M*A*S*H (1972)

Watchseries; I've read several recent (2019) reviews of MASH here on IMDB. Many of them take a political slant, calling the show "anti-war", "left-wing", or (and this is my favorite) an "Evil Mockery of all good things and American Values". Frankly, every word of those comments is partisan hooey, colored by the divisive political landscape we live in at present.

I'm a 19 year, career military member and am currently deployed to Iraq. I just watched the entire-run of this show at a rate of 2 episodes per night and thoroughly enjoyed it. You can want some of the topics it presents to be political, but they're not. The overwhelming majority of them are simply the musings of people who seem to have an incisive and witty understanding of what it means to be deployed far away from home.

Those insights are what keep the show watchable. Being critical of war doesn't make the show liberal. It makes it rationale. Broaching progressive subjects doesn't make it left-wing. It bases it in reality. Arguing that war should be the absolute last means of persuasion doesn't make it a mockery of American values. It makes it a commentary on what those American values have historically been.

The years have been rough on MASH insomuch as portrayals of sexism and alcoholism are concerned. Outside of that, the show holds up as a commentary on war at large-be it in Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq. Simply put, it's still funny.

I've read several recent (2019) reviews of MASH here on IMDB. Many of them take a political slant, calling the show "anti-war", "left-wing", or (and this is my favorite) an "Evil Mockery of all good things and American Values". Frankly, every word of those comments is partisan hooey, colored by the divisive political landscape we live in at present.

I'm a 19 year, career military member and am currently deployed to Iraq. I just watched the entire-run of this show at a rate of 2 episodes per night and thoroughly enjoyed it. You can want some of the topics it presents to be political, but they're not. The overwhelming majority of them are simply the musings of people who seem to have an incisive and witty understanding of what it means to be deployed far away from home.

Those insights are what keep the show watchable. Being critical of war doesn't make the show liberal. It makes it rationale. Broaching progressive subjects doesn't make it left-wing. It bases it in reality. Arguing that war should be the absolute last means of persuasion doesn't make it a mockery of American values. It makes it a commentary on what those American values have historically been.

The years have been rough on MASH insomuch as portrayals of sexism and alcoholism are concerned. Outside of that, the show holds up as a commentary on war at large-be it in Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq. Simply put, it's still funny.

M*A*S*H watchseries. That is, this series started out in 1972 to capitalize on the antipathy people had towards the Vietnam War, plus it blended well with the anti-establishment theme of the CBS prime time lineup as well. Then something horrible happened - that is for those financially backing the show - four months into production the Vietnam War effectively ended. Also, it was announced the draft would end. Poof. There goes the show's reason for existence. This is where the show "rolled with the punches". Rather than just dry up and blow away as an artifact of a time that had come and gone, it explored new avenues and ways to stay relevant. It explored friendship, maintaining family ties when far from home, and the shock of sudden death. At the end of eleven years, when the show called it a day, you had two characters that loathed each other in the beginning of the series practically declaring their love for one another, although they knew in peacetime it could never be.

If you ever decide to go whole hog and buy the complete series, have patience with it. The first three episodes are not that good - the humor is very forced and were it not for the laugh track you might not get that a joke had just been told. But it does get much better rather quickly. Back in 1972 network shows were allowed time to get better. Now some network bean counter just pulls the plug and drags out some reality show replacement.

MASH is still remarkable - funny, poignant, moving, occasionally schmaltzy - but always well scripted, acted and often directed by the actors who really know the players. Alan Alda at his best, with a magnificent equal billing cast. Watch MASH often!!

M*A*S*H is the best TV series ever made, it has really made an impression. Using black humour must have been the only way to get through the day for most soldiers, and it gave me an idea of how awful the war must have been. Definitely a great TV series filled with humour and jokes that makes you laugh every time.

This is still one of the funniest shows on television, especially the first four seasons when they still had a broad sense of humor. To me the glory days of M*A*S*H ended with the departure of Larry Linville (Major Frank Burns). After his departure, especially in the final three years, the show became more and more issue oriented and pretty much lost me until the classic finale. Other than that, it was still a great show.

The TV show M*A*S*H proves that laughter really is the best medicine to cure any wounds. This movie provided humorous insight to an otherwise overlooked time in American society. Every character provided a different perspective on the evils of war with their uses of satire. The script writers use satire to provide a look at the evils of war. I have seen the re-runs of this American classic series and I still find them hilarious to this day. I am so pleased that television stations decided to re air this otherwise forgotten show. I am glad that the directors and producers of this show depicted an otherwise forgotten time in American history. And I am sure that the veterans of the Korean War are happy that this show was made to show their experiences in this war and made their trials known to the public.