MASH Reunion Show
"You can come up with new ways to mutilate the human body, but why can't you come up with a way to end this stupid war!" -- Col. Potter
I'm watching the MASH 30th Reunion show...clips from the old shows interspersed with interviews with the actors and creators. I am reminded again that MASH is my favorite show on television. It's just one of the most complex, involved, funny, poignant pieces of television history ever. All of the actors were excellent and they worked well together.
One thing I didn't know until tonight is that the creators did a great deal of research before writing the series. They interviewed real doctors and nurses who served in MASH units in Korea. Those interviews went right into the episodes, sometimes word for word. In the episode when a news reporter interviews the characters, Father Mulcahey says that when the weather was cold the doctors would warm their hands over the bodies that they were operating on. That was a quote almost word for word from an interview with someone who served in a MASH unit.
The show reinvented the ways of telling a story many times over, with episodes like the "Dear Dad" episodes, and the news interviews shows, and the dream show. I can see the influence of MASH in later television series. In Star Trek: TNG, for example, and The Muppet Show (Miss Piggy? Hotlips.) I watched the later years of MASH during its original run, and I've probably seen every episode at least once on reruns. As I'm sitting hear watching the clips I've got tears in my eyes. I don't think any television show has ever touched me so consistently as this one did. It will always be my favorite.
I'm watching the MASH 30th Reunion show...clips from the old shows interspersed with interviews with the actors and creators. I am reminded again that MASH is my favorite show on television. It's just one of the most complex, involved, funny, poignant pieces of television history ever. All of the actors were excellent and they worked well together.
One thing I didn't know until tonight is that the creators did a great deal of research before writing the series. They interviewed real doctors and nurses who served in MASH units in Korea. Those interviews went right into the episodes, sometimes word for word. In the episode when a news reporter interviews the characters, Father Mulcahey says that when the weather was cold the doctors would warm their hands over the bodies that they were operating on. That was a quote almost word for word from an interview with someone who served in a MASH unit.
The show reinvented the ways of telling a story many times over, with episodes like the "Dear Dad" episodes, and the news interviews shows, and the dream show. I can see the influence of MASH in later television series. In Star Trek: TNG, for example, and The Muppet Show (Miss Piggy? Hotlips.) I watched the later years of MASH during its original run, and I've probably seen every episode at least once on reruns. As I'm sitting hear watching the clips I've got tears in my eyes. I don't think any television show has ever touched me so consistently as this one did. It will always be my favorite.