For the first time ever during the Great 2015 M*A*S*H Episode Poll, visitors to MASH4077TV.com voted two different episodes as their favorite for one season. Both “‘Twas the Day After Christmas” and “Where There’s a Will, There’s a War” from Season 10 received 22 votes last month. “Sons and Bowlers” was third. I had not actually considered the possibility that two or more episodes would wind up tied. I suppose that means in December when the favorite episodes from each season are pitted against each other, both episodes from Season 10 will be on the ballot for favorite episode ever.
A total of 149 votes were cast, down ever-so-slightly from the 154 cast in September. Three episodes received absolutely no votes: “Snappier Judgement,” “The Birthday Girls,” and “That Darn Kid.” Three others received just one vote: “Rumor at the Top,” “Snap Judgement,” and “Blood and Guts.” Here are the complete results:
- ‘Twas the Day After Christmas (15%, 22 Votes)
- Where There’s a Will, There’s a War (15%, 22 Votes)
- Sons and Bowlers (13%, 19 Votes)
- Give ‘Em Hell, Hawkeye (9%, 13 Votes)
- A Holy Mess (9%, 13 Votes)
- Follies of the Living — Concerns of the Dead (8%, 12 Votes)
- Identity Crisis (6%, 9 Votes)
- Communications Breakdown (4%, 6 Votes)
- Promotion Commotion (4%, 6 Votes)
- Picture This (4%, 6 Votes)
- That’s Show Biz (3%, 5 Votes)
- The Tooth Shall Set You Free (3%, 4 Votes)
- Pressure Points (3%, 4 Votes)
- Heroes (2%, 3 Votes)
- Wheelers and Dealers (1%, 2 Votes)
- Rumor at the Top (1%, 1 Votes)
- Snap Judgement (Part I) (1%, 1 Votes)
- Blood and Guts (1%, 1 Votes)
- Snappier Judgement (Part II) (0%, 0 Votes)
- The Birthday Girls (0%, 0 Votes)
- That Darn Kid (0%, 0 Votes)
Personally, my vote went to “Sons and Bowlers” due entirely to the wonderful and touching A story involving Charles and Hawkeye (“But where I have a father…you have a dad”) not so much the bowling B story.
Hit the comments with your reactions to the results. Which episode did you vote for and why?
And don’t forget to vote in this month’s poll, which asks visitors to chose their favorite episode from Season 11.
It was close: “Twas the Day After Christmas” was number one for the longest time, then “Where There’s a Will There’s a War” caught up to it and even surpassed it for a short time before tying, but it is interesting that we finally had a tie.
Although like 8 and 9, 10 wasn’t a really good season; I ended up voting for “Twas the Day After Christmas,” considering it’s really one of the only decent episodes from that season (though I too like the moment between Hawkeye and Charles in ‘Sons and Bowlers”), but I really think it would have worked better in an earlier season seeing Henry and Radar trade places, Frank would probably be appauled at the idea of spending the day as an enlistedmen.
Like you, RJ, I voted for ‘Sons and Bowlers’ for exactly the same reason. The scene between Hawkeye and Charles was phenomenally acted by DOS and AA. The episode is a standout just for this reason. Also, this was the only time, I think, that Hawkeye sought out Charles to hang out with him in the O Club. The toast at the end was significant -‘To our fathers….and their sons.’ Simply outstanding.
Well, based upon these two comments, I’m almost wanting to change my vote! 🙂 I do totally agree with the DOS and AA segment with “Sons and Bowlers” – one of the best of the season, definitely. The line “But where I have a father…you have a dad” is such an awesome, if not powerful line, one that tends to make you put things in perspective, especially from a father’s point of view.
I voted for “Twas the Day After Christmas” since I love this time of year. Having them swap duties is interesting and always fun to watch.
Mine was the only vote for “Rumor at the Top”. I remember it getting a TV Guide closeup when it was first aired in Nov 1981, so I thought I’d take time to watch it. It may have been a bit too much like earlier episodes where the MASH folks try to make outsiders think that they’re nuts in order to stay together, but I thought it was fun, and Nicholas Pryor was great as the visiting Major.
I’m happy to see “That Darn Kid” got zero votes, as I thought it was a stinker of a season finale. It had a plot that could’ve been pulled from a later Lucy Show episode, and I thought Charles acted idiotically in his B story where he spent a lot of $ to get a vase and then smashed it out of spite. I remember DOS directed this one, so he may not have had much time to work on his characterization as Charles for this one, though I don’t think he had much to work with here in any case.
As far as other favorites of mine from the season go, I also liked “Where There’s a Will There’s a War” and “Sons and Bowlers”. I didn’t like the post-Christmas episode as much, but it was unique in being the only Boxing Day episode in any US sitcom, as far as I know, and it originally aired in the usually dead, rerun-laden week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The “Snap Judgment” and “Snappier Judgment” 2-parter is an odd and strange situation. We have one-hour episodes like “Fade Out, Fade In” or “Our Finest Hour” that are counted as single-episode stories. But, for some reason, this one was split into two half-hour segments that ran back-to-back on the same night during their first airings on CBS. For some reason each half hour was given a different episode title. And, for some reason, they’re counted as 2 separate episodes — even though there’s nothing distinct about these 2 half hours when they’re shown in reruns now than from the half-hour split-ups of other originally hour-long shows like “Bug Out” or “Welcome to Korea.”