Last month’s poll didn’t receive a lot of votes (it didn’t even crack 100) and was incredibly lopsided. It asked visitors to vote for their favorite Company Clerk, either Radar or Klinger. Radar won easily with 82% of the vote compared to Klinger’s 18%. That’s not at all surprising given the popularity of Radar among M*A*S*H fans. I voted for Radar, even though his childlike innocence and naivete has grown increasingly unbelievable over the years. As a company clerk, though, he was much better than Klinger.
Preview December’s Poll:
This month’s poll asks “Which Season One character would you have liked to see more of?” and comes courtesy of Big Daddy O’Reilly, who suggested it at the M*A*S*H4077TV.com Forums.
While I like Klinger and I appreciate how his character grew over the life of the series, I voted for Radar. To me, Radar was the heart and the glue of the M*A*S*H cast. Much like, Sgt. Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes, Radar was what made the show mesh together (just as he kept the unit running with his company clerk duties). It is impossible for me to imagine Hogan’s Heroes without Schultz, just as I felt M*A*S*H was never the same after Radar’s departure.
That’s an interesting point CC, and I didn’t even consider that about Schultz, but yeah, you’re right; even John Banner said he felt Schultz, “Represents a little good found in every generation”.
I just have to say I can’t believe Klinger got any votes at all, because by the time he was company clerk, Klinger was no longer Klinger… even Harry Morgan has said that: “When we lost Radar, we essentially lost Klinger too”. Klinger WAS that weird hairy guy running around in dresses and trying to act crazy… once Klinger became a regular guy… fuhgetabadit!
For me the only real company clerk of M*A*S*H is Radar. He was there from the beginning, when the best episodes were made. Klinger is a great character, but, like Big Daddy, I think he was not himself as the company clerk. In the end the series was becoming boring, and so the characters. Because of that Klinger didn’t even get a chance to be funny and interesting as the clerk.
It is interesting to note that they actually tried to replace Radar altogether, much like they did with Trapper, Henry, and Frank: Rizzo was apparently going to be Radar’s replacement, however, I think the producers realized that Radar was one of the embodiedments of M*A*S*H, and as such, replacing him would’ve been a disservice to the show and the audience, so Klinger instead was “promoted”, since he filled in for Radar many times before, and Rizzo ended up rplacing Zale.