M*A*S*H

Before Cheers, MASH was a long running sitcom that spanned a decade (ironically, was much longer than the war itself).

There were hilarious moments, and there were serious, heart wrenching moments.
We said goodbye to Henry Blake and hello to Sherman Potter, goodbye to Trapper and hello to BJ, and goodbye (and good riddance) to Frank Burns and hello to Charles Winchester. And we had a definite goodbye to Radar.

But there will always be iconic moments from drinking spirits in "the swamp" to Klinger in dresses!

MASH was a truly fantastic and brilliant sitcom.
Glad I got the whole series on boxset DVD!

This Korean War medical team unit is really two shows.
So, it's rated in two parts.
MASH is sort of four different shows. I've read the book. I've seen the movie, and I've seen the two different formats of the TV show.
The book was much like the first show, where Major Burns is a total scapegoat. There's no way to believe that Hawkeye is a god and Burns is responsible for every terrible thing that ever happened.
That's the book and the Larry Linville portion of the series. Linville himself knew this was a career ending role, and that the character of Burns was ridiculous.
It did make for funny moments, but the same funny moments that Nazis endorsed when they made Jews their scapegoats.
The first part of MASH is simply an instruction manual for choosing a scapegoat.
When people watch something like this, they aren't concerned with "reality". They're being taught a more. The more being taught isn't to blame the creepy guy for creepy things that he does. That's because no one really knows that much about anyone else.
What is being taught, and the writers and directors of all books and TV shows and movies know this, is the surface view. What is being taught in MASH before Stiers is to just pick a scapegoat. That's all. That's the message.
So, even though the slapstick humor is funny, I give the first era of the TV show a 1/10. It's teaching discrimination and hate without a cause.
During the first portion, the surgical army unit doctors do perform in a realistic setting, so to speak, and that makes it worse, because it can't be laughed away when they teach people to be modern day Nazis looking for the modern day Jew. Totally worse.
It's also very dated, because it doesn't take into account the date. Being "dated" is misunderstood by "fan boys". It doesn't mean what they think. They think it means people from 1952 who act like characters from 1953 are dated. They think a character from 1952 should know about eight track tapes, DVDs, Donald Trump, etc.
Being "dated" actually means that someone from 1952 does know about eight track tapes, DVDs, and Donald Trump. That's "dated".
That's the problem with MASH. The "liberal" from 1952 would be more like Trapper John. He would be the very far left. Hawkeye would be shot as a traitor, no matter how good of a doctor he claimed he was.
Which is another thing. The MASH book and the Linville era of MASH is