Tuesday 25 February 2014

M*A*S*H.


                         

I've been without my usual dose of BBC and ITV television for a couple of weeks, but I've not been entirely deprived. For some bizarre reason I still manage to receive several obscure channels, and have therefore been offered a refreshing choice of old TV shows.

The Waltons appear quite regularly, as does The Little House on the Prairie. Judge Judy still sends me to sleep after lunch, and that wretched 'rolling' Sky News bores me to death if nothing else is getting through 'unpixilated'.

One of the old favourites that I've not seen for years is M*A*S*H. For its time, it had to be one of the best scripted, and funniest, shows around. Simply re-acquainting myself with Klinger's dresses, Hawkeye's dry wit, 'hot lips' Houlihan, and the bumbling Radar, has been an unexpected and pleasurable result of my lack of proper mainstream TV.

With such a lot of total rubbish on TV, my visits to Medical Unit 4077 out in Korea has had my sides aching. I may have missed out on The Olympics, but I think I prefer M*A*S*H anyway.

What a great show it was!.


23 comments:

  1. I've been watching MASH again too. And have a hankering for an old black and white print of Alan Alda that I've found online to enhance the retro feel of my home.

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  2. I used to love M.A.S.H too ….. we have also watched a couple of episodes of ' A Bit Of A Do ' with David Jason from the late 1980's. Very different to M.A.S.H, very English and funny for it's time. XXXX

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  3. You haven't missed much as far as I know. Every time I saw the Olympics it was curling.

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    Replies
    1. My 'sports days' are over; my 'winter sports days' never started!

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  4. Thought the Winter Olympics were brilliant. I always go a bit ski crazy at this time of year (can't afford to go now), and it sort of made up for it. Used to love M.A.S.H, far more sophisticated than anything that seems to come out of America now. I feel they are a country becoming more and more juvenile. Hope I haven't offended anyone here! Sorry you are missing 'Blandings' Cro, it is almost a parody of a parody with an excellent cast.
    I gather you were in the Duellists from a previous post. My husband plays Hurdy Gurdy and his spiritual home is St Chartier in central France, home of the St Chartier festival now moved to Chateau d'ars.Yoou have to really love bagpipes and gurdies to go there! Jan.

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    Replies
    1. Yes I was an officer with a waxed moustache in The Duallists. Fame didn't follow!

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    2. Ah, your blog is a kind of fame. Waxed moustache sounds groovy, better than the peasant costume I imagine!

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  5. That was the first show to exploit the black humour of medics, as far as I know - all those jets of blood, etc.

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  6. Love MASH. I admired the actor who played Father Mulcahy. I imagine it must have been one of the more difficult characters to play and he had some terrific speeches.

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    Replies
    1. In an episode I saw recently, someone was impersonating Father Mulcahy. Hawkeye noted that the punishment for this type of thing was the Electric Pew.

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  7. Such wit, such humour - I used to love it

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  8. MASH is one of my all time favorite programs and has weathered the test of time. While many older shows seem dated (especially in their clothing styles), MASH still is relevant, interesting, clever, and funny. They don't make writers like they used to. Today it is about crass rather than class.

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  9. Never watched MASH...and Little House On the Prairie was vile (nothing like the books, which are wonderful childrens' classics) but if you want to see a funny old show, try All in the Family. They couldn't make that show these days! Too politically incorrect, although Archie Bunker was hilarious and the show was actually VERY hip for it's day!

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  10. It was a great show. On the channels we get here I haven't seen MASH in a long time..but..everything goes round and round. No doubt it will be back in reruns again.

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  11. M*A*S*H used to be my absolute favourite.

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    Replies
    1. I'm just realising that it used to be mine too!

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    2. Mine too! The first couple of seasons of the Waltons were another favorite, too.

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  12. Hi,

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  13. We have recently rediscovered Mash, too and enjoying it all over again just as much as ever. A question about your lack of reception via satellite -- Did you have Sky or FreeSat?

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    1. I had Sky, but I have a man coming (hopefully soon) who will reposition the dish, and point it at the new satellite.

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    2. I asked because we have freesat in the Lot and are able to get all the British terrestrial channels -- or at least were -- I wonder if we will need to reposition our dish as well...

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  14. When the builder was here a few weeks ago he never seemed to have watched anything on tv that I had watched the night before. I asked what on earth he was watching every night and he said back to back MASH.

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  15. M*A*S*H seems to be on permanent re-run here in NZ. Incidentally, Ken Levine, one of MASH's scriptwriters who also co-wrote Cheers and Frasier, two other very funny series which still hold up well, has an excellent blog which is one of my favourites.

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