The wisdom of Hawkeye Pierce

[Blue_In_AK]

[libdem4life]

1. The wisdom of a true Liberal. Thanks for the memories.

[gopiscrap]

2. Excellent

[applegrove]

3. I'm watching MASH on dvd. 11 years of how Liberal the US used to be.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. MASH was one of the best TV series ever.

I cried during the last episode.

[applegrove]

5. That last episode was very well done. I'm really enjoying all 11 years. Been watching it for

months now. I look forward to seeing that last episode again soon. It's been 30 years.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. A long time passed...

yet I still remember the last episode.

[applegrove]

14. I was so shocked when the truth about

the chicken was blurted out by hawkeye. I remember clearly watching it in a friend‘s basement. Two guy friends had dressed up in dressinggowns and cowboy hats in honor of Hawkeye too. What great writing on that show.

[CTyankee]

55. god, I loved Sidney so much! His scenes with Alda in that episode were among the best I've seen

on a TV series. Alda said he sometimes talked to the actor playing Sidney as if he WERE a psychiatrist...

The actor playing Sidney died recently...Alda reminisced about him on Morning Joe...

[Historic NY]

59. "Take my advice pull down your pants and slide on the ice"....

[applegrove]

60. The actor who played Sidney just died. Here is his Obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/arts/television/allan-arbus-mash-actor-dies-at-95.html?_r=0

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. I have the complete collection too....

Another series to consider surprisingly is "Combat!". It was NOT pro-war at all.

[jmowreader]

18. If you have MEtv in your area, MASH and Combat! are both on it

MASH comes on at 6pm Pacific time, Combat! is on very late at night - 3am, I think, but that's only an hour or so after I get home from work. You're right, it is a good show.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. Their only two part episode is a must see....

Hills Are For Heroes:

Guaranteed this one will cause the whole group here to lose it:

[DissidentVoice]

43. Another one was "Tour Of Duty"

It was the first TV show I recall that attempted to show Vietnam, warts-and-all.

&feature=player_detailpage

I remember the crusty old Platoon Sergeant saying "there are three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way and the military way."

My dad (Army veteran) and me (Air Force veteran) wholeheartedly agreed with that!

[malthaussen]

37. Watched "Combat" religiously as a kid,

and have been getting the DVDs recently to remember. It is amazing, really, just how profoundly anti-war it was. And of course, the late Vic Morrow was brilliant.

-- Mal

[Spitfire of ATJ]

42. All the episodes are on Youtube. I know a lot of people can't watch a show on their computer...

....or their phone or pad. Still, we just got a new 3d led smart TV that can access the wifi so Youtube can be in the living room. (And that's after I went through the trouble of building a media center pc.)

[CTyankee]

53. we still watch the reruns in the time slot right after the 5 pm news...

we've seen them all over and over again but there are so many over its long span we have enough variety and are pleased to see our old favorites...amazing how that show evolved over the years...

[redwitch]

38. I agree and me too.

It was funny and poignant and intense and very, very human.

[truebluegreen]

28. The US still is, I think...

but the governing class is not.

[ctsnowman]

30. This ^^^^

[calimary]

48. I LOVE that show! It's probably my favorite series other than all things "Star Trek."

And it struck me not long ago - YES, it demonstrates how liberal the US used to be. Remember when Frank Burns was considered a fool and a crackpot for the things he said and the beliefs he spouted? That's how CONservatives were treated and portrayed and regarded back then. As fools and buffoons and loony-tunes and crackpots. They've been allowed to go mainstream and get respectable since then, unfortunately. I always liked that characters such as Frank Burns were treated as they deserved to be treated. Now, they're almost lionized.

I LOVE "M*A*S*H"! So does my husband. We never missed it when it was a first-run series. And now, we play the DVDs fairly frequently. We call it "comfort watching" at our house. Often we'll have a "'M*A*S*H' Binge!" The only problem is, the earlier seasons on DVD don't play through all the episodes - there's no "play all" on there, so it's not as easy to doze off to as the later seasons where you click on "play all" and you're good to go for three hours or more.

One of the best TV series - EVER.

[alittlelark]

6. The reason you do not see MASH in reruns....

facepalm: :

[hfojvt]

8. actually it is on at 6 and 6:30 in the KC area

after the local news I move away from ET et al and watch the opening credits. If I see the name David Ogden Stiers in the credits, I keep surfing. Cannot stand Dr. Winchester.

[alittlelark]

10. Not out here in the Bay Area...

[avaistheone1]

19. Yes MASH is on tv in the BayArea.

It is on at 7pm and a different episode at 7:30pm PST. You don't need cable either. It is on ME-TV which has all kinds of great shows from the sixties and seventies. ME-TV can be found on channel 20.2

[DissidentVoice]

44. You can see it in the Detroit area every day...

...so I'm not sure why Frisco is missing out.

[liberal_at_heart]

7. very true.

[David__77]

9. This was my grandfather's favorite show.

And he always told me that "if the rick want to have their wars, they should fight them!"

I never got into the show as it seemed too dreary for me for entertainment, but I appreciate its sensibility.

[ananda]

11. Boy, he got that right.

Daamm. Daammm

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Blue In AK.

[HangOnKids]

16. I found out I was pregnant with one of those EPT tests during that episode

I will NEVER forget that night or how damn great that show was. I still have a crush on Hawkeye Pierce.

[calimary]

17. Amen.

[avaistheone1]

20. That show has so much compassion and heart.

[Solly Mack]

22. One of my favorite shows of all time.

[Jenoch]

23. This is dialogue from a TV show, and should be read as nothing more.

[Skittles]

24. ?

DO tell more

[Divernan]

25. According to your world view, then Shakespeare's writings are just dialogues from plays?Sheesh!

Perhaps you were being sarcastic? It's getting near impossible to tell these days on DU.

[n2doc]

26. They haven't been converted to Newspeak yet, either n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

29. Yes, it is dialogue from a TV show,

but do you deny the basic truth?

[Cerridwen]

45. self delete. posted in wrong spot.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

56. Truth is found in diverse places. Your comment is bizarre.

[pinboy3niner]

61. Tom Joad also was fiction

Fiction often is used to reveal truth...

[Jenoch]

62. Ok, here's the deal.

I do not disagree with the sentiment of the words in the OP. My problem is much like Paladin's, I was bugged by the Hawkeye character's self-rightiousness.

I have probably seen every episode M*A*S*H at least three times. For those of you who mention that it is not on TV anymore like it is some sort of conspiracy, the reason it is not on all that much anymore is that it was worn out, people have seen all the episodes and the ratings fell. The same thing happened to Cheers, it will happen to other TV shows with huge ratings.

I am amazed that people here are comparing William Shakespeare and John Steinbeck to Larry Gelbart.

[Paladin]

27. I think the movie was a classic; the TV show: not so much.

Alan Alda's terminal self-righteousness got on my nerves after a while.

[deutsey]

31. I think MASH should've ended shortly after Larry Linville left

That's when the self-righteousness and finger-wagging began. I liked the character of Charles and it was ok for a while, but it was hard to watch the last couple seasons and I was a huge fan of the show.

[backscatter712]

34. Most of the show was great, especially the earlier seasons.

Granted, by the last season, the actors had taken over the show and it got preachy, but even then it had its moments.

[1-Old-Man]

32. It seems to me that credit for those lines is due the Screen Writer, not the Actor

I'm not saying that the Actor isn't important in the delivery and getting the point out to the public, I'm only saying that the thought and its expression is best attributed to the person who first said it, in print of course.

[IveWornAHundredPants]

33. No credit was given to the actor in the original post.

Just the character.

[Blue_In_AK]

40. Yes, I was going to say something similar.

I did NOT say this wisdom of Alan Alda, although I'm pretty sure he agrees with this.

[Cerridwen]

46. Season 5, episode 20, "The General's Practitioner"

Directed by: Alan Rafkin

Written by: Burt Prelutsky

Another quote for you though attribution is tricky so you get a link instead.

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness"

The most notable person to use the phrase is John F. Kennedy. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/207500.html

And sometimes the light exposes a less savory element. The writer of season 5, episode 20 has gone (or always was) full blown bagger.

[locks]

35. Thanks for the reminder

In the 1970s during the Vietnam war John Kerry sounded like Hawkeye when he testified before Congress. Sad isn't it.

[Ocelot]

36. They need to remake this show

And set it in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sure it'd suck compared to the original series, but it would get a moral message out that is sorely lacking in today's TV programming.

[Pholus]

39. I always thought Colonel Flagg was over the top...

but these days, he almost defines normal.

It's a shame.

[johnp3907]

50. Same with Archie Bunker.

[themaguffin]

41. Excellent quote from an excellent show!

[russspeakeasy]

47. Thanks..

[WillyT]

49. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[bvar22]

51. Thank You, Blue!

It seems like it is ALWAYS the innocents who Pay the Price for the greed of the 1%.
DURec.

[PearliePoo2]

52. Never missed a show if I could help it! Thanks for this post Blue!

Always stopped what I was doing when I heard the opening theme song come on.
Radar says, "listen". Someone says, " I don't hear nothin'....Choppers...wait for it....
BEST TV SHOW EVER

[SaveOurDemocracy]

54. Thanks, Blue! ...and that's the truth, right there.

...................................

[Rebellious Republican]

57. Damn good post!

[SlipperySlope]

58. I watched a lot of MASH but never saw that quote - excellent!