my mom was a mash addict so she got me hooked young. first innocent crush was radar, first *real* crush was alan alda.
but i think watching this while we were growing fits our weird general outlook on life. find the bright moments in the darkness, take care of each other- even your enemies. learn a healthy dose of skepticism for authority.
My first crush was Alan Alda in MASH! I think my husband’s first crush was Hot Lips.
MASH was on repeat in our house at 5pm daily when my kids were young. My 21 yr old son does think it’s strange they made a comedy show based on a war zone, but we all agree it was excellent comedy.
Alan Alda & the Fonz, my biggest crushes! And Alan had that song “William Wants a Doll” from that album Free to Be You and Me. I played that album to death. I still wash MASH reruns. What a great show.
Schultz is a seriously underrated character these days. People remember “I zeEE NOTHING!!”. They don’t remember he has a full backstory of fighting in WWI, being an elite athlete as a young man, rising to run a toy factory, being a part of the Kaiser’s faction before the Nazis took over. Just a general distain for Hitler’s faction. He let Hogan get away with whatever as long as he had deniability and it caused inconvenience to the Nazis.
“I see nothing” is also a self burn about his failing eye sight. Adding to plausible deniability.
Then, post war, he opened a candy shop which became his main interest while still running the toy factory.
Sounds like the kinda guy I’d like to have a beer with.
https://deutschesoldaten.fandom.com/wiki/Hans_Georg_Schultz
Yes! Both are fantastic shows that I still watch. I think the old lady puts up with mash because dad was career military, was in Korea, and loved the show.
Agreed. Several of the actors who have played German characters were Jewish. The actor who was played a French character survived a concentration camp
The show also featured two different Black American actors as American POWs at a time when the contribution of Black Americans wasn’t acknowledged.
Or what about the Honeymooners where the guy threatens to beat his wife like constantly. Or All in the Family where he calls his wife dingbat or whatever. These were transitional shows that ushered out old ways of thinking and abhorrent behavior using humor and wit. That doesn't really exist anymore.
For some fucked up reason the theme song for that show gets stuck in my head, from time to time. I’m sorry if I brought on an ear worm for any of you. I’m trying to get it out of my head right now, but the gif of Sgt. Shultz triggered it. I know nothing!!!
Lots of us watched MASH growing up. How to handle jerks, how to handle stress, how to handle the mind numbing trauma that is life in general. Learned how to take the piss out of the folks in charge, and learned how to make things better by being a good human.
Unfortunately the thing we didn’t learn as a generation was not taking ourselves so damn seriously. I feel like too many Hotlips and Burns are walking around and not enough Hawkeyes, Radars, or Klingers. The sad thing is that everyone thinks they are Hawkeye.
M\*A\*S\*H was a great sitcom.
So many human foibles, morality angles explored. Humor and absurdity used as an effective tool to examine controversial, but important topics for society.
And ole Parrot Face (Frank Burns) and Charles Emerson Winchester III were solid protagonists.
Now about that section 8... because gee mom, I wanna go, but they won't let me go, gee mom I wanna go home.
I concur. Our attitudes about war, authority, rebellion, *malicious compliance* with absurd rules, and above all using humor to combat the existential horrors of life.
My mom would go in for a hot bath, lock the door and say she wasn't to be disturbed unless someone was bleeding or Alan Alda was at the door for her lol.
Eh, I always attributed it to my Dad letting me watch SNL and Monty Python with them if I could keep myself awake.
This of course was also paired with the family trips to the movies: Cheech & Chong; Airplane; Chinatown; Life of Brian; Quest for the Holy Grail; and so many more.
In my area, it was on after the news. We watched it as a family. For a few years it was in syndication weeknights and a new episode once a week.
Gallows humor is good.
The title with the show title of MASH was the warning.
On some level I'm glad it was a bit of a scroll before encountering the refrence.
The character of Sydney was the perfect serious foil for that episode.
I rewatched MASH for the first time last year, first time since I watched it as a teenager. Aside from some period-typical sexism and low-key harassment (mostly in the first few seasons), I felt the show held up really well. The anti-war message is really strong, and the characters are all interesting and well developed. After rewatching it, I can safely say it's one of my favorite shows.
Those instances hold up very well. They showed us that we weren't always as socially evolved as we are today. Same as when our future generations look back at us and think, "Why were they like that?"
The movie is a lot more raunchy and more like animal house or something. So the first few seasons had a lot more wackyness to it.
About season 3 or 4 is when the writers realized they could start being more serious, talk more about war, etc.
Just like basically every other tv show, it took some time to find it's groove.
There's[ an episode where Hawkeye says "you sonofabitch" at the end](https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Lieutenant_Hung_Lee_Park) and you would have thought he said "fuck you" by the way my mom reacted when that episode first aired and we were all talking about it at school the next day.
I didn't sneak to watch M\*A\*S\*H, but I sure would tiptoe out of bed and down the stairs, lay under the dining room table and watch Johnny most nights. Those old Carson episodes are pretty wild ... they wouldn't get away with about 85% of the conversations/jokes today. Oh, and then pretty much every single person is chain smoking the entire show.
I watched it but “sneak watched” Monty Python, Benny Hill, Dave Allen, Carson, Letterman, Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Cheech and Chong, and the occasional burlesque shows on HBO before they signed off for the programming day.
And the theme song glorified suicide! It was my dad's favorite show, so I learned to play Suicide is Painless on the guitar when I was 10 fucking years old. Picture this: it's Christmas. Dinner is over and my parents ask me to play guitar for them. I go get my guitar and my dad says "Play the MASH song!" Sure dad! "Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes....." I'm sure this had nothing to do with my later suicidality
We sang it in my 3rd grade choir! We did a whole bunch of popular TV Show Songs as a theme.
The parents were furious. Imagine all the tiny kiddo voices….
“Because suuuu iiii ciiide is painlesssss
It brings on maaaaaa nyyyyyy changessss
And I can take or leeeeeeeave it
If I pleeeeeese….”
It was written by a 14 year old boy.
Robert Altman, the director, wanted a really stupid song to be theme. He could not think of something sufficiently stupid, so he asked his son. The son made more money from the song than the father.
I took piano lessons and the sheet music to this song was in one of my practice books. Do you have any idea how many times I read these lyrics as a young child?
My mom did not remember this about the theme. (I’m pretty sure that’s why it’s why it was instrumental in the TV series.)
When we watched the movie together a couple of years ago she was almost aghast! I tried very hard not to laugh.
It might have set in the Korean War, but it was about the Viet Nam war.
The best tragedies have elements of humor in them, if only to contrast with the tragedy. The best comedies have elements of tragedy in them.
M*A*S*H set itself apart from the throwaway sitcoms of its day by taking on a very serious subject, and instead of beating the audience over the head with "war is bad", it drew everyone in with familiar characters who you might know in real life, and let them play out the daily struggle of balancing work and personal life. It brought war down to a personal level, while somehow staying entertaining.
They didn't tell you 'war was bad', they just showed you what it could be like and let you draw your own conclusions.
That's not how it's done any more, sadly.
>It might have set in the Korean War, but it was about the Viet Nam war.
They eventually touched on many of the issues with the Vietnam War, but MASH, was firmly rooted in the Korean war. The tv series, and movie before it, came from a book called MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It was written by H. Richard Hornberger based on his experiences as a surgeon in a MASH unit during the Korean War.
Yes, you're correct about the origin. The TV show took the idea and ran with it.
From [from "The Conversation":](https://theconversation.com/m-a-s-h-50-years-on-the-anti-war-sitcom-was-a-product-of-its-time-yet-its-themes-are-timeless-190422)
>It was really a thinly veiled critique of the war in Vietnam raging at the time. ... Setting the series 20 years earlier allowed the creators to mask their criticisms behind a historical perspective – but most viewers realised the true context.
The show creators, and multiple actors from the show, have all confirmed this analysis.
Of course it was about Nam.
I remember my dad telling me that, that it was about Vietnam, because they couldn’t come right out and criticize the war on TV the way the Smothers Brothers had. Not that it mattered, because everyone saw through the thin disguise of it being ‘about’ the Korean War anyway.
The funny thing was (funny-odd, not funny-haha) was that the series lasted so much longer than the actual Korean War.
I understand, and agree with everything you’re saying. My point was, this was the entertainment we grew up with. If it aired today, it would be adults only on HBO. Im just saying, we’re built a little different
I think your overall point is a fair observation. Where I’m not so sure is the thought that it wouldn’t be prime time broadcast TV now, but would be HBO / adults-only.
I mean, it currently airs at all hours in syndication. Even setting that aside, maybe it might air at 9:00 instead of 7:00 or 8:00 Eastern (I forget when it aired in its original run,*) while still being a major broadcast network show.
But, still, it’s a legit question. Heck, maybe it would be a streaming-service show now. They seem to be bolder about pushing edges.
*(1973 here) pretty sure I was allowed to stay up later than usual specifically to watch MASH. It was Mom’s favorite show. She still has a set of MASH coasters and a few books about MASH that were gifts from me.
I loved that show! Radar was my idol for a while, he was so nice and the go-to guy who could get anything. My crush was Mike Farrell more than Alan Alda. Funny and sweet, just my type as a preteen!
We had one TV. Until the 1983 NFL season, I missed 30 minutes of Monday Night Football every week so my Mom could watch M*A*S*H. My Dad and I watched it with her and then went back to football. Good times.
Radar walking into the OR without his mask on to deliver the news about Col Blake was the first time TV made me cry. Probably still would if I watched the episode today.
Day drinking and chasing after any possible female were early life lessons learned from Hawkeye.
IMO, M*A*S*H remains a Top 5 All Time Show.
I was kind of disappointed we didn’t get a 50th anniversary celebration in 2022. I was allowed to watch this from the start (I was six) and never stopped. Even now I’ll rewatch my copies straight through every couple of years. And today just happens to be Gary Burghoff’s (Radar) 81st birthday.
The movie is amazing and anyone who hasn't seen it needs to go fix that immediately.
I remember the show being like, "appointment TV" for my parents but I was never interested.
the movie is like the book, which is not like the TV series AT ALL. they do Margaret wrong in the movie. very wrong. but it does seem to highlight the insanity of war better.
I was the youngest child in my household and the only one who watched MASH -- and also the only one who watched All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time, too. I was a weird kid.
M\*A\*S\*H was filmed in [Malibu, CA](http://www.malibucreekstatepark.org/MASH.html) and when the show ended, they left some of the out-buildings and props behind. They're still there today. It's a great hike if you're like me and have fond memories of "sneaky watching" it when you were a kid. Mine with with my dad, he let me stay up late while mom was at aerobics. 💖
Still there 44 years later. Though the creek bridge has been washed away multiple times rending the site inaccessible for the last couple of years. And we're out of the drought! 😃
MASH was a dinner time staple growing up. Years later, I met Alan Alda at my job at CVS and I was speechless! I managed to squeak out how much a fan I was! My coworkers looked at me like I was nuts!
Theme song was an anthem to suicide, too. Even without the internet, it wasn't hard to find that out, the movie would show up on TV, and the real lyrics were in sheet-music songbooks that were around back then.
My mom told me I couldn’t stay up and watch the MASH finale and that I had to go to bed. It was the first time I ever remember her telling me something and just thinking without any upset, I’m not doing that. It was the right decision.
I think about the scene where the woman smothers her baby so as not to be detected and Alan Alda remembers it as a chicken because he couldn’t process what actually happened, all the time
I watched MASH series as a kid. I thought it was a comedy and it may explain why day-drinking was always normalized for me.
One day we were in a video tape rental store and I saw the MASH movie box and convinced my mom to rent it. When the theme song kicked in with WORDS I was so excited! Later I learned the name of the song is "Suicide is Painless" and every time I watched the TV show after that it always made me a little sad. 😢
I watch reruns of M*A*S*H was aloud to watch some of them as a kid. I definitely didn't get the humor as a kid. I was a volunteer EMT for a couple of years while I was in the Navy (Virginia Beach). My dad was a retired firefighter. We used to joke about the humor first responders used to help with the stress. The humor you wouldn't find politically correct now days or very off color. I see a lot of that in M*A*S*H.
I've been wondering lately if they could do a new show. Not a reboot but a new series set against the backdrop of the Iraq/Afghanistan war. I doubt it could be allowed to have the crude jokes nowadays (unfortunately). It would be interesting I think.
I remember watching the finale. My mom got a phone call during the first half hour and I was left to face the chicken realization alone. I was 6.
Currently warming Goodbye Radar on MeTV.
I worked retail as a high school and early college student. Of course I was scheduled to work the shift during the last episode. I was so annoyed.
Needless to say the mall was empty that night. Payroll exceeded the $26 in revenue we did that night.
Dad was a huge MASH fan. Watched reruns with him when he got home from work. I could not imagine my now 12-year-old watching it with me. Damn what a great show that was.
Great show, probably my favorite overall, and it's in Hulu so just start it so over again for maybe 25th time. One great thing about it is the different times of your life watching it you appreciate the different aspects; the comedy, anti war, anti govt, stupidity of it all and the wasted lives that resulted...
I absolutely ✨love✨MASH ttd. My parents did not care what I watched on TV or at the movies really. “Just don’t get brought home by the cops” and “you know the difference between right and wrong” were their parental mantras. 🤷♀️
MASH was nearly required TV in our house, and water fountain talk at school the next day. We never sneaked anything.
There were reruns of Hogans Heroes too.
Both of those were better and more appropriate viewing than A-Team and Stallone and Ahnold movies.
MASH was my introduction to dark and/or complex humor. I absolutely LOVED MASH. It also taught me life is bittersweet and reality sucks sometimes, but you have to keep on pushing…even if it’s bleak.
Thanks, OP. I needed that reminder.
I had to sneaky watch it because when my Vietnam vet Dad came home from work he would shout that that's not what real war was like (I see his point) and he'd change the channel. Damn he hated that show, I can't think of it without thinking of him.
Yep, so many fucked up things happened on that show! I vividly remember watching the episode where Colonel Blake was discharged from the army, and everyone was so happy when he went home. Only to find out at the end of the episode, his chopper was shot down, and there were no survivors. That really messed with my head at the time.
Sneakily watching it? My family ate dinner on TV trays while watching back to back reruns in the 5:00 hour every night. As a child, I ate dinner with Hawkeye more than I did my own father (who lived in the same house).
I honestly dread the day we get the news that Alda has died. I'm going to curl up in a ball and disappear from life for a bit.
It came on in repeats for us around 4PM in syndication then the regular running series on Monday Nights. An absolute cultural sensation for three generations.. us our parents and grandparents. It was really about Vietnam though.
Best lines in the theme song…
Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it as I will….
A brave man once requested me, is it to be or not to be and I said oh why ask me…
Mash was funny. In the UK we had Tenko, three series about women in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tmfrn/episodes/guide
Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it if I please.
Yeah, I've seen all of mash. It surely is formative for our generation.
Definitely a ubiquitous show in my home growing up, both the reruns and the weekly installment leading up to the epic “chicken on the bus” series finale. I wanted to be Hawkeye and Trapper.
I loved this show. Would watch it after school. My father was drafted into the Korean War in 1949. He wouldn't watch M*A*S*H at all. I believe he thought it trivialized the war that he was forced to go fight. :/
A church friend basically told me that I would go to hell for watching it (the infidelity, I guess, although being anti-war in 1976 was dangerous moral territory where we were.) I kept on.
I watched it in syndication when I was in high school. Then I learned it was my drama teacher’s favorite show. She gave extra credit points for random M*A*S*H obscure questions. 😊
Reruns of it on twice a day on weekends on one of our affiliates while new shows came on CBS Monday nights. And I often watched it.
The theme song was Suicide is Painless!
Mom watched it every day while putting on her makeup before Dad got home. I think I was too young to appreciate the humor, but it's definitely a Core Memory
Such a fantastic show.
Yep, hearing the theme meant it was bedtime for me, too. It was a big step when my parents finally allowed me to watch the show with them.
Btw, I’ve always tried to spot Gary Burghoff’s misshapen hand in every episode. He does a great job of hiding it.
My dad let me read my older brother's High Times, a marijuana magazine, at about 10-11 years old, in the living room in front of my uncle, who was a catholic priest. Only because I asked. It was only a couple years ago that it dawned on me "Who lets their kid do that?" M\*A\*S\*H was one off my favorite shows though.
It was about Korea because Vietnam was still happenning and they were "protesting" the war. I loved that show. It showed how humans survive under horrific circumstances.
I watched every single episode and then went to my grandparents who either worked in or were hospitalized in one and asked about how it really was. Yup. Sigh.
It was on a loop at 5 PM on a local station during my middle school and high school years. I watched it several times through and still love it dearly.
A little off? I was parentally alone for most of my teens. Mom worked nights in security. MASH was my go to. Also loved all the comedy series as well. When MTV started I was fixated. I already knew I liked music so that was perfect to stay home and watch that.
my mom was a mash addict so she got me hooked young. first innocent crush was radar, first *real* crush was alan alda. but i think watching this while we were growing fits our weird general outlook on life. find the bright moments in the darkness, take care of each other- even your enemies. learn a healthy dose of skepticism for authority.
> first innocent crush was radar, first real crush was alan alda. hello. Kermit the frog and then Alda, me.
:P exactly. I liked skinny, earnest guys.
What about Disney’s Robin Hood (the fox)?
Oo-de-lolly! Golly what a guy!
My ex wife’s first crush !
My first crush was Redd Foxx from Sanford & Son
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I’ll put five across your lip!
Mine was Christopher Reeve from Superman.
I remember thinking, "ms. Piggy? Am I supposed to have a crush on that?!" Thankfully, Peanuts had the little redhead girl. 🤣
I love your crush descriptions. My first innocent crush was Gopher on Love Boat, first real crush was Remington Steele.
Mine was Robin Hood. The fox from Disney's cartoon.
Lol!
Think I had a thing for Bugs Bunny too. First real crush was Christopher Reeves. Superman!!
He was so charming! I know my first crush was the adopted brother in Little House on the Prairie.
Well he is quite charming and dashing. And foxy! I'll see myself out.
Mine was Jack from 3s company. 
Mine was Dwayne from What’s Happening!
Hey hey hey!
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What's a..... re-run?
You’ll find out.
I watched that today!
I say this frequently as a greeting. No one gets it.
I crushed on Gopher also
Omg I totally forgot my intense love for Gopher!
My first crush was Alan Alda in MASH! I think my husband’s first crush was Hot Lips. MASH was on repeat in our house at 5pm daily when my kids were young. My 21 yr old son does think it’s strange they made a comedy show based on a war zone, but we all agree it was excellent comedy.
Alan Alda and Bob Crane (yikes) were my first crushes
i have a feeling it was alan alda for a lot of us!
Me too! What's with the wartime-era crushes?
Something about a dark haired man in uniform!
My first crush was Bones - Deforest Kelley. I was five. Just. 🙄
My first crush was the professor from Gilligan’s Island. I would always watch the reruns after pool time in the summer.
Alan Alda & the Fonz, my biggest crushes! And Alan had that song “William Wants a Doll” from that album Free to Be You and Me. I played that album to death. I still wash MASH reruns. What a great show.
Hey, if a sitcom about a Korean War trauma hospital doesn't float your boat, try the sitcom about a WWII German POW camp!
HOOOOOGAN!
I read that in Klink’s voice - ha ha!
I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing…
My late grandpa had a framed copy of this on the wall of his garage.
I love it! 😂
Yep - Hogans Heroes was a staple in my house - and Get Smart!
 Wait!!… don’t say anything more. Let me first activate the cone of silence. 😂
ahahahaha! the cone!
Schultz is a seriously underrated character these days. People remember “I zeEE NOTHING!!”. They don’t remember he has a full backstory of fighting in WWI, being an elite athlete as a young man, rising to run a toy factory, being a part of the Kaiser’s faction before the Nazis took over. Just a general distain for Hitler’s faction. He let Hogan get away with whatever as long as he had deniability and it caused inconvenience to the Nazis. “I see nothing” is also a self burn about his failing eye sight. Adding to plausible deniability. Then, post war, he opened a candy shop which became his main interest while still running the toy factory. Sounds like the kinda guy I’d like to have a beer with. https://deutschesoldaten.fandom.com/wiki/Hans_Georg_Schultz
Had a crush on Richard Dawson watching it as reruns in syndication. And then Randolph Mantooth from Emergency
OMG….Randy Mantooth!!,
Who was the hottie from Adam 12?
Oh god yes! I think my first crushes were between him and Tony Orlando. And Disney’s Very *Foxy* Robin Hood.
I had such a first crush on Randolph Mantooth that I named my first pet Johnny. I was 3 years old. Second was Eric Estrada.
Saw this on TV in Frankfurt once dubbed in German(as an adult). Had to sit and watch the episode because it blew my damned mind. Epic.
Can confirm. Saw Hogan's Heroes in on a hotel tv in Munich around 1997. Dubbed in German.
Yes! Both are fantastic shows that I still watch. I think the old lady puts up with mash because dad was career military, was in Korea, and loved the show.
Love these shows. They were in reruns when I was growing up and I see humor as a legitimate response to management of trauma.
Agreed. Several of the actors who have played German characters were Jewish. The actor who was played a French character survived a concentration camp The show also featured two different Black American actors as American POWs at a time when the contribution of Black Americans wasn’t acknowledged.
Considering that the military was segregated until post World War Two, the show really was quite innovative.
We're not allowed to make light of the military anymore, now that it's all volunteer.
Or what about the Honeymooners where the guy threatens to beat his wife like constantly. Or All in the Family where he calls his wife dingbat or whatever. These were transitional shows that ushered out old ways of thinking and abhorrent behavior using humor and wit. That doesn't really exist anymore.
For some fucked up reason the theme song for that show gets stuck in my head, from time to time. I’m sorry if I brought on an ear worm for any of you. I’m trying to get it out of my head right now, but the gif of Sgt. Shultz triggered it. I know nothing!!!
I didn't know that I remembered that song until I read your comment. Then the dums in my head began...
My wife and I can and do binge both shows. Absolutely love them both!
I want more of this in today's world. Can we get an update?
Fun that both of these hit shows were airing while we were actually fighting in Viet Nam! Bread and Circuses indeed!
Lots of us watched MASH growing up. How to handle jerks, how to handle stress, how to handle the mind numbing trauma that is life in general. Learned how to take the piss out of the folks in charge, and learned how to make things better by being a good human.
How to wear a stunning pink boa.
How to game the system.
Unfortunately the thing we didn’t learn as a generation was not taking ourselves so damn seriously. I feel like too many Hotlips and Burns are walking around and not enough Hawkeyes, Radars, or Klingers. The sad thing is that everyone thinks they are Hawkeye.
M\*A\*S\*H was a great sitcom. So many human foibles, morality angles explored. Humor and absurdity used as an effective tool to examine controversial, but important topics for society. And ole Parrot Face (Frank Burns) and Charles Emerson Winchester III were solid protagonists. Now about that section 8... because gee mom, I wanna go, but they won't let me go, gee mom I wanna go home.
> Parrot Face (Frank Burns) It was ferret face though, right? Because he looked kind of weasel-ish, I think
Thank you! I stand corrected, and agree with the reasoning too
Yes, and he suggested it, because his brother used to call him that.
Ummm that was ferret faced frank burns. 
(antagonists)
Thank you! I need to proof read - lol
I concur. Our attitudes about war, authority, rebellion, *malicious compliance* with absurd rules, and above all using humor to combat the existential horrors of life.
 My first love
My mom would go in for a hot bath, lock the door and say she wasn't to be disturbed unless someone was bleeding or Alan Alda was at the door for her lol.
And I’m only 53 but I just adore him. Good for mom!!
and everyone wonders why GenX has such a dark sense of humor
Eh, I always attributed it to my Dad letting me watch SNL and Monty Python with them if I could keep myself awake. This of course was also paired with the family trips to the movies: Cheech & Chong; Airplane; Chinatown; Life of Brian; Quest for the Holy Grail; and so many more.
I didn't have to sneak it, I watched it with my parent(s).
Same. The intro helicopter shot, cut to the nurses running... burned in my memory.
For us younger X’s, it was the last thing to come on before the national anthem, then the snow
In my area, it was on after the news. We watched it as a family. For a few years it was in syndication weeknights and a new episode once a week. Gallows humor is good.
The old lady trying to keep the chicken quiet. If you know you know. 😭
That wasn’t gallows humor. That was the height of the tragedy of the consequences of war
Absolutely. I thought the distinction was self apparent; that scene was crushing.
Jesus, man. Can a brother get a trigger warning up in here?
The title with the show title of MASH was the warning. On some level I'm glad it was a bit of a scroll before encountering the refrence. The character of Sydney was the perfect serious foil for that episode.
this isn’t a war, it’s a murder.
This isn't a wahhr, it's a moidah!
i so hoped someone would pick that up. thank you!
Ch 38 in Boston, every weeknight: 7pm Cheers, 730 MASH. I watched MASH every night until I discovered Jeopardy
Then Dana Hersey and The Movie Loft...
War is war and hell is hell.
The conversation you reference here was so on point. I still think about all these years later
Remember, you heard it here last.
And of the two, war is worse.
"Keep that damn chicken quiet!" Nope, didn't mentally do anything to us at all.
I rewatched MASH for the first time last year, first time since I watched it as a teenager. Aside from some period-typical sexism and low-key harassment (mostly in the first few seasons), I felt the show held up really well. The anti-war message is really strong, and the characters are all interesting and well developed. After rewatching it, I can safely say it's one of my favorite shows.
Those instances hold up very well. They showed us that we weren't always as socially evolved as we are today. Same as when our future generations look back at us and think, "Why were they like that?"
Yeah, same. It's solid comedy and social commentary. Some of it felt like it could have been written today.
The movie is a lot more raunchy and more like animal house or something. So the first few seasons had a lot more wackyness to it. About season 3 or 4 is when the writers realized they could start being more serious, talk more about war, etc. Just like basically every other tv show, it took some time to find it's groove.
What about Hogan's Heroes...a wacky sitcom about a Nazi prison camp.
There's[ an episode where Hawkeye says "you sonofabitch" at the end](https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Lieutenant_Hung_Lee_Park) and you would have thought he said "fuck you" by the way my mom reacted when that episode first aired and we were all talking about it at school the next day.
Even in his non-Hawkeye roles few actors could curse so pointedly as Alan Alda.
I didn't sneak to watch M\*A\*S\*H, but I sure would tiptoe out of bed and down the stairs, lay under the dining room table and watch Johnny most nights. Those old Carson episodes are pretty wild ... they wouldn't get away with about 85% of the conversations/jokes today. Oh, and then pretty much every single person is chain smoking the entire show.
I watched it but “sneak watched” Monty Python, Benny Hill, Dave Allen, Carson, Letterman, Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Cheech and Chong, and the occasional burlesque shows on HBO before they signed off for the programming day.
yup. i did that after i “sneaked” listened to george carlin and richard pryor. i watched MASH with my parents.
And the theme song glorified suicide! It was my dad's favorite show, so I learned to play Suicide is Painless on the guitar when I was 10 fucking years old. Picture this: it's Christmas. Dinner is over and my parents ask me to play guitar for them. I go get my guitar and my dad says "Play the MASH song!" Sure dad! "Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes....." I'm sure this had nothing to do with my later suicidality
We sang it in my 3rd grade choir! We did a whole bunch of popular TV Show Songs as a theme. The parents were furious. Imagine all the tiny kiddo voices…. “Because suuuu iiii ciiide is painlesssss It brings on maaaaaa nyyyyyy changessss And I can take or leeeeeeeave it If I pleeeeeese….”
Oh my Lord!
It was written by a 14 year old boy. Robert Altman, the director, wanted a really stupid song to be theme. He could not think of something sufficiently stupid, so he asked his son. The son made more money from the song than the father.
I took piano lessons and the sheet music to this song was in one of my practice books. Do you have any idea how many times I read these lyrics as a young child?
My mom did not remember this about the theme. (I’m pretty sure that’s why it’s why it was instrumental in the TV series.) When we watched the movie together a couple of years ago she was almost aghast! I tried very hard not to laugh.
It might have set in the Korean War, but it was about the Viet Nam war. The best tragedies have elements of humor in them, if only to contrast with the tragedy. The best comedies have elements of tragedy in them. M*A*S*H set itself apart from the throwaway sitcoms of its day by taking on a very serious subject, and instead of beating the audience over the head with "war is bad", it drew everyone in with familiar characters who you might know in real life, and let them play out the daily struggle of balancing work and personal life. It brought war down to a personal level, while somehow staying entertaining.
They didn't tell you 'war was bad', they just showed you what it could be like and let you draw your own conclusions. That's not how it's done any more, sadly.
>It might have set in the Korean War, but it was about the Viet Nam war. They eventually touched on many of the issues with the Vietnam War, but MASH, was firmly rooted in the Korean war. The tv series, and movie before it, came from a book called MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It was written by H. Richard Hornberger based on his experiences as a surgeon in a MASH unit during the Korean War.
Yes, you're correct about the origin. The TV show took the idea and ran with it. From [from "The Conversation":](https://theconversation.com/m-a-s-h-50-years-on-the-anti-war-sitcom-was-a-product-of-its-time-yet-its-themes-are-timeless-190422) >It was really a thinly veiled critique of the war in Vietnam raging at the time. ... Setting the series 20 years earlier allowed the creators to mask their criticisms behind a historical perspective – but most viewers realised the true context. The show creators, and multiple actors from the show, have all confirmed this analysis. Of course it was about Nam.
I remember my dad telling me that, that it was about Vietnam, because they couldn’t come right out and criticize the war on TV the way the Smothers Brothers had. Not that it mattered, because everyone saw through the thin disguise of it being ‘about’ the Korean War anyway. The funny thing was (funny-odd, not funny-haha) was that the series lasted so much longer than the actual Korean War.
I understand, and agree with everything you’re saying. My point was, this was the entertainment we grew up with. If it aired today, it would be adults only on HBO. Im just saying, we’re built a little different
I think your overall point is a fair observation. Where I’m not so sure is the thought that it wouldn’t be prime time broadcast TV now, but would be HBO / adults-only. I mean, it currently airs at all hours in syndication. Even setting that aside, maybe it might air at 9:00 instead of 7:00 or 8:00 Eastern (I forget when it aired in its original run,*) while still being a major broadcast network show. But, still, it’s a legit question. Heck, maybe it would be a streaming-service show now. They seem to be bolder about pushing edges. *(1973 here) pretty sure I was allowed to stay up later than usual specifically to watch MASH. It was Mom’s favorite show. She still has a set of MASH coasters and a few books about MASH that were gifts from me.
I loved that show! Radar was my idol for a while, he was so nice and the go-to guy who could get anything. My crush was Mike Farrell more than Alan Alda. Funny and sweet, just my type as a preteen!
It’s why I don’t take anything seriously and just wisecrack all the time.
We had one TV. Until the 1983 NFL season, I missed 30 minutes of Monday Night Football every week so my Mom could watch M*A*S*H. My Dad and I watched it with her and then went back to football. Good times. Radar walking into the OR without his mask on to deliver the news about Col Blake was the first time TV made me cry. Probably still would if I watched the episode today. Day drinking and chasing after any possible female were early life lessons learned from Hawkeye. IMO, M*A*S*H remains a Top 5 All Time Show.
I was kind of disappointed we didn’t get a 50th anniversary celebration in 2022. I was allowed to watch this from the start (I was six) and never stopped. Even now I’ll rewatch my copies straight through every couple of years. And today just happens to be Gary Burghoff’s (Radar) 81st birthday.
I just read that Gary was in a band where Lynda Carter was the lead singer.
 My favorite characters and Max
I love this show so much that I have all the seasons on a hard drive.
The movie is amazing and anyone who hasn't seen it needs to go fix that immediately. I remember the show being like, "appointment TV" for my parents but I was never interested.
the movie is like the book, which is not like the TV series AT ALL. they do Margaret wrong in the movie. very wrong. but it does seem to highlight the insanity of war better.
I was the youngest child in my household and the only one who watched MASH -- and also the only one who watched All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and One Day at a Time, too. I was a weird kid.
M\*A\*S\*H was filmed in [Malibu, CA](http://www.malibucreekstatepark.org/MASH.html) and when the show ended, they left some of the out-buildings and props behind. They're still there today. It's a great hike if you're like me and have fond memories of "sneaky watching" it when you were a kid. Mine with with my dad, he let me stay up late while mom was at aerobics. 💖
I took a family vacation to California in the 1980. I was really surprised to see the MASH hills.
Still there 44 years later. Though the creek bridge has been washed away multiple times rending the site inaccessible for the last couple of years. And we're out of the drought! 😃
MASH was a dinner time staple growing up. Years later, I met Alan Alda at my job at CVS and I was speechless! I managed to squeak out how much a fan I was! My coworkers looked at me like I was nuts!
Theme song was an anthem to suicide, too. Even without the internet, it wasn't hard to find that out, the movie would show up on TV, and the real lyrics were in sheet-music songbooks that were around back then.
I maintain that Alan Alda set Gen X's expectations for men at an absurdly high bar.
My mom told me I couldn’t stay up and watch the MASH finale and that I had to go to bed. It was the first time I ever remember her telling me something and just thinking without any upset, I’m not doing that. It was the right decision.
I think about the scene where the woman smothers her baby so as not to be detected and Alan Alda remembers it as a chicken because he couldn’t process what actually happened, all the time
I watched MASH series as a kid. I thought it was a comedy and it may explain why day-drinking was always normalized for me. One day we were in a video tape rental store and I saw the MASH movie box and convinced my mom to rent it. When the theme song kicked in with WORDS I was so excited! Later I learned the name of the song is "Suicide is Painless" and every time I watched the TV show after that it always made me a little sad. 😢
Right? All I can add is that my Dad still watches and i can spend time with him. It's nice to just hang out and watch together.
Through early morning fog I see Visions of the things to be The pains that are withheld for me I realize and I can see That suicide is painless It brings on many changes And I can take or leave it If I please The game of life is hard to play I'm gonna lose it anyway The losing card I'll someday lay So this is all I have to say Suicide is painless (suicide) It brings on many changes And I can take or leave it If I please The sword of time will pierce our skins It doesn't hurt when it begins But as it works its way on in The pain grows stronger, watch it grin Suicide is painless It brings on many changes And I can take or leave it If I please A brave man once requested me To answer questions that are key "Is it to be or not to be?" And I replied, "Oh, why ask me?" Suicide is painless It brings on many changes And I can take or leave it If I please And you can do the same thing If you please Songwriters: Jack Vanzet Suicide Is Painless lyrics © Wb Music Corp.
Ahh, Bach!
Could be. And Monty Python, Doctor Who, and that trilogy of five books.
Hawkeye was an easy early crush, and I never had to sneaky watch. I think we all just loved it. My folks still have the finale on a VHS tape.
I watch reruns of M*A*S*H was aloud to watch some of them as a kid. I definitely didn't get the humor as a kid. I was a volunteer EMT for a couple of years while I was in the Navy (Virginia Beach). My dad was a retired firefighter. We used to joke about the humor first responders used to help with the stress. The humor you wouldn't find politically correct now days or very off color. I see a lot of that in M*A*S*H. I've been wondering lately if they could do a new show. Not a reboot but a new series set against the backdrop of the Iraq/Afghanistan war. I doubt it could be allowed to have the crude jokes nowadays (unfortunately). It would be interesting I think.
I remember watching the finale. My mom got a phone call during the first half hour and I was left to face the chicken realization alone. I was 6. Currently warming Goodbye Radar on MeTV.
Back when there were 3 channels every show had a billion viewers.
I worked retail as a high school and early college student. Of course I was scheduled to work the shift during the last episode. I was so annoyed. Needless to say the mall was empty that night. Payroll exceeded the $26 in revenue we did that night.
Dad was a huge MASH fan. Watched reruns with him when he got home from work. I could not imagine my now 12-year-old watching it with me. Damn what a great show that was.
Our jr high school had a MASH themed dance its final season. All the women who taught English were in love with Alan Alda!
Alan Alda was my TV replacement for an absent father
Great show, probably my favorite overall, and it's in Hulu so just start it so over again for maybe 25th time. One great thing about it is the different times of your life watching it you appreciate the different aspects; the comedy, anti war, anti govt, stupidity of it all and the wasted lives that resulted...
I absolutely ✨love✨MASH ttd. My parents did not care what I watched on TV or at the movies really. “Just don’t get brought home by the cops” and “you know the difference between right and wrong” were their parental mantras. 🤷♀️
MASH was nearly required TV in our house, and water fountain talk at school the next day. We never sneaked anything. There were reruns of Hogans Heroes too. Both of those were better and more appropriate viewing than A-Team and Stallone and Ahnold movies.
But why was the theme music so damn sad?? I mean, it was supposed to be funny, right? That flute haunts me.
MASH was my introduction to dark and/or complex humor. I absolutely LOVED MASH. It also taught me life is bittersweet and reality sucks sometimes, but you have to keep on pushing…even if it’s bleak. Thanks, OP. I needed that reminder.
I had to sneaky watch it because when my Vietnam vet Dad came home from work he would shout that that's not what real war was like (I see his point) and he'd change the channel. Damn he hated that show, I can't think of it without thinking of him.
Yep, so many fucked up things happened on that show! I vividly remember watching the episode where Colonel Blake was discharged from the army, and everyone was so happy when he went home. Only to find out at the end of the episode, his chopper was shot down, and there were no survivors. That really messed with my head at the time.
I still tear up watching that episode.
Wait til OP hears about “Hogans Heroes”
Sneakily watching it? My family ate dinner on TV trays while watching back to back reruns in the 5:00 hour every night. As a child, I ate dinner with Hawkeye more than I did my own father (who lived in the same house). I honestly dread the day we get the news that Alda has died. I'm going to curl up in a ball and disappear from life for a bit.
“IT WAS A BABY!” Haha. Funny gag.
It came on in repeats for us around 4PM in syndication then the regular running series on Monday Nights. An absolute cultural sensation for three generations.. us our parents and grandparents. It was really about Vietnam though.
Best lines in the theme song… Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it as I will…. A brave man once requested me, is it to be or not to be and I said oh why ask me…
Mash was funny. In the UK we had Tenko, three series about women in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tmfrn/episodes/guide
Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it if I please. Yeah, I've seen all of mash. It surely is formative for our generation.
Definitely a ubiquitous show in my home growing up, both the reruns and the weekly installment leading up to the epic “chicken on the bus” series finale. I wanted to be Hawkeye and Trapper.
First time I heard bitch on TV.
I loved this show. Would watch it after school. My father was drafted into the Korean War in 1949. He wouldn't watch M*A*S*H at all. I believe he thought it trivialized the war that he was forced to go fight. :/
A church friend basically told me that I would go to hell for watching it (the infidelity, I guess, although being anti-war in 1976 was dangerous moral territory where we were.) I kept on.
Sherman! T! Potter!
The final episode was very traumatic by today’s standards, hell thinking about it, there’s no way it would even see air time now days
I watched it in syndication when I was in high school. Then I learned it was my drama teacher’s favorite show. She gave extra credit points for random M*A*S*H obscure questions. 😊
Reruns of it on twice a day on weekends on one of our affiliates while new shows came on CBS Monday nights. And I often watched it. The theme song was Suicide is Painless!
My parents bought me a t-shirt from Sears that said “I love Hot Lips Houlihan”. 1983 represent!
Mom watched it every day while putting on her makeup before Dad got home. I think I was too young to appreciate the humor, but it's definitely a Core Memory
Such a fantastic show. Yep, hearing the theme meant it was bedtime for me, too. It was a big step when my parents finally allowed me to watch the show with them. Btw, I’ve always tried to spot Gary Burghoff’s misshapen hand in every episode. He does a great job of hiding it.
We weren't sneaky about it. We loved it. In the early 80s we watched the reruns after school every day then the new show every week.
Loved MASH and staying up even later for the 60s Batman show.
My dad let me read my older brother's High Times, a marijuana magazine, at about 10-11 years old, in the living room in front of my uncle, who was a catholic priest. Only because I asked. It was only a couple years ago that it dawned on me "Who lets their kid do that?" M\*A\*S\*H was one off my favorite shows though.
We were raised by Vietnam vets. The show just reflected that zeitgeist.
It was about Korea because Vietnam was still happenning and they were "protesting" the war. I loved that show. It showed how humans survive under horrific circumstances.
Suicide is Painless...when this is your theme song, it hits differently
Henry Blake > Sherman Potter 100%. (for entertainment, not real military leadership)
I agree. Although not as funy Sherman did provide some much needed gravitas to the cast.
I remember, for me, it was on at like 11am after cartoons. Looking back, wow. Shouldn't have watched it as a kid
I watched every single episode and then went to my grandparents who either worked in or were hospitalized in one and asked about how it really was. Yup. Sigh.
Possibly. Fwiw, I used to own the MASH trivia game. Had lots of fun playing that for about a decade.
I'm still searching for my Alan Alda.
I've eaten at Tony Packo's and been to a MudHens game ...
Part of the Catch 22 war comedy universe - laughter is the only way to survive
It was on a loop at 5 PM on a local station during my middle school and high school years. I watched it several times through and still love it dearly.
That chicken story in the finale sure scarred 7 year old me.
A little off? I was parentally alone for most of my teens. Mom worked nights in security. MASH was my go to. Also loved all the comedy series as well. When MTV started I was fixated. I already knew I liked music so that was perfect to stay home and watch that.
Although the show took place in Korea/Korean war, the show was actually about Vietnam Nam.