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By: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
M*A*S*H*'s Origin...It Was A Situation Comedy! 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 17 people found this review helpful.
The very early episodes of M*A*S*H* are interesting because the show started out as a situation comedy (which eventually turned into a dramedy series). The characters of Hawkeye Pierce(Alan Alda) and Trapper John(Wayne Rogers)were clownish and the early storylines were more of an "Animal House" mentality. The most interesting aspect is the early incarnation of the character "Radar O'Reilly" (Gary Burghoff) who is basically the same as everyone else (as he is played in the film version- - Burghoff was in the film version also). Radar actually drinks and is behind some of juvenile pranks early-on. As M*A*S*H* found its voice and matured into a part-time drama series, Radar metamorphosed into a naive, innocent, grape Nee-Hi drinking, Iowa farm boy...totally different from his origin. This was necessary to keep the character going because other minor one-note characters simply disappear as the show progessed (i.e. Spearchucker and Ugly John). Probably for the purposes of a half-hour sit-com there was too many people sharing "The Swamp" living quarters. However, the characters of Klinger (Jamie Farr) and Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) were expanded. This reviewer thinks the early episodes are the best ones because the show is what it is intended to be; and that it is a comedy series. Many situation comedies these days will get an EMMY for a particular episode for "comedy" when the story is of a dramatic type plot. People lose site that it is a situation comedy. People can thank the later incarnation M*A*S*H* for that one. However, the show is great in both its incarnations from situation comedy to dramedy. The dramedy episodes is what most people will remember the show by and it is what put the show on the map. However, the early episodes are by far some of the funniest in terms of straight comedy.