Trapper make a movie
There a lot of hijinks in this one. Henry finds out that Brigadier General Clayton (Herb Voland) is undertaking the task of making a documentary about mobile hospitals, and he’s chosen the 4077th as the site for some filming. A lieutenant named Bricker (Ed Flanders) is directing the effort, and lest he choose Major Burns as the star of the film, Hawkeye volunteers with Trapper by his side. The film is supposed to be a glorified wartime propaganda piece, which doesn’t sit well with Hawkeye or Trapper who consider the war a wasteful thing.
The scene where Bricker meets the men inside the Swamp is punctuated by some silly same-sex humor. We have Hawkeye and Trapper dancing with each other, and Hawkeye admitting he took Frank’s razor, apparently to shave his legs. One can only imagine how these scenes would play out if Klinger was included. Oh, I should mention that this is the first episode where Frank is now sharing quarters with Hawkeye and Trapper.
The bulk of the story involves Hawkeye and Trapper trying to undermine Bricker’s film. Once they find out what Clayton and Bricker are intending, to drum up support for the war back home, they expose the footage to light rendering it unusable. Then they tell Henry they will make their own little documentary with comic elements.
In the comic version, Hawkeye helps a patient played by Radar, while dressed as Groucho Marx and Trapper is dressed as Harpo. Their movie is screened for the whole camp after it’s completed, with Clayton in attendance. Interestingly, it is in black-and-white, so we cut from shots of them in color watching the film, to shots of the film itself in black-and-white. After the comedy bits finish, Hawkeye delivers a sobering monologue at the end with an actual patient. He talks about the reality of battle and patching up soldiers.
Of course, this is not what Clayton had in mind. But he seems to enjoy the production as much as everyone else. We are told that Clayton will re-edit it, presumably to insert more of the propaganda he had originally planned to include, so Hawkeye and Trapper won’t exactly get away with their scheme. But maybe they’ve all reached a compromise on what the war is really about.
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Post by sepiatone on Mar 9, 2023 17:41:19 GMT
Like I mentioned earlier this was and still is one of my favorite episodes. Not only for the comic zaniness of Hawkeye and his Groucho impression, but the profound and stirring anti-war monologue Hawkeye gives at the end of the film. And we all know it was Frank who inadvertently gave them the inspiration for the comic approach and the name "Yankee Doodle Doctor". Sepiatone
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Post by topbilled on Mar 10, 2023 15:07:31 GMT
007 Bananas Crackers and Nuts
The one where Hawkeye feigns madness
I suppose we could also call this episode ‘the one where Hawkeye pretends he’s sexually attracted to Frank.’ Reviewers may have a problem with the show’s occasional sexism and treatment of homosexuality. But in this installment of the show, written by Burt Styler, I don’t think it’s so black-and-white as all that. Hawkeye tries to convince a visiting psychiatrist (Stuart Margolin) that he’s lost touch with reality. It seems he’s eaten a liver from a dead Korean and is now professing his being in love with Frank Burns, who shares sleeping quarters with him and Trapper.
Some of the dialogue is quite funny, even though Alan Alda is not exactly delivering it with a knowing wink to the audience. On some level, it could be interpreted that Hawkeye is truly nuts since he seems willing to go to any extreme to obtain a pass for three days of R&R in Tokyo with Trapper. Of course, we’d have to say that Trapper is equally off his rocker for going along with this scheme of Hawkeye’s.
I should point out that the character played by Margolin, Captain Phillip Sherman, is not seen again in subsequent episodes. When a shrink is needed, we usually have Allan Arbus as Major Sidney Freedman who begins appearing in season 2 and turns up a dozen times during the show’s run.
There are some realistic operating scenes at the beginning of this episode which detail how fatigued the doctors are after lengthy surgeries. I guess it might justify the outrageous antics of Hawkeye and Trapper, who are eager to enjoy a weekend away from the grueling aspects of the war.
Mixed into this is the fact that Margolin’s character, Captain Sherman, has a slightly romantic past with Margaret, though she had ultimately rejected him. Sherman wants another chance with her, despite the fact she’s now involved with Frank and still not any more receptive to Sherman.
When Henry seems to agree that Hawkeye may need to remain under observation and therefore will not be able to enjoy any R&R, this prompts the guys to enlist Radar’s help to frame Sherman so that his authority will be compromised. To do this, they trick him into thinking Margaret still likes him and then he is fooled into going into Margaret’s tent.
She shows up a short time later and starts to undress, which causes him to pounce on her. Her cries for help (basically that he’s sexually attacking her) are laughed at by Radar, Hawkeye and Trapper. Henry, Frank and the others hear the commotion and hurry to Margaret’s tent. This results in Sherman being escorted off the camp, and in Hawkeye now obtaining R&R passes with Trapper. However, their victory is short-lived as there are incoming wounded and plans for a weekend getaway must wait.
I don’t think this is the worst episode of the show. In fact there is some clever dialogue, but I do think the script overplays insanity to generate laughs. Watching Hawkeye act mad reminded me of the last episode in 1983, where the character actually did suffer a mental breakdown.
I am not sure what I feel about Margaret’s near-rape scene being played for humor, as it seems rather distasteful. There would have been other ways to undermine Sherman and get him to leave. The scene where Hawkeye acts like a cannibal is equally distasteful, pun intended.
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Post by sepiatone on Mar 10, 2023 17:59:31 GMT
Just remember that any scene in any movie or television episode you feel if "distasteful" doesn't really make it wrong. But it's sad but true that often there's no better way to say what's needed to or intended to be said. That the show would often go far to express a point or get it across was one of it's main attractions for me. At this point in my life I'm very tired of people getting upset or offended at every innocuous and niggling little thing. And please note that none of this diatribe is pointed your way Top. Sepiatone
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Post by topbilled on Mar 11, 2023 9:24:53 GMT
008 Cowboy
The one where Henry’s life is in danger
Perhaps the best episode of season 1, this tale is a combination of war drama and mystery. In the beginning of the story, a chopper pilot named Cowboy (Billy Green Bush) arrives at the camp with a wounded soldier. He has been wounded, too. Hawkeye patches him and the other fellow up. There is some slight comedy with Father Mulcahy on hand, saying a prayer in Hebrew for the soldier whose surname is Jewish.
Cowboy’s only had a shoulder injury. After looking at the X-ray and being informed that Cowboy is healing nicely, Henry refuses to allow him any sort of leave. Cowboy is anxious to return home for a few weeks, since he fears his wife is cheating on him.
The next part of the story involves Henry trying to relax, though we are not told at first why Henry needs relaxation. He goes out for a round of golf with Hawkeye and Ho-Jon, where he is shot at…apparently, by sniper fire. That evening, a runaway jeeps rolls through his tent, and then the latrine is blown up. All of these times, Henry has narrowly escaped death. Finally, Henry decides to take some time off.
Cowboy offers to fly Henry to Tokyo to save time. While they’re in the air, Henry learns Cowboy has been behind the deadly incidents which nearly claimed his life. And now, Cowboy is ordering him out of the helicopter without a parachute to break his fall. Yes, Cowboy wants Henry dead for not granting him a leave of absence.
Meanwhile, a letter arrives back at the camp which Radar shows to Hawkeye and Trapper, while Frank is in charge. Hawkeye and Trapper radio the chopper and read the letter to Cowboy. It’s a ‘dear John’ letter from Reno. Only, Cowboy’s real name is John and he’s actually from Reno! I thought this was an amusing bit.
Cowboy learns his wife hasn’t strayed from the marriage, and he spares Henry’s life. In the end, Henry agrees to give Cowboy time off. I felt this was a bit far-fetched to facilitate a happy ending. I am sure that in reality, Cowboy would probably have been ordered to undergo psychiatric testing and all would not have been forgiven or forgotten so easily.
I did like the mystery of who might be behind Henry’s near-death experiences. Though it would have played better if we had seen him having a few other enemies at the top of the episode. Loretta Swit does not appear in this one, and Margaret’s absence is not explained.
It occurred to me watching the episode that this story foreshadows ‘Abyssinia Henry’ at the end of season 3, when Henry leaves the 4077th on a chopper and does actually die while traveling by air. Knowing that Henry will not leave Korea alive, it gives the proceedings in this episode where he comes close to death several times, a grim tone.
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