One thing I loved about MASH, is everyone just wanted to go back home & a lot of episodes personally pushed characters buttons into "I'm so fed up with this crap." It really just brought all the characters to life.

Still my favorite show. This show and All in the Family broke down the dividing lines between comedy and tragedy, which I think make both so much more intense. You cry the hardest when you think you're going to get a joke and instead get a punch to the gut. You laugh the hardest when you're coping with something horrible (because you need it so much more). This is always the show I turn to when I need some sort of quick catharsis. Break my heart and then tickle my funny bone, please!

@ethelhoose1196

5 ай бұрын

Mine to and showed the reality of war especially when Henry was killed on his way home

What an American hero.......standing up to his principals.

Its certainly ironic that the network was objecting to 'the subject of war' since the series took place during a war! What were they expecting--Frances the Talking Mule meets kim chee? Alan does not mention that he himself served in Korea and knew what he was talking about. The combination of humor and tragedy was, of course, one key to MASH's tremendous excellence/success.

MASH reminded me over and over that the people who were there were not there by choice - they were there to keep people alive because it was necessary, and the war and the commanders continued shipping new casualties to them. But at least it had the element of humanitarianism.

@basillah7650

5 жыл бұрын

Wrong, The US invading other Country's by starting wars for profit is not defending the US every war after world war 2 has been that for the US.

@commentfreely5443

5 жыл бұрын

@@basillah7650 but only a minority of people were pro war. like CNN with fake news babies in incubators. and CNN with the fake syria gassing to try to get Trump into war in syria.

@su-rv2uq

5 жыл бұрын

@@basillah7650 thank you. We have not had to "defend our country since 1941 and even then, we weren't in any real danger. The US has occupied country after country since then for profit, NOT to "defend" those countries or anyone in therm.

Mash Series was extraordinary in expressing war emotions. It brought back a lot of the good times that were so far and few between in war time. It wasn't just about the Vietnam War, there were a lot of other wars also. I have such a large amount of my relatives, who range in generations of enlisted army personal. I have heard so many stories of here and there. It is amazing, so many photo's of devastating scenes. It does not matter where they were or where they been. Watching the Mash Series related to them many good times they did have and help them enjoy and laugh while reminiscing. You all made a difference in their lives after serving and waiting for deployment dates. I don't think I have missed one episode! Loved it very much!!! " God Bless You All For So Much Great Entertainment " !

It's interesting what he says about MASH not being about Vietnam when I always assumed it was an allegory for Vietnam, which was still going on when the show started.

The show’s balance between comedy and horror/tragedy probably helped a lot of people with PTSD heal a little. I watched it mostly as a young teen. Bawled my eyes out for the last episode. Might be fun to watch the whole thing again, from beginning to conclusion.

M*A*S*H is one of the finest series. Is it a comedy? Yes. Is it a drama? Yes. It's whatever you need it to be. A few years ago, my mother saw a 1953 movie that reminded her of M*A*S*H a LOT: "Battle Circus". I've seen many clips of "Battle Circus" and it reminds me of M*A*S*H too. Both shows blend comedy with sadness, and show the workings of a MASH unit, and how hard the surgeons and support staff worked to save lives. In addition, both M*A*S*H and Battle Circus show the Bell-47 choppers.

Alan is right. War is not a job, it is a terrible heart wrenching event. M*A*S*H did a great job portraying how terrible war is. They always reminded you that war is hell. In the episode "Radar's Report", Trapper had a patient that was doing fine, and then he took a turn for the worst. A lot of episodes showed that a lot of men went into war thinking, Kill the Enemy, but once they got there, they realized, what am I doing? These are people too. What did they ever do to me? I don't want to kill anymore. The show was also good because when a patient dies, you forget that they're actors, they didn't really die. The M*A*S*H cast was also very close, which helped the show seem that much more realistic.

Hawkeye -War isn’t hell... War is war and hell is hell... But hell is a lot worse... Father -How do you figure that Hawkeye? Hawkeye -Easy father... Tell me... Who goes to hell? Father -Sinners... I believe. Hawkeye -Exactly... There are no innocent bystanders in hell. War is chock full of them... Little kids, cripples, old ladies...

@MathieuDeflem

4 жыл бұрын

And of the two, *war* is a lot worse. kzread.info/dash/bejne/eYmZpK-wnsLLicY.html

Alda joined the Army Reserve after graduating from Fordham. He completed the minimum six-month tour of duty as a gunnery officer during the Korean War. After his discharge, Alda started acting in film and television. www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/famous-veteran-alan-alda.html

MASH WAS AMAZING AND PERFECTION IN AND OF ITSELF AND IT'S CAST AND WOULDN'T HAVE WORKED OTHERWISE...MWAH!! LOVE &RIP WHITE ROSE TO ALL...

Deep...awesome. Love Alan, very cerebral...

Never forget,Korean War veterans and Korean Defence vets.

I went to a school for kids with disabilities during the time MASH was on and it was extremely popular. I now believe that it was popular because all kinds of people were dealing with red tape, not just the military

MASH was about humanity. That's why it worked so well.

You are the best at everything you do ❤️

It seemed to me that the early episodes had war as a background to hijinx, but then it got progressively more serious.

@jeschinstad

4 жыл бұрын

Yes, the ending of Abyssinia, Henry was the beginning of a much more serious and much more powerful MASH.

@neptunestardust

4 жыл бұрын

Jo-Erlend Schinstad it showed the viewers as well as the characters that they were acc in a war

@kamuelalee

3 жыл бұрын

The show "matured" as it progressed.

The MASH concept and how the subject of war was treated was not Alda's. It was Robert Altman's movie MASH that was responsible for the concept.

glass house made me cry when you were killed. love you and thanks for some of my best childhood memories.

I forget what website it was, but I read that MASH is the most realistic war show, according to veterans. I think Mchale's Navy was second. That just proves how much more realistic MASH is than all other movies that take place during a war.

@su-rv2uq

5 жыл бұрын

"McHale's Navy" was realistic? I don't think so. I think MASH and China Beach were VERY realistic.

All war stories should be told from the medic's point of view.

@strongdecaf3729

7 жыл бұрын

***** Sounds good. I read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" -- also Vietnam vet. Whew. Powerful.

As I have commented in other MASH related videos, the first three seasons seemed to carry more humor than seasons 4 through 11. I mean yes there was humor in the latter seasons, but it seemed like the characters in the first three seasons were a bit more animated. Major Burns and Houlahan for example. They were definitely over the top. Then Burns was gone, and Houlahan became more serious. The comedy that came from that character was not over the top anymore. But for whatever the reasons, MASH worked. Each character became a household name, with viewers loving, or loving to hate the characters. I don’t think there had been any show beforehand that had such dramatic changes in casts, and still survived. The loss of Blake and Trapper, was so unfortunate, then later Burns and Radar, but yet the dynamics were pretty much the same. I can’t say for anyone else who loves the show, but as for me, I never tire of it. The comedic timing, the interaction of the cast, and the way the topic of war was handled, made this the best long running show in history. And as actors pass on, we are reminded, that we can never get that kind of show again. Each cast member was brilliant and made MASH the show it is today. May MASH live in our hearts forever. And thanks Mr. Alda for your contribution.

He is such a true human,

Interestingly in the film Same Time, Next Year-Alan Alda's character has a son serving in the Vietnam War.

War tests everything people believe in a really tough way. M*A*S*H was very comedic and real at the same time.

I've always felt guilty for NOT ever watching Hogan's Heroes. Because it was a funny lark & nothing more that I could see from promos. But I am one who believes in the comedic side of life, no matter how terrible. MASH got it perfect. It was funny, tragic, showed regular people trapped in their time. It did not for one moment glorify any war. It showed humanity on both sides. Tragedy on both sides. No 'winners'. But, absolutely humanly warm & hilarious. Again, regular people. TgT

I Think the name of the Prison Movie was Called- "The Glass House." Good, Interesting Movie about Prison Corruption and Prison Life.

@Soul74

5 жыл бұрын

HoldenNY22 Yes. It also had Billy Dee Williams in it. I watched it in a Senior year English class when we were studying existentialism.

Everytime I watch Pacific, Hacksaw Ridge, Thin Red Line, and other Asian conflict movies or series, I have always had MASH on my thoughts.... I imagine the censors would have really gone to town if MASH had reached the levels of these modern works...

@kamuelalee

3 жыл бұрын

MASH the movie and TV show were very different than the others. Part comedy, part drama.

I agree so much with Alan Alda, and don’t understand how anyone can look at war as some kind of “noble adventure”. Is life worth so little? I tell you, when we lose Alda, we’ll be losing a National Treasure.

@kamuelalee

3 жыл бұрын

Wholly agree, he's a man beloved beyond the norm...as a National Treasure...all because of his role and contributions on a TV show from the 1970s and '80s.

His take on McHale's Navy is interesting. I wonder how the McHale's Navy cast would think of his comments. A great many of those guys were actual WWII vets.

@NotAllBooksSmellNice

4 жыл бұрын

True, but Alan Alda was also a Korean War vet

@russellmiles2861

4 жыл бұрын

@@NotAllBooksSmellNice not quite. He was an Army officer and deployed to Korea. But in the 1960s

@marcschneider4845

Жыл бұрын

I can't believe actual WW II vets would argue that McHale's Navy was a realistic depiction of the war.

If MASH is deliberately about Korea and not Vietnam, then many of Hawkeye's rantings aren't appropriate, nor comments such as "we thank you from the bottom of our bomb craters." This should have been especially clear after the VN war ended in '75 (3rd season) and we saw clearly the truth about the North Vietnamese and how they treated their "enemies." Korea may not have been fought correctly and the western forces didn't accomplish all that they wanted, but we have a living example above the 38th parallel of what SK would be today had the US/UN not intervened and had the North been allowed to overrun what is today a thriving, prosperous AND free country.

@aw8079

5 жыл бұрын

knightowl50 arf arf arf! Sorry, my dog barks at racist code words. ARF!

@Tapecutter59

5 жыл бұрын

Alan Alda did a tour of duty in the Korean war and wrote many of the MASH episodes, but somehow you know more about the show than he does?

@writerconsidered

5 жыл бұрын

@@aw8079 I read a rather pro war rant from this guy but nothing racist. Do you want to enlighten us on what those racist code words are?

@su-rv2uq

5 жыл бұрын

It wasn't our business to be in Korea.

I remember that movie. It was grueling.

“The Glass House” was a great movie.

@zeromathematics

3 жыл бұрын

Will look it up.

❤

I'm a big fan of this show, but as a Korean I found Hawkeye's manic "let's just all go home" (understandable given their harrowing situation in a foreign country) pacifism a bit jarring from time to time, since the Korean War spared half of the peninsula from communist ruin and the close relationship with the US helped propel the nation into superpower status. There are still US military bases in Korea. Imagine a MASH TV show set in WW2 where the main characters all wonder why they're even fighting this war and constantly throw shade at allied command for bringing them to Europe. It would feel a bit awkward. I remember an episode where Hawkeye bursts into peace talk between the two countries and tells them to shake hands and go home. And the North Korean reps were mildly annoyed, as if someone just crashed their party. This was typical of how the show mostly ignored communist aggression and painted war as a serious but generic evil. One war does not necessarily and strictly apply to another.

@xr6lad

2 жыл бұрын

Agree. Given it was set just after a horrifying war and all the camps of WW2, the ‘we should never fight’ attitude in any circumstances but was a little bit naive. Yes there are senseless wars (WW1 I believe got blown out of all proportion and was really about egos) but there’s also ones that are justified.

@flavoredwallpaper

2 жыл бұрын

That's a very romantic view of war and soldiers. And very common in American media, particularly the old WW2 films. Brave, heroic soldiers, proud to defend the world and fight evil! Hurrah! But then shows like MASH came out, during the tail-end of the 70s, when the country was grappling with the VERY unpopular and controversial Vietnam War. And these works offered a very different view, more representative of the anti-war change of perspectives. Not a romantic view of war, but a cynical one. These aren't brave, heroic soldiers! These are a bunch of terrified 18 and 19 year olds, drafted with no notice, taken away from their friends and families, and sent off thousands of miles away to foreign lands to kill and be killed. That is the true nature of war. And that is the value of these Vietnam-era works, whether it's shows like MASH or books like Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse-Five. This isn't necessarily making a judgment on the legitimacy of the war, or whether the USA made a positive impact. It's asking us to look at the true, ugly, brutal nature of war. It isn't something we should glamorize or celebrate. At the end of the day, it's kids killing kids.

@j95lee

2 жыл бұрын

@@flavoredwallpaper I'm Korean and believe you me, there a many aspects of the series that are problematic, especially in the way the show completely whitewashes communists and North Koreans. 99% of the time, the show portrays them as loveable goofs or victims of American aggression. That owes to the show's pacifist agenda, and that's fine. But that's not history. There were American kids dying in a foreign land, and there were also communist aggression that erased a chunk of humanity in that region. Of course popular entertainment reflects the sentiments of the time. But in retrospect, Hawkeye's manic pacifism is proven wrong. This guy went through the entire show saying "I don't even know what we're doing here, we should just all leave". If we did that, both Korean and Japan might be in very different place today. I can appreciate the show for depicting the disillusionment of war, but make no mistake, there were some episodes that very well could have been written by NK propagandists.

Alan mentions "McHale's Navy" but he overlooks one of the most poignant and accurate docu-dramas (also about WWII), "Hogan's Heroes."

@Gigaguenther

4 жыл бұрын

I dont know mchales navy but what he describes sounds so much like hogans heroes that perhaps it doesnt require special mention

He aged well

I was in my early 20s when M*A*S*H was on the air. We were demonstrating in an organized and non-violent way against LBJ and the Vietnam war. I believed then, and I still believe now that M*A*S*H the TV series was hugely important in bringing the middle aged and older members of our country to understand just why we were opposed to the Vietnam war and why it needed to stop. Once the middle aged and older members of our society started joining us in our non-violent demonstrations, that was the beginning of the end. Soon, our war mongering government had to bring our troops home. To this day, Korea is a divided area and no peace was ever declared. The Korean War was a bad thing. So many young men were sent to Vietnam against their will (drafted) as “cannon fodder”. We kept seeing on the TV news shows about the body bags being sent home and the wounded, drug addicted and damaged American soldiers also coming home. That was another factor that helped to end the Vietnam war. The “free press” was so important to that effort. Nowadays all of that, including a show like M*A*S*H, would be heavily censored or would never have been created.

This show was not really about war, at least, not in the later years. It was about promoting a liberal and feminist agenda, which is not what the Korean War was about. I guess you could say Alda was 40 years ahead of his time, for better or for worse.

M

Mary Tyler Moore was more than about a job in a news room. That remark was insulting.

@amyschoeppich

3 жыл бұрын

I honestly don’t think he was implying that. After reading your comment, I went back and listened to the video again. I think Alan was saying that the setting of a show should impact the characters and the more dangerous/horrific the setting (like war), the greater the impact there should be. I think Alan was criticizing McHale’s Navy for not having the setting impact the characters enough. It was as if the show could have taken place anywhere. Does that make sense?

Interesting, in jail Utah?? Let me guess, drove too fast!?? Funny.🇩🇰🇺🇲😂🙏📬 Good. Word, that this war was acid!!...I was in my 30' then, mother off two...But, somehow Alan Alder, may not have been aware, just how much M.A.S.H., did to highlight meaninglessness. Off Wars!!! Did a very large painting off Bonetrail Canyons, where much off the series was filmed. As kids grown . In California then. .A friend off mine , she an avid hiker, ( we're speaking off. California), asked me if I would like to hike the trail with her. Well yes, love the Canyons as a painters subject. We began 6am, steady with a few short breaks for refreshments, got to the top at trail at 6pm!! By then keept pouring drinking water down our faces and arms, for cooling off. Was summer. Lucky a Japanese couple ,car, was sitting at a top road side. Asked if we would like the ride down with them....if not the treeck down would be to 6am next day break if that??.....But it gave you the idea what it must have been like camping in war time overseas. Working as a Medic, a lot off time on foot in unfriendly territory. 🦅🗽🌅

shame complete dog for hijinxs

The first couple seasons were mainly just crazy drunken hijiinks with goofy Frank and bimbo babe Hot Lips.

M*A*S*H was good until it became the never-ending Alan Alda Show: whining liberalism. Should have ended peacefully after 4 seasons.

@daveinstlouis

5 жыл бұрын

Wars are not good. = "whining liberalism"

@thomaspryor557

4 жыл бұрын

They never whined . Excepting war is not an option republicans whine not liberals!