M*A*S*H !!!

[Patchoulia]

I was forced to watch M*A*S*H every time it was on when I was growing up. It was my dad's favourite show. And I loved it, too. I watch it now and it's still great--hilarious and poignant.

There was a great reunion show on a few years ago...2001, maybe?

People who never watched it are at a huge disadvantage whenever there's a reference to it on Jeopardy!

[ge-off]

sivi aberg - anna lindstrom??

[bradm]

Nope, try again. (Hint: sexy, breathy voice. She's also the mother of a currently "hot" star with a different last name.)

Aloha,

Brad

[MarcO]

I love M*A*S*H* and watched it twice a night on CityTV with my father when I was growing up. He fed me frozen fish sticks, laughed out loud to M*A*S*H* for an hour and then took me up to the race track where he lost all our family's money, screaming at the horsies. Good times.....

You can't beat the first 4 or 5 seasons. To my mind, M*A*S*H* is one of the ultimate examples of the "jumping the shark" syndrome. Once Trapper John and Col Blake were gone, the show had moments of brilliance but soon began to suffer under the weight of it's own self-importance. By the end, it had turned inside out: reverant, heavy-handed and cliched.

It was, however, for it's first four or five seasons one of the funniest sitcoms ever, at least as far as I can judge.

Edited August 4, 2005 by Guest

[Patchoulia]

And, one of the first shows to embrace cross-dressing with open (and bejewelled) arms!

[ge-off]

teri garr

[bradm]

Nope. It was Blythe Danner (wife of Bruce Paltrow, mother of Gwyneth Paltrow).

Aloha,

Brad

[ge-off]

you learn something everyday..

who were the only characters that were on the show from start to finish?

there are 3 of them

[bradm]

Hawkeye, Hot Lips, and Father Mulcahey (sp?).

Which was the only character who was going to stay in Korea after the war?

Aloha,

Brad

[MarcO]

Wasn't it Klinger?

[bradm]

It was, which was one of the reasons the "After M*A*S*H" spin-off series was a crock, because Klinger was in it (next question: which other M*A*S*H characters were in it?), but it was set in the states, but Klinger was supposed to have stayed in Korea.

Aloha,

Brad

[bradm]

And here's a ranging-far-afield trivia question: three actors have played John McIntyre. Name them all.

Aloha,

Brad

[Patchoulia]

I had to explain to Basher the other day what a "still" is...if he'd watched M*A*S*H, he wouldn't have had to ask!

[ge-off]

klinger hot lips and hawkeye..

klinger was on the PA in the first episode..

never saw any spin offs so im not sure...

but here is a useless fact..

McLean Stevenson, who played Lt. Col. Henry Blake, died of a heart attack on 15 February 1996. The next day, 16 February, Roger Bowen, who played Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the movie, died of the same cause.

[ge-off]

Pernell Roberts 1979

Wayne Rogers 1972-1975

Elliott Gould 1970

Edited August 4, 2005 by Guest

[Rob Not Bob]

BTW the name of the Singing Surgeon was Captain Spaulding, which is why every time he appeared I sang out "Hooray for Captain Spaulding!" (obscure Marx Bros ref)

Since being at work has led me to miss out on all of the questions I would have gotten, here is one for you. It's a fairly well known MASH annecdote that Harry Morgan, who played Col. Potter from season 4 onwards, had a one off appearance before that as Gen. Steele. What actor did this in reverse, in other words, appeared in MASH early on as a recurring character before coming back later for a one off appearance as a completely different character?

[Rob Not Bob]

Oh yeah, Father Mulcahy was in the pilot/first episode but was played by a different actor.

[Rob Not Bob]

BTW the character of Oliver "Spearchucker" Jones originally came from the book MASH, by way of the movie. He was a neurosurgeon and friend of Hawkeye's who was brought in as a ringer for their football game with the Army team. His nickname came from his throwing the javelin on his school track team. He was actually removed from the TV show early on because someone did some research and found there actually weren't any black surgeons in MASH units in the Korean War. For some reason, Tom Skerrit's character of original Swampman "Duke" Forrest never made it to the TV series.

RnB

MASH geek

[ge-off]

what clause did alan alda have in his contract, that was to happen in every episode??

there is only one episode where this did not happen..alda consented to the change only this once

[ge-off]

BTW the character of Oliver "Spearchucker" Jones originally came from the book MASH, by way of the movie. He was a neurosurgeon and friend of Hawkeye's who was brought in as a ringer for their football game with the Army team. His nickname came from his throwing the javelin on his school track team. He was actually removed from the TV show early on because someone did some research and found there actually weren't any black surgeons in MASH units in the Korean War. For some reason, Tom Skerrit's character of original Swampman "Duke" Forrest never made it to the TV series.

RnB

MASH geek

The character of Spearchucker disappeared after the first five episodes when the writers found out that there weren't any African American surgeons serving at MASHes in the Korean War.

oh snap you beat me..

Edited August 4, 2005 by Guest

[Rob Not Bob]

what clause did alan alda have in his contract, that was to happen in every episode??

there is only one episode where this did not happen..alda consented to the change only this once

At least one scene of the doctors in the OR performing surgery. I think the one exception was the episode where he was in a Korean family's hut and had a concussion.

[Rob Not Bob]

Here's another question ... Alan Alda has had notable appearances in several Woody Allen movies (Crimes And Misdemeanors, Everybody Says I Love You, Manhattan Murder Mystery). What fellow MASH actor has had highly billed appearances in 2 different Woody Allen films, in spite of the fact that his characters only appear very briefly in both films? Bonus points : what MASH actor had a notable cameo on Woody Allan's OScar winning movie Annie Hall?

[bradm]

You want synchronicity? Check this: I got home from work about 4:40pm, and flipped on the TV. As usual, M*A*S*H was running on Prime (as it does at 4:00pm/4:30pm, with the pair of episodes repeated at 9:00pm/9:30pm). I knew the episode, so started scanning the other channels.

A&E was running a biography...of M*A*S*H. I took this as a Sign, but of what, I'm not sure.

Aloha,

Brad

[Ms.Huxtable]

You bastards! Last night we watched an episode of MASH and all I could do was stare at Radars hands. I missed the plot completely.

DAMN YOU!!

[Rob Not Bob]

Here is hopefully a more benign Radar annecdote ... two features of Radar's character , his taking in and caring for small animals and his occasional appearances as a jazz drummer, are taken from Gary Burghoff's own private life.