Due in part to dealing with the aftermath of my other website being hacked, plus the fact that I completely forgot about it, August’s poll ended up being open through October. It asked visitors to vote for their Colonel Blake or Colonel Potter as their favorite commanding officer.
Colonel Potter won in a landslide, taking 65% of the vote (401 votes) to Colonel Blake’s 35% (217 votes). There were a total of 618 votes cast.
Personally, I voted for Colonel Blake but in many ways it’s really not a fair question. You can’t compare the characters because M*A*S*H was so different under their commands. Had Colonel Blake left and been replaced by Colonel Potter, and nothing else changed, then maybe you compare them. But Colonel Potter wouldn’t have meshed with the early years of M*A*S*H and Colonel Blake would have been very out of place in the later years.
Thoughts?
I voted for Blake. I like both characters very much and feel they both added much to the strength of the show. However, overall I prefer the early seasons (1-3) of M*A*S*H over the rest of the series.
Col. Potter had many great moments in the series at well, but asked to choose between the two I would pick Blake (at least for entertainment value — if I were actually in the military I would pick Potter for his superior leadership skills).
On a separate note, this is my first post here, although I have been reading your site weekly for more than a year. I really appreciate your well done blog!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you enjoy the site.
I like both Henry and Potter very much, and for different reasons too, but, in discussing who was the better commanding office, that distinction has to go to Potter, no contest.
Henry was great as a comedy character, when he let his hair down, and would be one of the guys with Hawkeye and Trapper… as a commanding officer, in some (not all) cases, Margaret and Frank’s constant frustrations with him could be justified: he couldn’t make decisions, decisions he did make seemed to make matters worse, he couldn’t react quickly under pressure, he goofed off a lot, he was a boozer… I have said before, and I will say it again, Henry DID actually start to show some backbone by Season Three, and really began to show a serious side more – “Aid Station” (3×19) is probably the best example: he knew there was an emergency, he knew how serious it was, and in turn, he too was serious about it the entire time, and for once, he actually exercized his command… I think if Mac Stevenson hadn’t left after Season Three, and Henry continued to evolve in that direction, Henry could’ve grown into the job, and could’ve become a fairly competent commanding officer.
Potter, on the other hand, the military was his career, he was a veteran of both WW1 and WW2, he had experience, and therefore, was a far more efficient commanding officer: he automatically commanded respect, he had that wisdom of the ages, yet he was also kind and gentle and very much like a grandfather figure, and he got things done. And even he too could be one of the boys at times, so he wasn’t completely stuffy or uptight, if maybe just a little firmer and stricter than Henry.
So yeah, to vote for favorite commanding officer, it has to be Potter.
As for our current poll… haven’t we done this one before? It feels familiar…
I’m sure I’ve run a “Favorite Company Clerk” poll at some point in the last decade, but it has not been used since September 2011 which is as far back as I can check.
I didn’t vote in this one as it was too hard. For me, Potter is a more interesting character and I think Harry Morgan has more range as an actor than McLean. However, I think Henry Blake is much funnier and like his chemistry with the others better.