The Petra Zone

Just out of curiosity, how many of you like the Movie/TV series M*A*S*H?

M*A*S*H is my all-time favorite TV show.

I'm more fond of the early years with Col. Blake, Trapper John, Frank Burns, etc. Later characters like Col. Potter, B.J. Hunnicutt, and Charles Emerson Winchester were good, but the show lost something.

Alan Alda started writing and directing a lot of the episodes in the later years, as his "star power" on the show grew. He tried to make each episode into some grand statement about how war is hell. Also, he made Hawkeye's character more soft, instead of the wiseacre, sarcastic maverick of the first 4-5 years.

M*A*S*H the TV show lasted nearly 4 times as long as the actual Korean War. The show lasted 11 years, the Korean War lasted 3 years.

The movie was pretty good. I love the TV series, and all the actors played their roles well. I like Henry Blake's goofiness, but I like Sherman Potter's no nonsense approach too. And of course it wouldn't be M*A*S*H without the resident bad boys Hawkeye, Trapper and B.J.

My all time favorite was when Hotlips got a rash on her rear and it was announced over the loud speaker.

It says something about a TV show when you still care about it 20-plus years after it originally was on TV.

For those of you who like M*A*S*H, do you watch it by:
1. Local TV
2. Cable TV (Hallmark Channel, TV LAND, etc.)
3. DVD/Home Video

Since I do not have cable right now, I watch them by DVD.

I watch it on Hallmark or TV Land. I would like to get the DVDs one day. Really the only benefit of cable is that they run the old shows like that--But then, they're releasing so many shows on DVD you don't have to have cable any more to watch them. I think I could get along fine without cable.

Hey Guys

I love the show, I had the movie but got rid of it. I have season 3 and 4 on DVD and a soon as I can I'm going to get Season 1 and 2.

Between season 3 and 4 the producers said they went over to Korea and visited with some of the people from there and the people told them how it really was, so the producers and writers decided to take the show into that direction as well.

Alan is another actor who likes to push politics into his work. However if you have been watching Fox News you would see a familiar face from MASH (trapper) that comes on to talk about things from time to time. From his own political view he seems to be Republican which is a huge change from the Dimocratic view of MASH, and it leaves some fans to believe that's why he could have left the show in the first place.

But the first 3 years by far were the funniest. After Blake, Trapper and Burns all left it did lose something, and then after Raidar left the show, and they wrote in that Clinger re-inlisted and stopped waring the dress, that was a huge change as well.

But it's still the best, I wish they would do another reunion again this time as a show. See them act it out instead of gathering actors together to remember good times. I would love to see Hawk Guy, Trapper and BJ all three pull a prank on Hot Lips