M*A*S*H (TV series)

When I began writing this blog I knew there would be times that the task at hand may seem to daunting or to hard to accomplish, but so far I've persevered and have completed each assignment that I've set for myself. I knew at some point I was going to get around to watching this series and that it was going to be tough to sit and get through all eleven seasons. Considering the Korean War was only three years long and the television series lasted eleven seasons says something very strongly about all of the actors, directors, and writers that were involved in putting this story together. The wittiness of the jokes and the seriousness of the issues drove this series into television history. Based on the highly successful movie directed by Robert Altman and the novel by Richard Hooker (with a little bit of the novel Catch-22 for good measure), this show took off into the stratosphere and never looked back.
A team of U.S. Army doctors work at a M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit during the Korean War and fight the system, and each other, with humor that flies around faster than the bullets and artillery. Being a situation comedy a laugh track was used (yet never in the OR - operating room) and as the years went on it was used less and less and by 1983 when the finale was done there was no track of laughter at all. Some very inventive story devises were developed during the show, one episode was done in real time with a clock running in the corner of the screen, one was entirely shot from the point of view of a wounded soldier, and one even went into the subconscious minds of the characters in their dreams. There were many other innovative stories, just too many to describe here. With the set design and the location shooting there are times when its hard to tell what was shot outside and what was on a soundstage, but that doesn't matter because each scene is done in such a way that it all seems to blend together. The story aspects changed about half way through the series and began to focus on more serious issues and the comedy became secondary, but that's not to say the shows weren't funny its just that the comedy was in the back seat for a while.
Of the numerous directors that had a part in this groundbreaking series some of the actors themselves were allowed to get behind the camera and develop their talents there, and with these episodes we're given a more in-depth glimpse into the characters that they portray. This series was one of the few shows that were able to change popular main characters and not lose a footing in the ratings. Of the original first season cast only two survived to the series finale, Alan Alda and Loretta Swit, but by the end all of the actors were noticeably getting tired and wanting to move on to other things. So after eleven seasons, 99 Emmy nominations, 14 Emmy awards and the highest ratings of its existence the cast took a final bow and ended the series with a two and a half hour finale that was watched by 77% of the viewers that were watching television that night (making it the most watched show in television history, an honor that still stands today.) One of the bonuses that the DVDs have is that all of the edited footage, that has been taken out over the years has been replaced and in some cases after all this time we're finally given missing dialog that helps with jokes or helps sets up situations.  I have heard from a lot people over the years that they either love M*A*S*H or hate it for a variety of reasons, but after watching the whole series from beginning to end I can truly say that I love this show, more than I thought I did before.