Gye Greene's Thoughts

Gye Greene's Thoughts (w/ apologies to The Smithereens and their similarly-titled album!)

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Better and worse seasons of M.A.S.H.

I've been meaning to pick up the later seasons of M.A.S.H. on DVD -- one of the few t.v. series I'd bother to collect. Each season is about AU$50-$60, though, so I've held off.

Today, found that Big W (analagous to Target or Fred Meyers) had 'em on sale for AU$23! So, picked up seasons 5 and 6, which is when Col. Potter arrived; B.J. arrived soon after. I prefer the Col. Potter and B.J. era, since the Henry Blake/Trapper era is more slapstick and hijinks; the B.J. episodes -- and particularly when the ditched Frank Burns for Winchester -- have stronger, more intelligent writing. In my opinion. Frank Burn's character was just too one-dimensional; a whinger.

B.J. was my favorite character on M.A.S.H. Got the better lines, IMO, more droll. His character also just plain seemed like a nicer guy than Hawkeye.

For similar reasons, Chakotay was my favorite character on Star Trek: Voyager. A good masculine role model who was willing to stand up to what he believed in, but also kind and gentle. Firm, but not angry.

I guess I identify more with those characters; hopefully, reflects well on me. I'm just not a Hawkeye/Tom Paris type. :)

--Guy Greene

4 Comments:

At May 04, 2005 7:00 AM, Blogger Tara said...

I didn't care much for Alan Alda until I started watching Scientific American Frontiers.

MASH is greatness.

 
At May 04, 2005 7:00 AM, Blogger Tara said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At May 04, 2005 1:40 PM, Blogger Gye Greene said...

Saw one or two episodes of the science program that Alan Alda hosts (may have been Scientific Frontiers). I'd never seen him in anything else, so it was **really** weird seeing him (1) older, and (2) not trying to be wacky.

--GG

 
At May 10, 2005 1:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Alan Alda is great. Esp in Woody Allen movies. But I agree that the latter seasons of MASH are the best. Coincidentally (or not), the latter episodes are, I believe, when he got more involved (writing, directing, etc). There was some really cutting edge stuff on that show, which is interesting because it could have been so easily written off as just a comedy (albeit a really good one) in the first few years. Toward the end, it was more Twin Peaks-y before there was even a Twin Peaks. Don't think it gets enough credit for that.

 

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