Thoughts on M*A*S*H

Col_Decker

I was doing a bit of channel hopping last night when I came across M*A*S*H, it was the episode when Klinger was trying to get a Section 8 and Hawkeye and BJ were trying to stitch up the other one. Anyhoo I really enjoyed watching it even though it didn't raise even a tiny titter out of me. Then I thought back ... have I ever laughed at M*A*S*H? Has anybody? The people in the canned laughter department thought it was hilarious though.

 

Can comedy be unfunny yet still great to watch?

not_the_dj

Haven't seen it for years, but whilst great it was never really a laugh out loud comedy. Didn't the use an edit without the laughter track when it was broadcast over here in the 80s (or whenever it was I saw it).

VimFuego

was never really a belly laugh comedy, more a soap I guess. I really enjoyed it, and the early episodes had some bite to them. It went on waaaay too long and did that thing that all US sitcoms do and become syrupy and cloying towards the end, but still really enjoyed it. I toy sometimes with buying the box set.

mike_l

I used to watch MASH regularly.

Never really found it humourous, but did enjoy the characthers.

 

fretmeister

Loved it.

Gentle humour, cutting sarcasm and some social comment on the evils of war.

suspiciousminds

I watched it, thought it was great.

ICBM

I think they must have used a version without the canned laughter… I detest canned laughter and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked the show as much as I did if it had it. (Or at all.)

It was never laugh-out-loud funny, that's not the point. It's very bleak and black humour mostly, and some of the more serious points were intentionally not funny. I remember one in particular where Hawkeye was being assessed for what we would called PTSD these days, and it was quite dark even by comparison with things you seen in drama about Iraq and Afghanistan.

It did go on a little too long, but not that badly by many standards.

hobbio

The version I remember didn't have a laugh track, and when I eventually saw one with canned laughter I found it really jarring.

equalsql

It was just an excellent series, especially in the earlier years.  I saw it when repeated on one of the Freeview channels, but it had the canned laughter, which made it unwatchable.

Very smart and cynical and not afraid to show the true consequences of war. The episode that always sticks with me is the one where they ran out of painkiller and resorted, after much debate to try using placebos on a wounded soldier... riveting stuff with Hawkeye battling with the ethical dilemna.

I keep promising to treat myself to the Martinis & Medicine DVD collection.

dafuzz

Never really got into the series, but the film is an absolute classic.

Jalapeno

It was fairly radical when it came out - we really only had the likes of Terry & June then, and 'Til Death Us Do Part was the only edgy comedy on TV.

Alan Alda's Groucho Marx impersonation ground on me in the end.

When Mclean Stevenson (Col Henry Blake) was replaced by Harry Morgan (Col Potter) it was inspired casting and gave the show a needed boost, but when Larry Linville (Frank Burns) left it was downhill all the way.

ESBlonde

I enjoyed rewatching it a couple of years ago on the free sky chanels, became a go to for a while. They did a special when it ended about the actors etc. and said it ran for more years than the real 'police action' in Korea. They got so that any cast member could put forward a script idea and guest writes got to do episodes until essentially they had done it all and the new ideas seemed like rehash of earlier episodes so it ended. There can be few equals for long running soaps like it.

boogieman

Used to watch it avidly at the time. Jal is right, it was much better with Col Potter and much worse when Burns went. I suspect it hasn't weathered well though.

ESBlonde

boogieman said:

Used to watch it avidly at the time. Jal is right, it was much better with Col Potter and much worse when Burns went. I suspect it hasn't weathered well though.

It's somewhat like Dads Army in that it can't look too dated because it is a period drama, humour on the other hand does go through 'fashionable' phases.

thumpingrug

More social commentary on coping with war, loss and separation that comedy.  Excellent series, with great actors and some good writing.

PolarityMan

I hate canned laughter but it would be pretty funny to secretly replace the laugh track on something prior to release with one person laughing really sarcastically and perhaps occasionally slow clapping.

EricTheWeary

It was originally broadcast in the UK without the laugh track, Alan Alder (spll?) has said many times how much he prefers the version shown here.
I liked it at the time, wether I would now dunno.

DesVegas

I used to sit and watch it with my dad. It showed me war was hell and how to make a good martini. I remember the movie making me laugh. Radar was the man!

xSkarloey

It's being re-run on True Entertainment and I watch it whenever I can. 

Thing is, they're showing them not in the completely correct sequence. Someone might correct me but... 

Superficial reflections:

1) This is still one of the very best sitcoms produced anywhere 

2) When it's bad it's so-so but never I think outright garbage

3) It seemed to start off as a gag-fest (the canned laughter is a clue to this) so that in the first few series with Trapper John, Henry Blake and Frank Burns, they're averaging 3/4 one-liners per page of script (normally delivered by Hawkeye, natch) in addition to other gags

5) Later versions all ditch the canned laughter

6) Towards the end it definitely becomes more of a rounded comedy-drama and an ensemble piece. In early progs I always thought it was an out and out gag fest with most of the other people there as foils for Hawkeye. 

Later on with the arrival of BJ, Winchester and the softening and rounding out of the character of Hotlips it became more of a comedy drama. 

7) Overall I love it and could watch it all day. 

8) Which is why the box set would be a very tempting purchase that I DARE NOT MAKE!!! 

axisus

When I was young it was pretty much the best quality show out. Saw one recently with the canned laughter and it was unwatchable. It was never going to be laugh out loud as it was based in a reality type scenario. Thank goodness we didn't have the laughter track in the UK.

samzadgan

i never found it funny, although there were funny parts to it.

but i dont think anyone making the show was trying to make it funny. it was a really depressing and real view on war and what happens to people at war...but to make it lighter and have it on TV so they can get the message accross; they put into a dark and depressing enviroment, a bunch of funny characters.

i think the genious was in the way they had polarising characters to themes.