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M*A*S*H (television): Difference between revisions

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M*A*S*H (television) (view source)

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Its [[Grand Finale|final episode]] -- "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" (aired February 28, 1983) -- was, for twenty-five years, the highest-rated TV program in United States history, with a 60.2 rating (percent of households watching) and a 77 share (percent of households watching, ''of those watching some program at that time''). It still holds that record for non-sports programming.
 
Considering that [[MashMASH (novel)|the original novel]] consisted mostly of young doctors boasting about [[A Man Is Not a Virgin|how much sex they have]] and shows a truly awful degree of sexism <ref>"Trapper" got his nickname for using a train toilet to take advantage of his prom date and nobody seems to care that this may have been rape as long as he 'got some'; 'Me Lay' is famous for using his absurdly crass pick-up line - "Me lay, you lay" - to acquire a stupendous 'batting average'; the ''doctors''' only interest in the epileptic whore down at the local brothel is in how much fun it is to have your penis inside her when she has a seizure; the reputation of the unit depends in part on the size of the dentist's male organ; the list goes on and on.</ref> to produce such a long, successful and at times thoughtful series is a fine example of [[Pragmatic Adaptation]], a very nice change in a world full of [[Adaptation Decay]]. Of course, Dr. Richard Hornberger, one-half of the writing team behind the pseudonymous author of the original book and allegedly [[Author Avatar|the model for Hawkeye]], didn't see it that way, and was known to rant about it at length (in a sequel, ''MASH Mania'', he has his version of Hawkeye remark how he enjoys going down to the State University to "kick the shit out of a few liberals").
 
Fun fact: Alan Alda was inspired to take over creative control of the show because he desperately needed the money that came with more responsibility. A year before, his business manager "invested" his entire fortune in a [[Ponzi]] scheme without his knowledge or approval. Alda lost almost everything.
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*** Painless shows before, to put a crown on Blake's tooth in ''Major Fred C. Dobbs.''
* [[A Day in the Limelight]]: Numerous times, generally at least once a season.
* [[After Show]]: The show's spin-off ''[[After MASH (TV)|After MASHAfterMASH]]'' is the trope namer.
* [[All Asians Are Alike]]
* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: Spearchucker Jones. There were, in fact, black doctors in Korea, and Spearchucker was based on a doctor Richard Hooker heard about at the 8055. Too bad the executives [[Did Not Do the Research|didn't look into it first]].
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* [[Something Completely Different]]
* [[Speech Impediment]]: Winchester counsels a soldier who is cruelly bullied as "stupid" because he stammers. Revealing that he's looked into the man's service record and knows of his actual high intelligence, he gives him ''[[Moby Dick]]'' to read. Returning to his tent, he listens happily to a taped letter from his beloved sister Honoria... who also stammers.
* [[Spin-Off]]: ''[[After MASH (TV)|After MASHAfterMASH]]'' and ''W*A*L*T*E*R'', neither was very successful.
** There was, however, one spinoff which was successful: ''Trapper John, M.D.'', which features the onetime 4077th surgeon some 25 years later.
*** Though legally, no. When ''Trapper'' started, this series' producers sued to claim royalties they thought they were owed due to the use of Trapper's character. The court battle, however, ended with ''Trapper'' being legally considered a spin-off of the movie and not of the show.
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