By my reckoning there were three true Christmas episodes of M*A*S*H: “Dear Dad” (01×12), “Dear Sis” (07×15) and “Death Takes A Holiday” (09×05). There was also a Boxing Day episode, “‘Twas the Day After Christmas” (10×10) and a New Year’s Eve episode, “A War For All Seasons” (09×06). Which is your favorite? And who made the best Santa Claus: Hawkeye, B.J. or Colonel Potter?

“Death Takes A Holiday” is one of my favorite episodes of M*A*S*H. The main storyline, which sees B.J., Hawkeye and Margaret working furiously to keep a mortally wounded soldier alive through Christmas, is intense but falls apart somewhat when looked at logically (would the soldier’s family really feel any better knowing he died five minutes after Christmas?) but it holds up well overall. What works best is the secondary storyline involving Charles and his family’s Christmas tradition. I’ve always found the line, “It is sadly inappropriate to give dessert to a child who has had no meal,” to be very profound and the scene in which Klinger brings Charles dinner and Charles calls him Max very touching.

Hawkeye as Santa Claus, from “Dear Dad”

B.J. as Santa Claus, from “Dear Sis”

Colonel Potter as Santa Claus, from “Death Takes a Holiday”

Situations in which Charles is depicted in a positive light are almost always excellent. So while “Dear Sis” is properly a Father Mulcahy episode, Charles’s reaction to receiving his toboggan cap is my favorite part of the episode, followed closely by the camp singing “Dona Nobis Pacem” and, of course, Father Mulcahy slugging a soldier. “Dear Dad” is easily the most amusing of the three episodes. For example, Colonel Blake’s disastrous attempt at giving the 4077th a lecture on sex and reproduction is hilarious, as the following exchange proves:

Colonel Blake: “The union of Figure A, man, and Figure B, woman, is the most sublime expression of romantic love. However, only in the institution of marriage is it recommended that this expression take place.”
Trapper: “Uh, sir.”
Colonel Blake: “Mm-hm.”
Trapper: “What happens in the event that Figure A is attracted to Figure B and wants to get married but Figure A is already married to, say, Figure C and Figure B is engaged to Figure D? But Figure A can’t keep his hands of Figure B because she’s got such a great figure.”
Colonel Blake: “Uh-huh. Well, according to the Army he’s got to forget her.”
Hawkeye: “That figures.”

I’m torn between Hawkeye and Colonel Potter as the best Santa. Hawkeye’s bushy eyebrows really stick out in my mind but Colonel Potter brings a certain amount of gravitas to the role.

Amazing pictures of a fan’s reproduction of the 4077th compound have been making their way around the Internet over the past week. A friend of mine sent me this link a few days ago after seeing it posted to FARK.com. The set of four images, two of which I’ve reproduced below, depict a very accurate reproduction of the 4077th, with a particular emphasis on the Swamp.

There’s no attribution included with the images, but I was able to track them — or at least similar images of what appears to be the same compound — back to this July 4th, 2008 post at HGTV.com’s Rate My Space website by Kraw27, which includes five images. Here’s Kraw27′s description of the reproduction:

This is my home away from home. The set from M*A*S*H. The Swamp (Hawkeye’s tent is exact in every detail. It also has a lot of hidden modern conveniences such as a mini fridge CD player TV. On Thursday nights it’s a great place to play a friendly game of poker.

I have the faintest recollection of seeing images like these or hearing about a fan-built compound years ago. It was probably this one. After all, how many can there be? If you’re the creator of this incredible reproduction or know anything about it, please contact me. I’d love to know more.

Last month I wrote about promotional and behind-the-scenes images from M*A*S*H at the Motion Picture and Television Archive. Big Daddy O’Reilly then took the initiative and checked to see if Getty Images had any M*A*S*H images. A search for “alan alda” returns over 1,000 results, although the bulk are from the past decade or so. Getty Images appears to have purchased the rights to a variety of photographic collections; the bulk of the following images are from the CBS Photo Archive but a few are from WireImage, Time Life Photographs and Getty Images itself.

Perhaps the most interesting image Big Daddy O’Reilly found wasthis one of Harry Morgan, in costume as Colonel Potter, standing in what appears to be a stable. The caption reads as follows:

American actor Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman Potter on the television show ‘MASH’ as he appears on a cast reunion show, 1991

I don’t recall seeing Harry Morgan in costume during “Memories of M*A*S*H,” the 20th anniversary reunion special broadcast in 1991. Perhaps members of the cast appeared in promotional spots for the special wearing their old uniforms?

Here are the rest of the images Big Daddy O’Reilly found; I’ve broken them into categories as best I could:

30th Anniversary Reunion Special

• Allan Arbus, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, Bill Christoper, Jamie Farr at 30th Anniversary Reunion
• Jamie, Wayne and Bill at the reunion
• Harry, Mike, Alan at reunion

AfterMASH

• Jamie, Rosalind Choa and Bill on the set of AfterMASH
• Episodic promo shot from AfterMASH
• Rosalind and Jamie from AfterMASH
• Bill, Harry and Jamie for AfterMASH promo shot

Behind the scenes

• Behind the scenes with Alan
• Behind the scenes with Alan and Loretta Swit

Promotional

• Promo shot for final day of filming M*A*S*H
• Alan, Mike and Harry promo shot in Officers Club
• Different shot of above
• Promo shot of Mike before joining the cast
• Promo shot of Gary
• Different shot of above
• Promo shot of Loretta
• Promo shot of Alan
• Promo shot of Alan
• Promo shot of Timothy Brown
• Promo shot of Timothy Brown
• Promo shot of Larry

During filming

• Alan, Mike and Harry during filming of "The M*A*S*H Olympics"
• Gary Burghoff, Alan and Loretta during filming of "Bug-Out, Part 2"
• Jamie during filming of "Margaret’s Marriage"
• McLean Stevenson and Gary during filming of "Private Charles Lamb"
• Alan during filking of "Private Charles Lamb"
• Filming of "Pilot Episode"
• Alan, Larry and Wayne during filming of "Rainbow Bridge"

Other

• Mike at signpost
• Loretta in Post-Op
• Jamie in pink dress with rifle on Fox Ranch
• Different shot of above
• Off set shot of Loretta
• Alan in Post-Op
• Harry at the Ranch

• Harry looking serious
• Harry and Jamie in Officers Club
• Harry and Gary in OC
• Alan in Mess Tent
• Alan and Wayne
• Alan
• Jamie in red dress
• Henry in his office
• Alan and Wayne in scrubs
• Loretta and Larry Linville in the scrub room
• Loretta and Larry cuddling on the ranch
• Larry reading a bible at the Ranch

The 2010-2011 television starts tonight, making today the first day of “Premiere Week,” when the television networks roll out the bulk of their new and returning programs in the hopes of attracting the most viewers. The first week of the 1972-1973 season began 38 years ago on Monday, September 11th, 1972. Among the new shows making their debut that week was M*A*S*H, which aired its first episode on Sunday, September 17th, 1972 from 7:30-8PM on CBS. You can watch the CBS fall preview for M*A*S*H here and learn more about how CBS promoted the premiere here.

It seems like only yesterday that M*A*S*H was celebrating its 30th anniversary. Just think, in two years we’ll be at the 40th anniversary.

Earlier this week I wrote about a new CBS drama titled Miami Medical that has connections to and has been compared to M*A*S*H. But Miami Medical isn’t the first medical drama to be compared to M*A*S*H, just the most recent. In September of 2002, ABC debuted a new show called MDs, a comedy/drama set in a fictional hospital in San Francisco known as The Mish (for Mission General). John Hannah and William Fichtner starred as Dr. Robert Dalgety and Dr. Bruce Kellerman, a pair of doctors fighting the administration at every step while trying to save as many lives as possible.

M*A*S*H, the doctors used humor to combat the inhumanity of war; MDs tried to do the same with health care. Critics were quick to note the comparisons between the shows, matching characters on MDs with their new counterparts on MDs. Fichtner’s character was Hawkeye, Hannah was Trapper John, and so on and so forth. Laura Urbani of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had this to say:

The new ABC medical drama “MDs” finds inspiration in the classic television show “M*A*S*H.” This time, doctors aren’t fighting the Korean War; they’re fighting managed health care.

And, the drama does not provide a comforting view of the system. It makes everyone in health management appear to be greedy and cold-hearted.

[...]

Kellerman is the reincarnation of “M*A*S*H” doctor Hawkeye Pierce. He is the best surgeon around. He’s intense, sarcastic, charming and gives his all for the patients while thumbing his nose at authority. [1]

And here’s what Salon.com‘s Carina Chocano wrote in her review of MDs:

Like the “M*A*S*H” boys, Kellerman and Dalgety have a little problem with authority, especially when it’s stupid, dogmatic and inhumane. The uptight Nurse Poole and her petulant sidekick, sad-sack HMO administrator Chester Donge –”MDs’” very own Frank and Hot Lips duo, sans the mad love — are dying to have the two doctors fired. But the rebel surgeons are in luck, it seems, because the hospital’s board of directors has just hired a squeamish former amusement park manager, Shelly Pangborn (Leslie Stefanson), to run the hospital. As an outsider, she can see both sides of the pressing issue of the day. (Plus, she’s hot.) [2]

Unlike M*A*S*H, which ran for eleven seasons, MDs wasn’t a success. ABC canceled it after just eight episodes; another five were left unaired. It remains to be seen whether Miami Medical will manage to hang on longer.

Works Cited: