nsequeira-50288
I hate this show. It might have something I'm missing, I'll give it that. maybe I just don't get it. But I think I get it completely. This show is garbage. MASH is TRASH. It's a horrible, horrible show, and it's not funny at all.It's about people in a war- that's not funny at all, to begin with, and it's hard to make something like that funny- but the people have no charisma and no personality. They're 2-D cardboard cutouts. The only way I can distinguish them from each other is that one has black hair, one is a crossdresser, one has curly hair, one's a British snob, one has a mustache, one's a little wimp and one is an old guy. I don't even know some of their names, is how much I don't care about this show.Another thing that bothers me is that the damn thing went on for ten years. TEN YEARS of mundane, pointless drivel. This show had so many seasons that it competes with Gunsmoke and The Simpsons for the number of episodes it had. I just can't imagine a whole decade of this stuff. It's set in the Korean war- which was only two years long- so the characters must be in some sort of time loop- but the Korean War wasn't even a very interesting war. It's the least interesting and obscure war of the twentieth century. A show about the horrid conditions of World War two, I could get. Not about a war that almost nobody was in. That's ridiculous. I also hate how people in the SEVENTIES act like they're people in the FIFTIES- that's an insult to people who really fought in Korea in the fifties- and aside from that, I hardly see how this show is relevant if it's made twenty or thirty years after the time it was set. I just don't know how that could last ten years. Just insane.The people who made this show were penny pinchers, so instead of making the show about REAL soldiers, even, they just set the whole thing in an army hospital- and made all the characters army DOCTORS- which is one of the most dull and uneventful jobs there is to have in a war- because, of course, they didn't ever want to spend money to shoot a cool battle scene or something- or show the gritty reality of war- our characters are as boring as the doctors in General Hospital, if not more. The show, also, has only four sets- again, because they're cheap. watch any episode and the characters will only be in one of four places- the inside of their tents, the outside of their tents, the operating room, and the cafeteria. that's it. I mean, any sitcom has to change the scenery up once in a while. Over the course of the Brady Bunch, they go to an amusement park and the Grand Canyon in some episodes. MASH stays in the same humdrum setting for far, far too long. They're supposed to be in Korea, but it's clear they're in California, and for a show set in Korea, there aren't too many Koreans to be seen.The characters are all egotistical a-holes, as are the actors who play them. Today, they go on little 15 second commercials and say how great their show was. "Ooh, we're a part of history," Loretta Swit will say, and Jamie Farr will be like, "Ooh, I was so funny back then". They behave as if it's more than just a sitcom, they act as if they're literal gods for spending ten years on some worthless trash. They're nothing. I don't like any of the characters. They're all dumb.First, there's Klinger- I don't like him. He has a weird name, he's annoying, he's really Jewish but he's playing a Non-Jewish guy- but worst of all, he's trying to go home on charges of insanity- but he sucks at being a coward. Like, his character could actually be poignant and funny if he was a REAL coward who SERIOUSLY put some work into getting out on charges of insanity- but he doesn't try at all. He dresses in skirts and stuff. Honestly, is that the best he can do? He could just punch somebody in the face and go out into the hills completely nude- he'd be shipped back to the states overnight. He could be a good character if pulled off right- a fragile husk who went mentally insane because of the horrible nature of war- but he never REALLY wants to go home. And he's obviously not crazy, and everyone else can see through his paper-thin act- and he's perfectly normal except for dressing in women's clothes- so by the 3,000th episode his old routine has become stale and boring.The romance between Loretta Swit and Burns or whatever his name is- the bald guy- is OK. Just OK. It's not that funny, because we know that Burns has a wife at home- and he's cheating on her- I don't know how that could be interpreted as funny- it's kind of twisted, when you think about it. Loretta isn't that interesting, she's supposed to be a feminine counterpoint- but there's only one woman in the whole cast and she's treated like a sex object, so what's the point?Alan Alda is a cardboard square- a clean cut nut- who thinks he's hot stuff even though he's just a two-bit phony. He tries to be all philosophical- talk about how bad war is and everything- but he never burns his draft card or anything. He's not funny, not one little bit, his jokes are badly delivered- he's the worst actor I've ever seen. The only character who might even be considered moderately acceptable is Radar- he's kind of adorable- but he's not funny, or very interesting- the whole cast is badly placed. They have no point, and by the seventh year or so, you can tell they're starting to get tired of it. By the tenth year, they've become literal corpses who have wasted their collective talents on a decade of something that never really mattered.MASH tries to be a comedy and a drama at the same time- and it fails on both counts. It never makes me laugh and it's not one bit poignant. It's about people who pretend to be doctors in a war that happened before they were born. The message is badly played out, I could never tell if it was trying to be anti-war or pro-war. The thing is a million episodes of drivel, and I don't know why they're still playing it.I'm rating this a three, not a two, because there are some good moments. There are only three good episodes out of the whole mess. The first two are good because they're portrayed as a kind of documentary- filmed in black and white, and a man just asks the characters what they think about the war, and the emotions are much more heartfelt and realistic. The filming is good and believable- I could almost accept it as genuine- they add some stock footage in there for good effect. Those first two episodes are good because they're more about the situation than the characters. The characters are there to relate a story- tell us why they are how they are, explain to us what the hell is going on, how the Korean War can affect a person mentally. If the show had continued in that fashion, simple black and white footage, and maybe stopped at two seasons- then it would be OK. But when it turns to color, the magic is broken. We just know there was no color in 1952 or whenever. It's ruined.The other good episode is the last one- the series finale- when they pick up their stupid tents and leave. That's the best episode because we finally know that it's over- that the show, the horrendous demon known as MASH is gone forever, and will only continue on as reruns. That's a nice episode because t's the end of the stupidity- the ego filled actors and the cliche storylines and the bad chemistry- that's a great episode, because it's the Titanic sinking into the ocean. The finish. There will be no more. Great episode.This is a bad show. You might say it's a comment on the mental condition of man when he's placed into combat, a historical masterpiece, the funniest show ever made, the saddest show ever made- but I say MASH is TRASH. I'm guessing those letters- M*A*S*H*- stand for "Mundane And Shitty Harlequins". nah, I know what they really stand for- Mobile Army Surgical Hospital- but I think that acronym suits it better. Well, that's it. Don't watch this show. You'll fall into a catatonic stupor.
pseudonymforcl
I was 14 when this hit television and my parents hated, so I of course loved it. I watched fairly consistently for a bit, but grew tired of it, I was not mature enough to appreciate what it was. A few years later I went back to watching it and did like it again but I didn't find it humorous. Many years later I would catch reruns and my opinion was still the same, I like it but it really isn't comedy, not even dark comedy. Recently a friend went through the entire series, any way she could find it, library, on line, she even bought some, she could not get enough. This prompted me to watch it again. Now a few years later I think I know what I saw, what I missed and what I really think: It is a very well put together series, entertaining, has a message (most of the time whether you like the message or not is up to you), it spoke to a divided country reeling from the Vietnam war and it made you think. As a comedy it completely misses the mark, it was a two joke show, which made me loose interest when I was 16. Sorry for the rambling but it I hope it gave you an idea of the evolution of my thoughts.
ywilliam31
This is my favorite TV show that I own. I love the way the characters deal with the never ending war that they were in. My favorite seasons are 1-3 because Henry and Trapper were the funniest characters in the show. Once they left, the show kind of lost it's funny edge, even when Frank left. Winchester brought more of a darker tone to the show. But, every time I see the last episode, I want to watch the series all the way from the beginning again. I love this show to death, when I got the complete series, the box scratched all of the DVDs, so if you want to buy the series, get the seasons separate. It worth all the money you pay. If you haven't seen the show, watch it, it is on TV Land every weekday at 5PM. Trust me, It is a great show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
