|
|
82 of 89 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
In the beginning, when M*A*S*H was just a situation comedy, January 16, 2002
In 1972 America was still involved in the war in an unpopular war in Vietnam, which created an environment in which an antiwar comedy like "M*A*S*H" could thrive. The show was set during the Korean War, but the Vietnam sub-text was obvious from the very beginning. However, what we forget when looking back at the first season of "M*A*S*H" was that it was a traditional situation comedy in the beginning and that it was not, from the start, the great show that it became when it hit full stride. Larry Gelbart gets a lot of credit for creating the series and writing the pilot and the "Dear Dad" episode, but that first season Laurence Marks wrote almost as many episodes. This is of some importance because Marks had been one of the chief writers on "Hogan's Heroes," and there is a sense in which many of these early episodes are more reminiscent of that odd World War II sit-com set in a Nazi P.O.W. camp than "M*A*S*H" in its prime (the show was known as "Hawkeye's Heroes" in some quarters during that first season). Of course, the television series was also burdened with toning down the blood and sex from the Robert Altman movie on which it was based. By this point the original novel by "Richard Hooker" (pen name of Dr. Richard Hornberger) was pretty much completely forgotten except for the names and the places. Today, when you think of "M*A*S*H" you think of Alan Alda, who clearly dominated the show from the beginnig in front of the camera and would have a greater effect behind it as the series progressed."M*A*S*H" is one of the 10 best sitcoms of all time, and while I will gladly give the series 5 stars for its entire run, it is simply not that good that first season. Several episodes, such as "Requiem for a Lightweight," are easily dismissed as standard military comedies on a par with "Gomer Pyle." Alan Alda was always embarrassed in particular by "Major Fred C. Dobbs," where Hawkeye and Trapper are forced to actually keep Frank from leaving. There were a few worthwhile attempts to deal specifically with the Korean War, such as "The Moose" and "Cease-Fire," but only sporadic attempts to rail against the insanity of war, most notably at the end of "Yankee Doodle Doctor." The pivotal episode for the series, written by Carl Kleinschmitt, is "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet." You can say that the idea of a television Dramedy, the perfect blending of drama and comedy in a series, can be traced to this specific episode. In it, an old friend of Hawkeye's dies on the operating table. For one of the few times in a television sitcom, a sympathetic and charming character died. One CBS executive literally demanded of Gelbart and director Gene Reynolds, "What are you doing? Is this a comedy or a tragedy?" The pair stuck by their guns and because of that episode M*A*S*H was able to deal with both the dark and the light side of life, which set the foundation for the series' best episodes. M*A*S*H was hampered in its early years by the character of Frank Burns, another character in a long tradition of comic characters who are incompetent at some important function. Frank is an incompetent surgeon (versus Ted Baxter the inept news anchor and Howard Borden the incompetent airplane navigator). There is a sense in which the greatness of M*A*S*H is defined by the major transformations of "Hot Lips" into Margaret and Winchester into Charles, neither of which is possible until Frank is out of the picture. In the fall of 1972 M*A*S*H aired on Sunday nights at 8:00 EST in between "Anna and the King" and "The Sandy Duncan Show." However, someone at CBS decided it was good enough to give it the choice spot behind "All in the Family" the following year, and the rest, as someone once said, is television history. Final Note: One of the nicest things about this DVD is that the episodes are UNCUT. For example, in syndication, the end of the second act of "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet" is used as the tag scene. Pay attention to the difference when you see the entire thing. Of course, if you are going to watch the entire thing then you need to start with the first season. All television shows evolve and that is certainly the case with "M*A*S*H," as Radar O'Reilly becomes more innocent as the show progresses and Klinger and Father Mulcahy are worked into the ensemble. I think part of the fun of going through this first season on DVD is the anticipation of what lies ahead. After all, you have to understand the initial antipathy between Margaret and Hawkeye to fully appreciate the longest kiss in television history that comes in the grand finale. FIRST SEASON EPISODES: (1) "M*A*S*H-The Pilot," (2) "Henry, Please Come Home," (3) "To Market, To Market," (4) "Germ Warfare," (5) "The Moose," (6) "I Hate A Mystery," (7) "Chief Surgeon Who?" (8) Requiem for a Lightweight," (9) "Cowboy," (10) "Yankee Doodle Doctor," (11) Bananas, Crackers and Nuts," (12) "Edwina," (13) "Dear Dad," (14) "Love Story," (15) "Tuttle," (16) "The Ringbanger," (17) "Dear Dad...Again," (18) "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet," (19) "The Long John Flap," (20) "Major Fred C. Dobbs," (21) "Sticky Wicket," (22) "The Army-Navy Game," (23) "Cease-Fire," and (24) "Showtime."
|
DVD ~ Alan Alda
DVD ~ Alan Alda
DVD ~ Gene Reynolds
DVD ~ Alan Alda
DVD ~ Alan Alda
