The votes are in and “Edwina” is officially the least favorite episode of M*A*S*H, at least according to last month’s poll. It received 49 votes or 17% of the total vote. “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was a close second with 43 votes or 15% of the total vote. In third place were “Hawkeye” and “Dreams” with 36 votes each (13% of the total vote).
Here are the full results:
Great 2017-18 M*A*S*H Episode Poll: Pick Your LEAST Favorite Episode from the Series
Edwina (Season 1) (17%, 49 Votes)
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen (Season 11) (15%, 43 Votes)
Hawkeye (Season 4) (13%, 36 Votes)
Dreams (Season 8) (13%, 36 Votes)
Inga (Season 7) (9%, 27 Votes)
That’s Show Biz (Season 10) (9%, 26 Votes)
Bless You, Hawkeye (Season 9) (8%, 22 Votes)
Henry in Love (Season 2) (7%, 21 Votes)
Abyssinia, Henry (Season 3) (3%, 10 Votes)
Margaret’s Marriage (Season 5) (3%, 10 Votes)
In Love and War (Season 6) (2%, 7 Votes)
Total Votes: 287
For the record, back in December 2015, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was voted the favorite episode from M*A*S*H.
I voted for “Edwina” but just as easily could’ve voted for “That’s Show Biz” or “Hawkeye.”
Which episode did you vote for and why? Hit the comments with your reactions to the poll results.
For the rest of 2018, I won’t be running monthly polls. Instead, every two or three months I’ll be repeating poll questions from years ago. To kick things off, pick your favorite season of M*A*S*H. I first used this as a poll topic back in 2012.
“Edwina” feels less like an episode of M*A*S*H and more like a stand-alone episode of an anthology series – it doesn’t focus on the main doctors or nurses, it doesn’t follow a story of what’s going on in camp with a medical mystery, or the antics of the Swamprats, or anything like that . . . it focuses on a guest character who’s never seen before or since that you could care less about. Eddie’s homely, socially awkward, needy, unappealing, and she’s the main focus. And poor Hawkeye is the feeb who ends up having to date her because the nurses are revolting against the men in camp for not going out with her. Again, it doesn’t feel like a M*A*S*H episode.
I personally don’t get the strong dislike for Edwina — it is certainly not a great episode — it would not even make my top 100. On the other hand I find parts of the episode enjoyable and I have never hated it.
I voted for Dreams as the absolute worst. I rank Inga as a close second with In Love & War right on it’s heels.
Agreed. It’s definitely one of the weaker ones, but the worst episode of the entire series? No way. It’s not even the worst episode of the season. I’d give that to Showtime.
Dreams and Inga are both terrible, but I voted for “Hawkeye”. I can’t believe they made that episode. It’s like the epitome of the “Hawkeye & Friends” problem M*A*S*H has, this time without the friends. On top of that, it’s just 22 minutes of Alan Alda preaching to that family..AKA us as viewers. It’s garbage,
What did they tell to every single other cast member that week? “Sorry, we don’t need you guys because we only need our star this week. Take some time off losers!” I feel like every other cast member should have been pretty offended and annoyed by it and Alda.
Larry Gelbart said “Hawkeye” was an experiment to see if just one character could carry the whole show by himself. But obviously, with Hawkeye already being the sort of unofficial star of the show, he was a poor choice. Just about any of the other characters would have been better . . . perhaps either B.J or Potter since they were new that season, and would have given us an opportunity to become better acquainted with them on a deeper level.
I wonder if the other cast members were paid for sitting out the episode.
Back in those days, probably not. I remember Jack Klugman once comparing salaries, saying each castmember of FRIENDS alone made more money in two days than he and Tony Randall made together in the five years they did THE ODD COUPLE.
The biggest difference being back in those days, actors cared more about doing good work and having a good time with their co-stars, as opposed to today where they care more about making ridiculous amounts of money.
It seems even stranger to me that this episode was produced when it was, considering that Loretta Swit left Season 4 a few episodes early to appear in the play “Same Time Next Year” (She mentioned this in the David Weiss book.), which explains her absence from “The Novocaine Mutiny”, “The More I See You”, and “The Interview” (the last 3 episodes produced in Season 4), as well as her limited participation in “Der Tag” (the 4th-to-last-produced episode of the season), which was explained by having Margaret out of town for most of it. “Hawkeye” was produced 2 episodes before “Der Tag”, so it would’ve made more sense to me to produce that episode later after she’d left for the season. It could perhaps be explained if “Hawkeye” needed location shooting, as I’ve read that after the start of standard time (in late October then) it was dark too early to allow any of that.
It’s still late October for me. I refused to go along with Dumb Dubya’s extending DST for no reason (to improve trade with other countries, he said, but most other countries did away with DST long ago) because I hate it so much; I still spring forward in mid-April and fall back in late October.
I voted for Inga. Many of the episodes in this poll aren’t really ones I’d think of when coming up with a worst of the series list. In some cases, they’re not exactly strong episodes, but I don’t especially hate them, and in other cases, they’re good, even great episodes IMO (“Dreams” and “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” being my favorites of the bunch, though I can easily see why some people don’t care for “Dreams”).
Even with “Inga,” it’s certainly not a very good episode overall, and I believe it was the one I voted for within that season, but I don’t think I’d call it my all-time worst episode of the series (though I’m not quite sure what episode I would choose for that).
I was going to vote for Edwina, but the more I thought about it, “That’s Showbiz” is one I tend to skip more so than the others. And it took me a long time to watch and almost enjoy “Dreams”. But, I kind of like it now, especially since I fully understand the symbolism. But anywho, regarding my choice, I really don’t like Fast Freddie and his jokes. And how and why did Charles think Freddie was funny? That was so out of character, unless the writers were trying to convey that Charles does have a sense of humor….I also don’t care for the Brandy Doyle character and how she came onto Potter. The other three characters were fine and enjoyable. But, the episode as a whole – meh. Inga came in a close second, but overall – “That’s Showbiz” was my choice.
I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WATCH THE SHOW FROM SEASON 4 EPISODE 18 OR 19 “HAWKEYE”…..IT GIVES ME A WORSE HEADACHE THAN HITTING THE GROUND DID HIM WHEN HE WRECKED THE JEEP. iTS STUPID AND SERVES NO PURPOSE OTHER THAN TO GIVE HIS FELLOW CHARACTERS A DAY OFF AND ANOTHER CHANCE FOR MASH TO BE THE HAWKEYE SHOW. THERE WAS NO STORY AND HE JUST ACTED STUPID AND WHINEY FOR THE ENTIRE SHOW. I KNOW THEY COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING ALOT MORE CREATIVE WITH ANYONE. I WOULD HAVE SETTLED FOR A DAY IN THE LIFE OF RIZZO!!
I cannot believe ‘Edwina’ was voted the worst episode of the series when we have a big clunker like ‘Bless You, Hawkeye!’ in the mix.
Either that or ‘Inga’ should have take the top prize.
Agreed. Edwina is not a great episode, but it’s sweet and silly. Bless You Hawkeye is a stinker.
Just a stupid comment about B.J. Does anyone else ever fire of his whining and crying? Every time it starts I change the channel. He’s always blubbering about being in Korea and not in San Francisco as if he’s the only one who had a life before the Army. In general, I don’t dislike the character, but really!
Agreed, specially in Wheelers and Dealers where Peg took on a job in a lunchroom. Loved the Potter and Rizzo parts tho.
I just saw this episode and I cannot believe how stupid and confusing it was. All of the nurses care about this girl (who we’ve never seen before)’s sex life so much that they pressure their boyfriends into sleeping with her or else the entire unit is celibate? Doesnt that seem a little quid pro qou? Also, its never explained why the men don’t go after her. Is it because she clumsy? The dialoge and acting comes off awkward, and hawkeye feels unfamilar here.