Just out of curiosity, I’ve added a poll to the left sidebar asking how often people watch M*A*S*H. Personally, I very rarely watch M*A*S*H these days. I own the complete series on DVD so I can pop in a disc whenever I want but I just do not have the time. At one point I was trying to watch one or two episodes every Sunday but was only able to keep it up for a month or so. I would love to be able to start rewatching the series from the beginning but the idea is a bit overwhelming at the moment.
The poll only has four options, so pick the one that fits best.
I also own the complete series on DVD and I only watch it when the current TV Series I watch take a break (like House, Dexter…) – then I watch it daily, otherwise I don’t watch it at all.
You know what’s amazing? For years, as I’ve grown up, I would discover shows that I really love, and they become favorites of mine, I will watch them almost non-stop for a long time, then after a while, I too find myself not watching them much anymore… it’s happened several times with several shows… but here it is, six years later, and I’m STILL watching M*A*S*H regularly; that’s about the longest I’ve ever watched one show regularly (excluding anything Muppet-related, obviously), it’s just that good, and somehow, I never get tired of it.
Although I watch the show regularly, I really have no regularity, sometimes it’s daily, sometimes it’s weekly. Matter of fact, just recently on BCA, I shared my “schedule” of episodes I like to watch throughout the year for one reason or another (I’m obviously a very eccentric person with a lot of quirks, including routines throughout the year that can never be changed)…
January
– “Hot Lips is Back in Town” (7×20)
February
– “Hot Lips is Back in Town” (again)
– “The Party” (7×26) (I guess because of the reference to Valentine’s Day, though I don’t observe the holiday)
March
– “To Market, To Market” (1×02)
– “Requiem for a Lightweight” (1×03)
– “Henry, Please Come Home” (1×09) (all on warm, sunny days)
April
– “They Call the Wind Korea” (7×08) (April’s a stormy month down here)
– “Tuttle” (1×15)
May
Same as March, but towards the end of May is when I tend to watch four episodes a day from beginning to end to make up for Hallmark no longer doing so, as that’s how I first started watching the show six years ago. But also, another specific…
– “Cowboy” (1×08)
June
Still watching regularly four episodes a day, but one specific…
– “The Most Unforgettable Characters” (5×15) (because it takes place on my birthday… but Frank’s birthday is the same day… oh lord…)
July
Still doing four a day, but the specifics include…
– “The M*A*S*H Olympics” (6×11)
– “Mail Call Three” (6×21)
– “They Call the Wind Korea” (7×08)
August
– “The Price” (7×18)
– “What’s Up Doc?” (6×20) (both in memory of my bunny of six years who had to be put to sleep a couple of years ago)
– “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” (11×16)
September
– “The Gun” (4×14)
– “Mail Call Again” (4×15)
– “The Price of Tomato Juice” (4×16)
– “Dear Ma” (4×17)
October
– “Your Hit Parade” (6×19)
– “Aid Station” (3×19)
December
– “Dear Dad” (1×12)
– “Dear Sis” (7×15)
– “O.R.” (3×05)
– “Check-Up” (3×07) (the previous two usually if I’m feeling sick, and it’s cloudy outside)
– “Hot Lips is Back in Town” (7×20) (because two Decembers ago I found myself in a similar situation like Radar in that episode)
I should also mention that when the weather is really hot (like 90, 100, 110, 115), I’ll watch episodes like “None Like it Hot” (7×07) (on sunny days), “The Merchant of Korea” (6×15) (on cloudy days), and “The Nurses” (5×06) (on hazy days); likewise, when it’s really cold (below 50 or so), I like to watch “The Long-John Flap” (1×19) (on cloudy days), “Baby, it’s Cold Outside” (7×10) (on overcast days), and “Dear Sigmund” (5×08) (on sunny days).
And did I mention I’m a very eccentric person? 😀
I use to watch it almost every week for over a decade, but I often skipped reruns. These days, it showed up on one of the local broadcast stations recently, often many times a day, and I set it to record. A while after that started, I came back from vacation and found about 250 episodes (minus whatever I watched from the first season or two before I left) ending with As Time Goes By. I’m up to episode 90, and that’s after perhaps 3-4 months.
I’m probably going through them faster than I would have had they been on DVD. Recorded TV tends to stay around until each episode is watched by whoever in my house is interested. Having 200 recordings of everything combined would normally be a lot, so it’s a matter of clearing the plate now.
Normally, TV stations pick up on old shows and if I record up to a 10 episode limit, then I have plenty of time to watch something before it gets erased. With MASH, I turned off limits before going on vacation, and strangely enough the station showed everything and then stopped showing it completely. It wasn’t my goal to watch the series from one end to another, but the station made it a convenient prospect.
Ever since I rediscovered M*A*S*H*, there has never been a day when I didn’t watch at least 2-3 episodes. And that was 9 years ago. I must be one of the most fanatic M*A*S*H* fans of all time 🙂
I usually watch 1-2 episodes a day with my mom. We bought the series in December, watched the movie (first M*A*S*H experience), then watched the pilot a week later, fell in love with the show instantly. The scene that really did it for me was when you see Henry’s desk being lifted up and taken away by the helicopter and Henry is just staring at it. It’s now May and we’re up to season 9. I can’t wait for the finale and then we’ll watch AfterMASH!
I watch M*A*S*H while I am doing the ironing, it helps me to take my mind off that mudane job.
I found that when I have trouble sleeping I put a DVD or video of M*A*S*H on and it helps me to sleep. Just lately that seems to be nearly every night.
I guess that I watch it about two or three times a week, never get tired of it.
My favourite episode would have to be “Mr & Mrs Who?”, it shows that Charles can be human after all.