I believe last month’s poll was the most lopsided of all the polls I’ve run over the past year or so. The question was “Do you watch M*A*S*H on TV (TV Land, Me-TV, etc.)” and fully 90% of respondents said Yes. I was surprised only because there seem to be so many people hate watching M*A*S*H on television because of commercials and the fact that the episodes are edited to make room for more commercials. Was the question too vague? Did I make it clear that the poll was asking about watching episodes on television and not on DVD? Or do M*A*S*H fans, even those who prefer DVDs, still tune in to TV Land or Me-TV if an episode happens to be on?
Personally, although I used to watch the series on FX all the time before the DVDs came out, aside from some Hallmark Channel marathons and the occasional random episode here and there, I never watch M*A*S*H on television.
I was surprised by the results too… I figured with the DVDs, where the episodes are uncut, and in superior quality, that not too many people would even bother watching syndicated reruns anymore: again, my cable provider does not carry Me-TV or whatever it’s called, and I refuse to watch TV Land anymore as they have virtually alienated its audience, so yeah, DVDs are my M*A*S*H source, as are a lot of older shows that Ie njoy, like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Hogan’s Heroes, Green Acres, Sanford and Son, and others.
Actually, I’m thinking the current poll may be cheated or something, the votes went from 5 votes for no and 0 for yes to 10 for no and 9 for yes in just a matter of minutes today.
The poll is up to 18 votes for No and 14 votes for Yes now. I looked at the logs and it looks like each and every vote is unique.
The reason I watch M*A*S*H on TVLand (even though it’s terribly frustrating to watch the show with all the cuts) is because I do not have my DVDs with me. I moved and did not take them with me as I was afraid they would get damaged in the move, so I left them at my parents’.
I watch the show everyday on TVLand. Even though some good parts are edited out to make place for the ads, it’s still better than nothing. I would rather watch M*A*S*H than any other show on tv.
I voted Yes, I watch it on TV, but it’s more accurate to say that I put it on in the background while I’m doing other “after work” stuff like making dinner, cleaning, checking email, etc. It’s true that the experience of watching on DVD, completely uncut and without the laugh track (which I despise), is much more satisfying than the TV version, but as I said, it’s great to have it on as background noise. I always stop whatever I’m doing when I know a favorite line is coming up. 🙂
I still can’t bring myself to turn off the laugh track when watching the show on DVD, mainly because 1) I actually am one of the few laugh track nerds out there, and 2) the show seems ghastly without, since there’s so many awkward pauses of silence where the laugh track would be inserted.
I’ll watch M*A*S*H on TVLand or whatever, but I would rather watch the DVD’s. I don’t like the commercial interruptions and the video quality of the DVD’s seems to be better. I do hate the fact they cut some of the show to air it on TV. Yesterday, I watched “The Party” and noticed they had cut out almost the entire portion where they were trying to decide on a date for the reunion party. At night, when I have trouble sleeping, I’ll put a DVD in and select play all. There’s a calming that comes from watching the show as it helps me sleep. I’ve seen the episodes so much that I need only hear the audio and can picture what’s on the screen in my head. I’ve got my wife hooked on watching the DVD’s for sleep too.
I still watch it on Monday nights at 9:00 … on DVD.
Hello,
I don’t think this will pass. I thought that I would remember, so O hit the submit.
Hope so
I am on here!
So. I will learn.
M*A*S*H will live on, it is the Alpha and not the Omega.
pia