Lightning in a Bottle - a M*A*S*H* Video Essay
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- Did you want over an hour of me talking about a show that’s nearly 40 years old? Well here you go. Also this is not the most HD video ever. This show has never been released on Blu Ray so yeah :/
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0:00 - Intro
1:40 - Chapter 1: Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
19:25 - Chapter 2: A Product of Its Time
30:30 - Chapter 3: War is Hell
35:19 - Chapter 4: Insanity is Just a State of Mind
43:35 - Chapter 5: Comrades in Arms
50:27 - Chapter 6: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen
57:11 - Chapter 7: Best Care Anywhere
1:02:11 - Credits
Sources:
That Margaret line
always-la-belle-epoque.tumblr...
Alan Alda Gets Personal About Life After MASH
www.nbcconnecticut.com/entert...
Henry’s Death Snopes article
www.snopes.com/fact-check/scr...
Klinger Origins
americanhistory.si.edu/blog/m...
'M*A*S*H' Finale, 35 Years Later: Untold Stories of One of TV's Most Important Shows
www.hollywoodreporter.com/fea...
Memories of 'M*A*S*H': Inside Stories of the Most Famous Episodes (and Castings)
www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...
American Society, Stereotypical Roles, And Asian Characters In M*A*S*H (I never directly cited this paper but its a good read)
etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_fi...
M*A*S*H* Films Final Scene, Says Goodbye After 11 Years
web.archive.org/web/201608090...
Why the Real-Life Hawkeye Pierce Hated ‘M*A*S*H’
www.history.com/news/why-the-...
M*A*S*H: Television's Serious Sitcom. A+E Networks, 2003.
Memories of M*A*S*H. CBS, 1991.
M*A*S*H 30th Anniversary Reunion. 20th Century Fox, 2002.
Gelbart, Larry. Laughing Matters, Random House, 1998, p. 27.
Kalter, Suzy. The Complete Book of M*A*S*H*, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1988, p.37
Wittebols, James H. Watching M*A*S*H, Watching America, McFarland, 2003
#MASH - Zábava
Yes I have heard of Trapper MD, the show that didn't star Wayne Rogers and took place in the 80s.
Also this is me testing a thing with pinned comments. Awesome it worked.
Similar to your passion and wonder of MASH, my father gave me some books written by a penal soldier of the German army in the second world war, this writer was one from the thousand from the original unit. Sven Hassel was his name and similar to MASH the family n humor combined with the horror makes it intriguing, albeit hard to explain.
Love this exploration of this beloved series, n thank you for sharing such happy tears that many of the world shared with ye.
The long hair on the men was an anachronism.
The only thing I know is that Michael J Fox was in this show.
It is on You TUBE
my favorite show as a kid too. Also the entire series just landed onto Disney plus so I'm guessing the views for this are going to go up.
Radar's announcement about Col. Blake's fate was, and to this day remains, the single most powerful piece of acting I have ever seen.
....When Col. Potter cracks halfway through saying the sentence "well...this is not the way i wanted to say goodbye radar"
What added to it is that nobody got the script for this scene until the day of shooting from what I know. So it had that much more of an impact on the cast.
It took days to get the shock out of my system
I couldn't help but cry simply watching it in this video essay. It's so moving.
I cried the first time I saw it on the hallmark channel 15 years ago, I almost cried again watching it here.
The way Potter's voice breaks when he says, " stupid war" is just heartbreaking.
Harry Morgan portrayed the pain of having survived two World Wars and being the last of his original unit. He showed how broken those men were and how strong they were to carry on.
A veteran of both World Wars
Potter had seen them phase out cavalry charges for entrenched positions and barbed wire.
He'd seen the beginning of tank warfare to fight the stalemate.
The invention and use of chemical warfare
The mass carpet bombing
The fire bombing of while cities
The introduction of nuclear warfare.
They can kill each other just fine, but god forbid they find a way to end the fighting
This is so true
I have seen every episode of MASH some umpteen times. It's the interaction, the relationships between the characters that keep me coming back for more! 😊
@@gracealexandre3381That is one of the most endearing and special parts of this show. How you could see the love and sometimes the anger and even the hate between these characters. From Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre's constant barrage of mischief that they used to throw at Frank Burns and Margaret Houlihan was hilarious. But the caring that Hawkeye and Trapper had with Radar, and Klinger was so special. And Henry Blake's relationship with Radar was really special, like a father and son. Later when Henry Blake was discharged and Colonel Sherman T. Potter arrived he also had a special relationship with Radar and the doctors as well. They really did a phenomenal job at the portrayal of these doctors/soldiers. It was a brilliant and powerful show and the performances were also brilliant and powerful as well and every one of the actors and actresses were perfectly casted, and again did a phenomenal job. My all-time favorite show ever.
A heart wrenching episode for me was when Winchester met with a soldier who had a stutter. The entire episode had him very sympathetic and kind to the young man but it wasn't quite understood why until the end of the episode when he's listening to a phonograph of his sister discussing her day with a stutter. That one struck a chord with me growing up with a stutter as a child.
This was one of my favorites too. I actually identified with Winchester a lot as I was and still am a lot like him. With a side of the rest thrown in for good measure
That was a powerful deeply moving episode.
Winchester is one of my favorite characters of all time, he showed so much growth throughout the series and went from a jerkass, to a man with a secret heart of gold.
That episode makes me cry every time. Hearing Honoria stuttering makes it all make sense, and get to me.
It was this episode that made me love winchesters character and I was glad they replaced burns with him
I gotta admit
Hearing Charles say
"He wasn't even a solider, he was a musician" gets me every time
That gets me to 😊
@@ethelhoose1196 wrong emoji chief
Me to it showed the human side of Charles
I love this episode it showed the human side of Charles
Me as well
Fun fact, if you watch the show with the DVD collection, there's an audio option that completely removes the laugh track entirely.
I used to watch MASH with my dad before he passed so it's very dear to me. I was having a bad trip on acid once and didn't have my box set with me so I had to watch it on hulu with ads and a laugh track. I think the laugh track made my situation significantly worse lol
That's a great story@@chey8353
Is there a digital version with no laugh track? Laugh tracks are so annoying
Anyone out there still alive in 2050 should have MASH watching parties to celebrate that opening title card "Korea 1950 a hundred years ago" becoming accurate.
Ahh finally a valid reason to stay alive. I've put it on my to-do list
Unless something tragic happens majority of people on CZcams should be alive, albeit old people.
I should be 60-something. Abso-freaking-lutely I will do this.
I'm currently binging my fourth run of the show and I will have to be there. Being a Korean I also hope that by then North and South Korea is just a memory in the minds of the people of Korea.
72 here I come.
52:50 probably one of the most heartbreaking scenes in this finale. That dude had gone through this whole show, through a war that only takes and takes and takes, relatively unscathed. But right at the end, right as the war is almost over, it takes away his love of Mozart.
That moment still just gets me ugly crying, it’s so heartbreaking but in a way true war is absolute hell and sadly people if they come home, are changed
David Ogden Stiers is an incredible actor and person he’ll be missed dearly
Last christmas I told my family I'd love to get a red robe like Hawkeye's. It was mostly for laughs, and because I like to casually dress up as my favorite characters in more subtler ways than full on cosplay most of the time.
In the end, my mom did get me one, but a completely handsewn version by her. My mom watched this show from beginning to end when it aired. She knows exactly what the show meant to her growing up, and what it now means to me. It's my favorite gift, and I wear it basically every day 💜
That's really cool
Thats a beautiful gift :) 🎉Thank you for shareing this in comments! 😊🎉
fun fact: M*A*S*H was very popular in the UK however it was shown without a laugh track from the very beginning.
That's awesome, the show is so much better without it. Luckily the DVD collections here in the States have an option to turn it off.
I’m pretty sure what was shown in Australia (at least during the reruns in the 90s) also had no laugh track. Have to say, I generally dislike laugh tracks, so I might not have liked the show as much if it had retained the laugh track.
Now I’m wondering if there’s a way to get a hold of the UK/Aus version so o can watch the whole thing, without the laugh track. I’ll still probably watch it all even if I can’t find that version, but I’d definitely prefer to do without the laugh tracks.
Yes! My dad was very confused when he bought the DVDs (which sparked my love of MASH as a teen) and found out there were laugh tracks on by default! By the time he realised there was an option to watch the episodes without the laugh track I think he had got used to them, and so had I, since that's the only way I knew them! I always watch them with the laugh track on, even now over a decade later.
I loved that when I was visiting over there a few years back. A little slice of home, I watched it every night after we were done running the city.
This is how it should be. The laugh track ruined a lot of the early episodes. The show's writing stands without a laugh track
I tear up when Charles, in the finale, is sitting in his tent after the shock of seeing that Chinese POW dies and hears about the rest of them. The way he sits there in his tent listening to the piece that he was trying to get them to play and then breaks the record was beautiful. You get the feel that he liked the men so much that the piece he was trying to get them to play is now linked to a sad memory and add to the fact that Charles loved classical music adds even more emotion into an already heavily emotional episode.
“For me, music was always a refuge from this place. Now, it will always be a stark reminder.”
One of my favorite Charles moments to be sure
Its a hard decision for me between this and the episode where he goes berserk on a few soldiers for bullying someone with a speech impediment. The episode ends with him listening to his sister's taped letter she sent to him and you can distinctly hear her speech impediment through her high class boston accent.
It's a PTSD thing that not enough people talk about. It's difficult to have something you loved so, so much, be forever destroyed by a haunting memory. The two become linked, you can no longer experience one without being dragged through the other. It's heII. I'm glad they showed that scene. It wasn't turned into a full blown discussion on PTSD because it didn't need to be. That moment is powerful enough that the message is loud and clear.
I teared up just watching that 2 second clip, this show is art.
25:02 You don't mention this, but the actor playing the enemy soldier was Iwamatsu Makoto otherwise known as MAKO, who had several roles on the show. He was a long time theatrical and movie veteran with an eminent career. He had several Academy Award and Tony nominations, founder of the East West Theatrical company and voice actor for many animated films and video games.
Thank you for mentioning Mako. I first saw him in the movie "The Sand Pebbles" when I was 8 years old. He & the movie had a profound effect on me. He was always a phenomenal actor & I knew whenever he appeared in MASH the episode would be great. Mako was in these episodes: "Rainbow Bridge", “Hawkeye Get Your Gun”, “Guerrilla My Dreams”, & “The Best of Enemies”.
I'd say he did very good for himself in life.
My favorite role of his was Uncle Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
@@ashkenad you beat me to that reference! Iroh is one of the greatest characters in existence.
That baby scene took the wind out of me all over again. Hadn't watched the show since I became a mom, and I make it a point to avoid watching child deaths in shows thanks to my PPD. M.A.S.H. will forever be a favorite of mine, I cannot wait to show it to my daughter.
Every time Col. Potter says "...why can't they invent a way to end this STUPID WAR?" something very deep inside of me is touched. It's so raw. So passionate. So honest.
So real and so "now"...no matter when "now" is.
It's not it's a show made long after the war and hasn't really a clue about the war really lol
Sidney was always my favorite. He was on the show often enough that you knew him, but rarely enough that each time you saw him was an absolute treat. Plus, I've always loved his best advice, and taken it to heart at times, "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: pull down your pants, and slide on the ice!"
The story he told about losing a patient in "Dear Sigmund" straight-up wrecked me.
I love that quote as well! My oldest son when he was 8, he told me that he knew what that meant. I didn't think he knew, but he knew. Now he uses that as his quote when we exchange emails. What a sweetheart!! He will be 17 in May.
"What happened to the chicken?"
🥺😢😭
That line was the 1st line the actor shot and also the last line he performed on the show
that has always been my favorite quote
I’m a very tough audience when it comes to laughter. I actually cry more easily. I laugh out loud at every episode of MASH and I think this speaks for itself. This is a damn clever show, but it also has a pulse. A conscience, integrity. I’ll treasure it forever.
I'm a 14 year old girl, who got into M*A*S*H from reruns on TV. Since then I have become obsessed and even asked for a box set of the entire sires plus movie, for my birthday last month. I love this show and wish to share it with as many people as possible.
Last month, I bought the complete series of M*A*S*H including the movie. I also have the book. I had the movie before, but having everything from the book to the series is a wonderful collection to have and I'm going to cherish it for years to come.
omg yes! Im 15 and I watched it on MeTv and I am trying to get my friends to watch it
@@addydarnell4697 (snicker) Show them Dear Sigmund.
@@jennifertolle2348 I had my husband pick the series up for me while I was in rehab about three years ago. That and a portable DVD player. Helped me forget the hell I was going through. I'm fine now, but still watch the dvds. Just don't ask me for a favorite episode.
It’s a great show, I’m 20 and when I was a kid every Tuesday night my father and I would watch mash and play a game of chess
Ive never even seen MASH so I dont know why I teared up so many times during the whole thing, loved the video and now added MASH to my to-watch list
Oh its on Hulu btw so if you're on that service you can watch it all without having to rent DVDs from the library or whatever
@@Ladyknightthebrave Dont think i get access to hulu in my country, but I have a backlog of series to watch so I can wait the 2/3 months it'll take for amazon to get me some dvds =D
I grew up watching it with my grandfather who served in Korea
This video does a great job annalyzing it, but the hundreds of episodes each have their own meaning.
I remember 'Abyssinia, Henry'
Henry's civilian suit that the doctors pooled their cash to have made, the party the camp through, the main cast at the helicopter pad, Henry planting a fat kiss on Margaret like every male in the country probably wanted to.
When that Bell Sioux helicopter, with its gaint dragon fly bubble disapeared out of sight and everyone had to go back to work, I cheered to myslef because Henry was going home to Bloomington Illinois (I am born and raised in Illinois)
And then crying into my grandfather's shoulder because it felt so personably unfair to loose a fictional character.
MASH is probably the biggest reason why I got into ww2 reenacting (the closest to Korean war)
Ive poured my heart into restoring a ww2 jeep, and I'm hoping to start on a troop truck too.
Every time me and my buddies dress up in our gear, you get your butt we quote MASH and everything of the like
I read this and thought “oh come on. That must be exaggerating, right?”. Then i watched the video. Then I went back and liked this comment
I have never seen it either but loved Ladyknight's other video essays, so here I am :D guess I am in for a treat!
41:25 when she said “Twenty second episode,” I thought she meant the episode was infamously 20 seconds long, not 22 in the season. I was like “They AIRED that?”
I.... I don't know what to say but I just finished the series finale with my grandma and immediately came back to this video because this is what convinced me to finally watch it after putting it off for so long... what a fantastic 2 month journey, yes, i watched the entire 11 season run in 2 months i am not well
I’ve written a few papers on negative trans representation in the media (I’m a trans historian) and I’ve been asked “why didn’t you include Klinger” and it’s because it’s not transphobic. By playing him straight he’s not transphobic. He’s a man who identifies as a man. If anything he shows that men can wear dresses and look great in them.
Quote: "He's got the legs for it."
he was someone for me to look up to, with his friends accepting him and like you say looking great.
@@WolfHreda quote: “ I like you in anything Klinger”
100%
I mean the show even has a shrink from the 50s tell him he's perfectly fine and an example of the diversity of humanity in response to his anxiety about being too into to feminine clothing! And I just love him tbh because he's a Lebanese man on top of being what honestly feels... almost loving? IDK it's important to me as an Egyptian and since the joke, if there is one, is on the characters who treat Klinger poorly, not him.
As someone who grew up watching M*A*S*H in much the same way, I meet other people my age who haven't even heard of M*A*S*H and it both saddens and confuses me. I'll always remember this brilliant show because it also shaped me and some of my fonder memories of my dad are of us watching M*A*S*H. he would explain all of the history and context when I would ask questions.
I wish I had been more into this when it was on Nick at Nite. I think at the time it was too heavy for me, being war heavy, but now I’d love to watch it!
After Iraq I became a flight medic and having served in Afghanistan alongside field medics and corpsman, donating additional time to ICU and field surgical teams, and volunteering for humanitarian hospital work in West Africa; MASH may be dated in language and tropes, but it deftly and succinctly captures the pantheon of experiences and emotions displayed by the men and women I’ve met. Your video does the show justice both in its reverence and in the no-nonsense challenge to the issues (though sparse) the show had. Subscribed, thank you and good job.
We keep coming up with better and better ways to give comedy and drama to the effects of war, but we just keep blowing things up.
Have you seen generation kill? If so, how would you compare it to mash?
@@thepastaprogenitor851 mash is kinda accurate on how the military is when I was in the navy I had guys that didn’t like it and tried to get discharged and I had my chain of command clash with each other me and my division was always laid back we got our work done we were a cool little family because we were trapped on a ship for months so we’d get into shenanigans
@@oddish3022 thanks for the response.
As a veteran as well, I completely agree.
Everything can and will happen.
David Ogden Stiers was such a good actor. His TNG guest role was fantastic too.
After 4 tours in Iraq and afghan, the humanity and zaniness of this show ring truer than anyone that has not been there could know. I see the people I served within each episode. and I think that is the magic. You don't need to have been there to feel the humanity but if you have it helps heal/laugh/remember
That's a great compliment.
Charles losing his love of music always moves me, being a music lover. I think M*A*S*H is the only show that ever completely nailed its ending.
It’s definitely one of the select few that has. Hell, off the top of my head I can only think of seven shows that nailed it, including M*A*S*H.
Even Firefly didnt have the finale it deserved. Truly MASH was one of a kind
One more precious thing ripped from one more trapped character even as the fighting supposedly draws to a close. Its powerful storytelling and an impressive observation for you to have shared
@@logangagnepain7154 To be fair, I'm not sure you can really justly compare Firefly to M*A*S*H in terms of their endings. Firefly was unceremoniously crapped on by its network and literally forced to end without truly being finished. M*A*S*H was allowed to end on its own terms and given the time and security it needed to find an ending that fit it. And it certainly helped that the finale was afforded more time than a regular episode so that it could give the necessary time to each character and find closure for everything.
Having said that, I do think M*A*S*H was one of the most consistently great TV shows ever made (and of an overall better quality than Firefly) and certainly had the best final episode of a series I've ever seen.
@@overlydramaticpanda you sir... have excellent points
And i find myself agreeing with all of them
My dad loved this show, remember it being in the background of a lot of memories. When I was coming out as nonbinary the first thing he thought of was Klinger.
That is wholesome AF
me too he really means a lot
Just don’t go on guard duty naked, unless you got the legs for it.
but Klinger only used the crossdressing as a ruse to get a section 8 discharge. he was not "trans". he tried everything possible to get discharged. but in the end he stopped the discharge ruse and crossdressing and became the company clerk and manager assistant of the camp.
@@BigSkyCurmudgeon why is trans in quotes?
Having only ever heard of MASH very briefly and assuming it was a stiff, saccharine "old person" show, this video has made me want to binge the whole series. I'm almost certain I'd love it, if only I had Hulu! It's a crime that this essay only has 70k views, what a thorough breakdown!
My dad grew up watching this. And then one day I just stumbled across it on TV. It was funny, it was heavy, it just hit...different. I fell in love immediately.
Growing up, I absolutely hated when my dad wanted to watch MASH, so I never grew up with an appreciation for it.
Think I'm gonna propose a little marathon with my pops
My dad did that to me and my sisters with Highlander (starring Adrian Paul) and the OJ Simpson trial, so I hear you! XD I didn’t watch Mash growing up either but this video has made me want to give it a shot.
@@KatieLHall-fy1hw you could probably skip the trial, but if you haven't seen the Highlander series, you owe it to yourself. It's delightful, fun, definitely cheesy at times, and sincere at others.
Hawkeye Pierce was a lot of people's first crush.
mine too XD
I'm a guy, so no. More like I wanted to be him.
Mine was always BJ 😅 I never was as into Hawkeye
I mean, wasn't he the first ever sexiest man alive?
Yeah
My 23-year old son sent me link to this video. He knows I love MASH, watched it during high sch [I am from the Phils.]. When my son was in his tweens [I think], there a few MASH episodes I was able to watch online. At first he was kinda laughing at me for watching a series that seemed so dated. Then he sat down with me and he got hooked too! I think Radar is his favorite character. MASH goes down in history as one of the most-loved TV series of all time. Its characters and life lessons outlive us. Thank you for this piece of work.
I read the books, and Margaret was a goddess of charisma, and subtle manipulation. I loved the books.
Hawkeye's very small Maine town gets an international airport due to machinations.
That I remember that plot point means its funnier than I can repeat it
I used to watch MASH when I was a boy, I remember distinctly sitting in my parent's living room and seeing Hawkeye argue with another Doctor about Cheese and mustard while driving in an ambulance.
Last year I bought the DVD box set and rewatched the entire 11 season run and left wanting to make some sort of video about it. I guess now I don't have to. Great content.
The other Dr., Dr. Borelli was portrayed by Alan Alda's father Robert. The character was featured in an early episode in which Trapper & Hawkeye meet him at a seminar in Tokyo.
@@catherineerwin8269 & @Graeme Strachan-
The Medic, at the field hospital, was Alan Alda's brother/ Robert Alda's son- Antony Alda.
I take my hat off to you, fellow past 11 year old being oddly obsessive about MASH. I was so obsessed that my best Christmas present up to that point was a book my dad put together listing all of the episodes in order, with 1-2 paragraph descriptions, noteworthy quotes (mostly Hawkeye's spontaneous speeches), and a space for a checkmark and the date that I got to see that episode. While it has some elements that make it a product of its time, it has many more that are, quite honestly, timeless. Thank you so much for this hour long trip down memory lane.
I started watching MASH as toddler.
I’m 46 now and still watching it.
I realize now that I fell in love with the main cast because they were the tribe I always wished my relatives resembled. They were my secret family who kept me company better than mine ever could.
As a little boy, I fantasized about transporting myself through my television screen and getting to be one of the cast. All the characters I imagined I could play that would fit right in.
I guess I still fantasize about it.
-
Thank you for sharing yourself and your talent with the world.
Thank you for this beautiful comment ❤
Literally crying by the end if this video and I didn’t even watch MASH.
I'll admit, it physically hurt me revisiting Henry Blake's final episode.
Thank you for this.
The hardest bit for me to revisit was the finale, but thank you for watching!!
@@Ladyknightthebrave
I've been unable to watch the finale in a single sitting. But I have a Hulu subscription, and too much time on my hands. So hopefully I'll get to see it this time.
"The next major change would be when Larry Linville left the show..." I see what you did there....
I did not do that on purpose omg
How do you mean?
Oh..... okay lol
Major Change! (rimshot)
I think we've made a major breakthrough here
im drunk and watching this again and im crying. as someone who also found solace in this show when i was 12, i think it's just that powerful. a little rougher around the edges these days, but it still spoke to me in the early 2000s when hell broke loose. these guys taught me how to endure insanity by out insane-ing it, and i'm forever grateful
while I watched this originally 3 years ago, it's only now I finally got around to watching MASH and holy heck is it great, right now I'm only halfway through s4 and there are so many aspects I adore, like easily Klinger and Mulcahy's dynamic is one of my favorite and it's a treat whenever they get to be on screen together, but also there's just so many things, like you say it's relationship to queerness is complex, but I think there's something to be said about the difference between Hawkeye who feels comfortable in flirting with men and making jokes about his sexuality, and Frank who is deeply uncomfortable with those things because he is so entrenched in maintaining an image of pure christian fragile heterosexuality. Also there's a moment where they subvert Klinger's whole deal when he gets his Section 8, but when he is told he needs to sign that he is a "transvestite and a homosexual" of course in the context of the 70s refering to transgender people, Klinger says "well I'm not a transvestite or a homosexual, I'm nuts doctor!" and it's a very small line but works to at least try and subvert the tropes the character was originally based on.
Also my god this show makes me sob...
I like how you brought up Hawkeyes flirtation with men. I've been rewatching the show recently, and I'm surprised how much affection they show in this show among men. I didn't notice how important that was as a kid. There are tons of scenes where guys hug and kiss each other in this show. Doesn't necessarily mean romantic feelings are involved, but those were really wholesome displays of affection that really made me happy
I was 12 or 13 years old when the finale aired. Back then, if you missed a show you missed it. My dad was away and I got into trouble with my new step-mother who wouldn't let me stay up to watch the show. I tried to sneak a portable black & white TV into my room and watch the episode quietly under a blanket but she caught me and took the TV away. It was all quite upsetting at the time. My mother, who lived in a different city, sympathizes with my plight as her mother wouldn't let her stay up to watch The Beatles big premier on The Ed Sullivan Show. Apparently traumatic television experiences run in my family. (There was a happy ending - in the late 80s my step mother and i bonded over our mutual love of Doctor Who.)
You must have gone to bed really early since MASH came on at 7:30 PM Central time.
Somewhat similar experience. My parents (separated at the time) wouldn't let us watch MASH, though because of content (I was 10 going on 11 in late '72), for the first 2 seasons. At the time my sister & I lived with my mom. Even then I found that curious, since it was OK to watch All In The Family since I started earlier that year.
As far as staying up, I wanted to watch Laugh-In in 1968 and I was supposed go to bed at 8. We compromised: I could watch the first half hour, lasting till the early '70s. In 1973, I overheard a Kung Fu parody and begged to see it, my mom reluctantly letting me stay up an extra hour to watch the Carol Burnett Show (season premier that night). So I was able to see the greatest TV line-up of all time... except MASH.
Three years later, similar experience with SNL, when I overheard Chevy Chase as Ford.
Once they let us watch MASH in season 3, I was knocked out by how relentlessly witty it was. One of my favorite shows ever since.
I see a lot of people with long running emotional bonds to this show. Mine is one among many, it was my Grandmas favourite show, and we would always watch a few episodes together when I visited her as a child. She’d fall asleep on the couch and I’d be careful not to wake her up so I could just keep watching because we didn’t have the DVDs back home. She died a year ago, when I was 15 and I’ll always be sad that I didn’t get to spend more time with her, but the time we spent watching MASH was probably near the closest I ever felt to her. It’s beautiful to see a lot of people with similar ties to it discussed in this video and together in the comments.
That's really lovely, the song Whatever Lola Wants always reminds me of my grandmother. She liked to sing it when we were kids and it scandalized my parents(So I'm told). M*A*S*H* does seem to be the sort of show that parents and grandparents passed down to those of us who weren't around when it aired.
As a huge MASH fan, I really enjoyed this retrospective. It was really well done! I started watching MASH on the regular in 2001, when I was 13. It aired on FX after school, and I never missed an episode. I always watch the holiday episodes every year without fail.
I was born in 1965. I too grew up watching this show. Your video essay brought back so many memories, laughter, and tears. One of the reasons I became a psychotherapist is because of Dr. Sidney Freedman. Thank you for this.
Me: likes this video before I'm 10 minutes in
Also me: cries throughout the video
This is like a Ken Burns documentary. You're really good at this! I like how you split it up into easily-digestible segments, and you effectively selected clips to emphasize the points you're making.
I grew up watching M*A*S*H. I loved it so much, that I absolutely *refused* to watch the final episode for over a year. What the Hell, I was only 16 at that time. You nailed damn near most of it, LadtKnight. The rest remains subjective to the viewer.
Once upon a time, in Knoxville, TN, a radio station who's call I can no longer remember did a M*A*S*H trivia contest~~the winner to get dinner for two at Hawkeye's, a upper~middle class restaurant with great food. I won damn~near every contest, giving away the award to various people for several months. My ex and I went to dinner on four occasions (you could only win every six weeks)~~I made qiute a few people call in!😁
Here I am, 9 months after my initial comment, having just finished the last episode of this show!
I had written it off a long time ago and would have never watched it if it weren't for this video. And I wouldn't have watched this video if your other content wasn't so amazing!
Thank you for this.
As someone who is part of the LGBT community, I don't hate Klinger. I think it's important to recognize the time period as you stated. We've come a long way since the 70's in LGBT themes in moves and TV shows. Hell, we've come along way since the early 2000s! I think it's important to look back on things like this and say "Yeah, that happened, and it's not great. Here's what we did to learn from it." Erasing it only puts it out of sight what people had to endure in terms of stereotypes and derogatory statements. It's good to see where we've come from, because it shows how big of progress has been made, and also gives us the ability to judge how well we've done as humans and how far we might have left to go.
A lot of people see Klinger as making fun of gay or transgender people. I don't know if it was ever intended that way, and maybe at first it was. After all, the 70s. And yes, the joke is it's a man in a dress. But Klinger is never said to be gay or transgender. He is a straight male in a somewhat hyper masculine environment. There is some humour to the fact that this character is played so (pardon the pun) straight. They could have made him gay or transgender (back then they probably would have used the word transsexual) and made him the butt of the joke that way. But they didn't, and I appreciate that.
You're all kinds of wrong with your opinion. Maxwell Q. Klinger, cross dresses to get a section 8 back then in during the Korean war only straight men and straight women were allowed to join. So Klinger doing his cross dressing bit he was trying to say that I am unfit for the outfit but they never bought it.
What the previous comments said. Klinger only dressed as a woman so he could be discharged and able to go home. Except the problem was that he didn't really think about how getting a Section 8 and being dishonorably discharged would've haunted him for the rest of his life until Col. Potter set him straight.
I dont even think it was mocking the community. He was just a guy looking for any way to get a section 8. There is one episode i remember where one of the patients was gay and they kind of have burns who obviously doesnt like that calling them a degenerate but you had pierce if i remember correctly playing the side of they are still human. I can't remember the name of the episode. But mash dealth with all kinds of social and political themes. It was really ahead of its time I think.
@@Linkman247 Episode was "George," season 2, episode 22, 2/16/74.
People think it was meant to be offensive to trans people?? In the 1950s, the idea of a transgender identity was just being formed. Good lord people are so sensitive about this topic. The show wasn't making fun of anyone
I have so many feelings, that I am not able to express in words
this show was a significant part of my childhood, I also rewatched it as an adult, your essay is like everything I had inside, but didn't know how to get it out
thank you from the bottom of my heart 💓 💓 💓 💓 💓
amazing work
same here.
This show always hits me hard, thank you for this video essay.
MASH has been my favorite show for as long as I can remember
This was absolutely brilliant, thank you so much. I'm 57 and watched this with my mom and dad growing up. Both of my parents are gone now and I will always love this show and these characters. When I have left a job, my final email to my team always starts with Goodbye, Farewll and Amen :)
I have also worn a uniform for 17 years of my life, which also somehow enhances my feelings for these characters.
This piece actually made me laugh and cry at the same time as the show itself did.
I've watched each episode some umpteen times, and am still watching Hawkeye and his team whenever I get the chance.
It's the characters and their interactions, relationships with each other that keep me coming back for more. 😊
The MASH fandom is thriving and I’m here for that
i'm a gay man and i love margaret
the human state is Loving Margaret tbh
Same here! I'm a gay man and Hot Lips is definitely on my crush list.
My cousin is a straight women and she loves Margret.
There is something so deeply *human* about her character.
This show is literally one of the few pieces of media that has ever made me sob. You only showed small clips of the finale and I was a puddle. It even hapoened last month where i saw a single episode; the one radar gets to go home. My wife came in as the creduts rolled and saw me sobbing holding my daughter (who was just looking at me confused as all hell)and freaked out like whats wrong and i had to admit that 30 minutes of a sitcom from the 70s made me cry.
the line when Potter blows up and increasingly shouts "They keep inventing new ways to kill each other. Why can't they invent a way to end this stupid war?" with his voice cracking at the end always gets me. I remember it as being so surprising seeing his character crack like that with Harry Morgan's delivery absolutely perfect. I teared up each time it was shown in this video
And I can tell you why you became such a fan. The same reason I did. Incredible writing, perfect casting and characters that are so real it's scary.
I was 12 years old I would stay up late to watch MASH re-runs on Hallmark channel and it soon became my favorite show. My Christmas present when I was 15 was the box set of the show. It sparked something inside. 10 years later and I am an officer in the Army. I’ve ran towards unthinkable tragedies and saved and attempted to save lives. I say that because when asked about those days I still remember Hawkeyes ability to change the tone of the conversation with jokes. Growing up I thought it was for everyone around him, and now I know it was for him. MASH showed me how to cope with the life of a soldier before I was one, and that’s why MASH is amazing and holds a place in my soul.
A fun fact for all those watching - the Korean soldier who kidnaps Hawkeye to save his dying friend was played by a very young Mako, who you may be more familiar with as the original Uncle Iroh of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the Wizard/Narrator in both original Conan movies.
He’s also Aku from Samurai Jack.
I loved the touching scenes most of all. I think Radar, Margaret and BJ were my favorites. I was like you and loved the show when I was a teen. Nothing has been quite this good since....I wish we could have a really good show line up on Sundays again!
YOU.... are amazing Ladyknightthebrave. That was a wonderful presentation and I can't wait to watch another. Thank you.
I've actually just discovered this show this year, and I think I'll be hooked for a long time. It's nice to see someone who not only loves it, but agrees that it actually grew better as time went on. (And who loves Charles as much as I do) Even just watching the clips in this video made me cry.
Here, kid. Have an addiction!😁 One of the best to be had.
So ironically enough CZcams recommended this video only days after I finished my annual rewatch of M*A*S*H, and I have to say to you: Thank you, you put into words how I’ve always felt about the series. Your documentary was excellent and you’ve got another subscriber because of it!
I know its late, and a little weird, but where do you access the show? I've wanted to rewatch it for years, but can't find it anywhere.
@@bonniez6194 I own the series on DVD, and I bought the HD version on iTunes when it was on sale for 30 bucks. As for streaming services the entire series is on HULU.
Thank you so much for making this video.
I haven’t watched M*A*S*H since it aired in the mid-80’s. I grew up watching the show, every single night at 10:00 pm. I literally ended every single weekday of my teens with an episode of M*A*S*H in syndication.
Watching your video review was like being reunited with friends and family from a prior lifetime I’d all but forgotten, and I simply wasn’t prepared for the rush of nostalgia, laughter and tears in equal measure.
I’d forgotten how completely brilliant this show was; not perfect of course, no TV show of the era could ever be, but so filled with heart and incredible performances by its ensemble cast.
It was wonderful to be reminded of just how much this show meant to me and how deeply it affected me during those formative years.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who grew up loving this show, thought I was the only one watching this deeply touching show before I truly understood it
God. I couldn't stop crying with all those highlighted moments.
Awesome job.
I've only ever seen bits and pieces of MASH but your review of it makes me want to go and binge the entire series. This is phenomenally well done and thank you so, so much for making this
It's all on Hulu! I hope you enjoy it :)
@@Ladyknightthebrave I had the same reaction! I've barely seen any (I think it was popular but not quite as big in the UK). Have you any recommendations for where to start if I want to dive in earlyish in the run but after the show had found its feet? Great video as ever!
@@kathrynmiller4240 So here's the tough thing. M*A*S*H*'s growth was not always linear. If you mean when the show improved in terms of balancing their tone there are episodes all the way back in season 1 that nail it. If you mean when the show got better in terms of its sexism, racism, etc I think the show improved when Potter & BJ joined the show in season 4 and even more when Winchester joined in season 6 but even when the show got better there were still episodes with the joke-y Asian stereotypes or sexist moments right alongside the better ones. Those moments happened less frequently but they're still there. And the first few seasons also have episodes I really like!! If you wanted to skim through the first three seasons and start at season 4 you can give that a go, but just know there are still going to be episodes here and there with cringe moments. Even good episodes.
@@Ladyknightthebrave Thanks so much, that's a really thoughtful reply. I'll try starting at the beginning then :D
@@kathrynmiller4240 - I would suggest starting at Season 3. That way, you get to see Blake's farewell episode.
I really adore this video. You really captured everything that made MASH special and so timeless. I always come back to this video to just witness the magic all over again
When you love something this much, there’s no proper way to verbalize it. That’s why art exists, to communicate that which cannot be communicated through words but only feelings. Art like this video essay, easily one of the best I’ve seen, great work, just subscribed.
M*A*S*H is honestly one of my favorite shows of all time. I was pretty young when I first got into it (young enough that I didn't realize there were cast changes for years, thinking Trapper and BJ were the same person, the same with Charles and Frank and , to a lesser extent, Henry Blake and Col. Potter). I started by watching reruns on TV during our family vacation to Emerald Isle in North Carolina. I don't remember which of my parents selected to watch it at first (there was only one TV in the town house we rented and my siblings and parents and I would rotate who got to choose what to watch. Once one person's choice ended, the next person got to pick something), and I remember one time while we were down there, the network that ran the episodes ran ads showing that they were going to be running the final episode. I'd seen a fair amount of the show at that point, but not the finale. It came on at 8 that night and didn't go off until 11 but my mom and dad let me stay up to watch it. I don't remember what it was about the show that struck a chord with me, but here I am, many years later with all 11 seasons on DVD and still rewatching and enjoying the show.
My parents and I would watch re-runs of M.A.S.H. some times. Your love and passion for the show shines through.
Your homage to this beautiful TV series is perfect! Thank you for taking the time to put this video together. I was in the Navy from 1976 to 85, so I did not get a chance to watch the series on a regular basis. However, I have watched the entire series at least 3 times and you have definitely hit on many of my favorite highlights! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Quite simply an amazing job. This is one of my favorite shows as well, and I haven't watched it for some time - some great memories resurfaced, and I appreciated the laughs and the tears as I watched your essay. I may even have to watch it again soon because I loved it so much. Thank you again.
This vid brought back memories long lost and I really liked your presentation - the poignant parts made me shed tears. I'm soon to be a young 66 and I live in South Australia. I'm glad you put this together and I'll share it with my family as soon as I can. In my view MASH is undoubtably the best series to ever screen on TV - it is without parallel. Don't know who you are but I thought you did a great job and I found it seriously awesome. Thank you deeply for putting this together. I have never experienced war and hope that I never shall but our world should forever be truly grateful for those who put the lives and safety of others before themselves - in, and out of, war and otherwise tragic times. Thanks, Ladyknight
This was fantastic. I grew up watching M*A*S*H*, couldn't even tell you how old I was when I first started watching it, and to this day it remains my all-time favourite TV show. Your no-holds-barred retrospective, examining the good with the bad with the problematic, alongside some truly noteworthy insights, was a treat, and I outright shed some tears during some of the more heartfelt clips.
Thanks for this one. It meant a lot.
I think this video showed up in my recommendations first about a year ago. I was hesitant, for reasons I still don't know. But now that I've seen it, I felt more deeply listening to you talk about the show than I did as a child, around the same age as you were, catching reruns with my parents who grew up with the show as well.
I have the entire series on my hard drive. I think I'll be rewatching it now.
I think I've rewatched this video 3-4 different times now, it's probably my absolute favourite video on the show. You've managed to capture exactly WHY I adore this show so much, and why it's made such an impact. M*A*S*H has been a comfort show for me, for nearly 2 years now, and I always get a kick out of rewatching episodes. Thank you for making this really great video essay, and I hope to see maybe another M*A*S*H related video done by you in the future!! Keep up the good work :]
Thank you so much for this. MASH is one of the greatest television shows of all time and has been my favorite since I was 13 and started watching reruns after school. The way you explained and described what made MASH brilliant highlighted the way modern American TV owes a debt of gratitude to this show while bringing back my own memories of watching this show for the first time. This show has meant a lot to me over the years. When I was in scouts, my friend and I named our tent at summer camp "The Swamp." I have a creative alter ego named after the mysterious "Captain Tuttle" (S1, E15). And my production company and CZcams channel is called "4077 Productions." I could go on, but I'll end with the words of the Turkish soldier (S3, E12): "Damn good job."
That is delightful!! I wish I had ever thought of using Tuttle as a pen name that would have been great.
Ladyknightthebrave Great job on the video I’ve never seen anybody documentary as in depth as yours mash was truly one of my favorite all-time shows. Thank you for your hard work I’m looking forward to seeing more
I was 11 when it first came on TV, my family never missed an episode in all the years it ran, I still love it.
Thank you. As someone who as a kid loved the show and still does this was a fantastic video to watch. I legitimately have laughed and cried, well mostly cried over the past hour of watching this. I feel like I should say more, but don't really know what else to say, again thank you for this.
I haven’t even finished and I’m in love with it. Mash was also super formative and Hawkeye was one of my first crushes. Retrospective or essay, I don’t care. Your passion and attention to detail makes it such a joy to watch!
This was a beautiful homage to one of my most beloved series ever. You did a fantastic job. I still and always will binge M*A*S*H.
Wow. One of the best CZcams videos I have ever seen. Bravo. Amazing narration, I am super impressed.
I was openly weeping during parts of this video! Thank you for reconnecting me to a deep part of my past! This show was a backdrop my growing up and I never realized how embedded it was in my psyche until now!!
While working on my master's degree I wrote a short paper on Margeret Houlihan and the way her character grew over the run of the show. It's really amazing she went from a one-dimensional stereotypical shrew female foil for the male protagonists to a fully fleshed out character. One of the biggest achievements of the writers is that they created a female protagonist who, as the seasons went on, was no longer defined by her relationships with men (like she had been with Frank and Donald) to someone who had complete agency over her romantic and sexual interests. The fact that those sexual interests were even acknowledged was a huge breakthrough for women in American television shows. The fact that it was presented as something admirable rather than something she should be judged for or something to be laughed at puts her ahead of about 95% of all female characters in sitcoms to this day. That, and the fact that she managed to be a leader without falling into motherhood clichés and tropes.
All of your videos make me cry, and I appreciate it. Thank you for weaving a deft tale.
This essay made me cry, thank you for bringing this show back to me in a better light than I had been exposed to it.
Deja vu...
Also, repeating this, because I want this on record, this is one of the best videos I’ve seen in a long time
Ha! Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to comment twice
Something possesed me to binge your videos while i painted and while i don't typically leave comments because it gives me anxiety, i really wanted to tell you that your videos are amazing. I've never even seen MASH and yet you've had me tearing up over it multiple times. Your video on The Haunting of Hill House was also amazing and reminded me how much i love the show, also made me tear up A LOT haha,, anyways now i have to go watch MASH! thank you so much for such great videos.
It's nice to see someone be able to look at something through the age in which it was made and not through the lenses with which we look at the world now. And also to be able to acknowledge the growth the show underwent. Well done
You did this show justice. Even got me shedding a tear from reminiscing over deep and meaningful scenes that I thought I had forgotten. Thank you for producing this gem of a review.
I also loved this show as a child. It had such impact. I think quality of writing is pretty varied on television, and the need for ratings and advertising money is to blame for a lot of the trollop trotted out on the silver screen. So the shows in between with proper, developed, lovable characters, that take creative risks purely to enhance the story, and that have writers who want their story to be told with honesty and integrity, really stick with us. I remember watching the black-and-white interview episode when I was in primary school, and that bit about doctors warming their hands over open bodies stuck with me my whole life. So much poignant stuff on this show. That's what I want from TV: a good time, but a real time, with proper social commentary and characters who I remember with the same emotional response that I remember real life relationships.
I’ve never seen M*A*S*H and probably never will but watching some of this made me cry! Great video
Oliver I would urge you to see out and watch MASH. Truly one of the best pieces of television ever made.
Oliver you should, it will make you laugh one episode, then crying the next
Mash is one of the best shows made I hope you seek it out there is alot of things everyone can take away from the show
I'm in the same boat as you. Never seen it, still not sure I will, but I'm glad it exists.
I only recently discovered this show but fell for it fast and hard, and I was VERY EXCITED to find someone talking about it for an hour on CZcams. It did not disappoint! I was nodding along pretty much from start to finish, and just, thank you, gosh, for all the work that must have gone into this and for articulating at least the beginning (there's so much!!) of why mash still endures as a thing people love and find worth watching.
This is the first (and in all likelihood only) CZcams comment I’ve ever left, but I just wanted to say thank you for this wonderful video. All of your essays are beautiful and many have even made me cry, but this one made me fully break down. My grandfather served in the army at the end of the Korean War and M*A*S*H was his favorite show. Some of my earliest memories are laying on the floor in front of his recliner watching alongside him. Even back then he had Parkinson’s and lung cancer, so he couldn’t do all the things he wanted to because of his health. He died by the time I was in middle school and, even though I wish I could’ve told him that I loved him a hundred more times, watching M*A*S*H makes me feel connected to him. No matter how long it’s been, it’s like a pet of him is still there whenever I see a clip from the show. So thank you for articulating what made this show so special and reminding me of why it matters. Keep up the great work!
This show breaks me every time! I binged it more or less completely around 2015, while I was working nightshifts all by my own. And I wasn't prepared for the shift in tone! The first nights I'd be laughing and sometimes just chuckle, but that was it. Henry's death left me sitting silent for at least 10 minutes and from there on it got harder and harder to watch. As soon as Sydney would show up, I'd stop the episode and watch it at home in daylight. Otherwise it probably would have been too much. Potter's breakdown gets me every time! (And you had to show it twice you monster 😅) this essay captures the effect this show has on me perfectly! Thank you!
this show is what bonded my father and I when I was little. And as an adult I still love it. Every time i rewatch it. I still cry, no matter how many times i watch it.
Exceptional video that I merely stumbled across this evening. I have each & every episode on VHS from setting the timer on the old VCR, to several compilations. Haven't watched any of them in several years, but me thinks I'll be binge watching very soon. As an added bonus, a whole lot of old commercials from the era will be along for the ride!
This was such a beautiful essay. I grew up watching the show as well and it will forever be in my top shows of all time. Listening to you lovingly wax poetic on the show was just delightful and made me super nostalgic. Thanks for sharing.