I postponed the poll I had planned for May in order to put up one honoring the late Allan Arbus. More than 200 people picked their favorite Arbus episode. Here’s the breakdown:
Favorite Allan Arbus Episode
Dear Sigmund (39%, 83 Votes)
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen (23%, 49 Votes)
Deal Me Out (13%, 28 Votes)
Hawk’s Nightmare (5%, 10 Votes)
Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler (5%, 10 Votes)
Bless You Hawkeye (4%, 9 Votes)
Radar’s Report (3%, 7 Votes)
War of Nerves (3%, 7 Votes)
Pressure Points (2%, 4 Votes)
The Billfold Syndrome (1%, 3 Votes)
O.R. (1%, 2 Votes)
Goodbye, Cruel World (1%, 1 Votes)
To be honest, I can’t remember if I even voted in the poll or what episode I picked if I did. It would probably have been “Dear Sigmund,” which I think even those who don’t consider it their favorite Arbus episode can agree it was something of a high water mark for the character of Sidney Freedman, given that the entire episode revolved around him.
A note about June’s poll: I know nothing about plans to release M*A*S*H on Blu-ray. I’m just asking people if they would buy the series on Blu-ray if they could.
I had voted for “War of Nerves”, because I thought it was a pretty interesting episode for Sidney: on the one hand, he was brought into camp at a time where EVERYBODY was going crazy, so it was kind of like he was at their disposal, while on the other hand, the patient he had been treating had turned on him because he was mad that he sent him back to the front when he didn’t want to go.
But after I had voted for that, I forgot all about “Dear Sigmund”, which is almost kind of like Sidney’s finest episode… I kind of wish I had voted for that one, but I usually regard it more as a cold snap episode anyway rather than a Sidney episode.
Quo Vadis Captain Chandler…Loved the exchange between him and Col.Flagg..Hilarious…