Remember that MASH episode where Colonel Potter becomes ridiculously angry and lashes out at everyone, threatens to retire, and rains hellfire down on the crew? I’m sure you do! But which episode? Angry Potter episodes, as MASH fans call them, are a regular occurrence on the show. It seems the writers were tickled over the … Read more
When you think of the surgeries depicted on MASH, what do you think of? Open chest surgeries? Abdominal surgeries, such as repairing or resecting a bowel? Arterial graphs? These were featured on MASH because they are dramatic and intense. But, besides resections or grafts, another word we hear on MASH would be a word more … Read more
MASH creator and writer Larry Gelbart once said he regretted being lazy about the character of Frank Burns. It was just too easy to make him dumb and silly. Attempts to make him “one of the guys” always failed because the writers couldn’t resist using his character as a vacuous and hypocritical foil. Fans never … Read more
A chief medical criticism of MASH is either a lack of chest compression during patient recussitation or the use of improper chest compression techniques. Chest compressions are certainly portrayed on MASH at least twice, but is the general lack of external compressions during CPR incorrect? Did MASH get it wrong? The answer is no. When … Read more
In the TV series version of MASH, great pains were taken to make sure the audience knew Hawkeye was not married. This fact was verified time and again. The main character was a confirmed bachelor. In the original novel, Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke were all married. In the film, Hawkeye is married, but no explicit … Read more
On the TV show MASH, some of the characters, notably Colonel Henry Blake and Trapper John McIntyre, were sent home because they had accumulated enough points. This raises many viewer questions about how doctors were rotated out of actual MASH units in the Korean War, and why Hawkeye was never sent home, but Trapper John … Read more
Staff Sergeant Zelmo Zale, played by Johnny Haymer, appeared in 20 episodes of MASH, beginning in Season 2, Episode 17, For Want of a Boot. His main purpose was to be a hot-headed source of arguments, especially for Klinger, whose buttons he would frequently try to push in hopes of starting a fight. His last … Read more
While MASH units in the early part of the Korean War bugged out, or mobilized quite often, the MASH 4077 showrunners couldn’t really have the camp move to an entirely new location. They only had one outdoor filming location, the Fox Ranch in the Malibu Mountains, and it would have been impossible to make this … Read more
During its eleven-year run, MASH employed many different writers, some of them part of a core team and others freelancers. Larry Gelbart, Gene Reynolds, Lawrence Marks, Ken Levine, and David Isaacs are among the core team of writers. Some of the funniest and oft-quoted MASH episodes were written by the dynamic duo, Jim Fritzell and … Read more
According to MASH producer Larry Gelbart, when he came up with the idea of a cross-dressing soldier bucking for a Section 8, Gene Reynolds knew that the only one who could play him was Jamie Farr. So, I was surprised when a MASH guest star revealed that Jamie Farr, who played the iconic cross-dressing Maxwell … Read more