Cecil Smith of The Los Angeles Times reviewed M*A*S*H on September 18th, 1972 (the series had premiered the previous day). He called it “a smash” and “the best thing that’s happened to weekly television since it grew out of diapers into long pants and launched All in the Family.” He noted that it was “obviously less bloody and less bawdy than the movie” but felt the premiere was bloodier and bawdier than any other sitcom.
Here’s how Smith ended the review:
How well this sort of thing will go over on Sunday nights at 8 is difficult to say. I wish the show were on at a later hour or a different night. That’s kiddie time–Disneytime. Networks get very nervous about Sunday night. Even CBS.
I was a great admirer of Bob Altman’s movie “MASH” but I don’t think Reynolds and Gelbart have anything to apologize for in the transference to TV. Not the cast, certainly. Alda and Roger are splendid. So is McLean Stevenson as their addle-pated colonel and Gary Berghoff [sic] as his incredible perceptive dogrobber. Loretta Swit as Hot Lips, Larry Linville as the suspicious Maj. Burns, G. Wood as Gen. Hammond–it’s quite a crew. No wonder we didn’t win the Korean War.
Sources:
Smith, Cecil. “TV Reviews: MASH Moves to the Home Screen.” Los Angeles Times. 18 Sep. 1972: E19.
A bit of trivia here: Cecil Smith was married to Lucille Ball’s cousin Cleo Smith, who was producer of her cousin’s show, Here’s Lucy. Mr. Smith also acted in the sitcom.