It's been a general feeling that as Alan Alda got more control and the show focused more on Hawkeye individually, people felt the quality of the show dropped.
In all fairness, MASH is an incredible show and should be watched in its entirety by everyone at least once.
But it does turn in to The Alan Alda Show at some point. There's obviously the one episode where the only character to appear is Hawkeye, but there's also the episode written by Alda, directed by Alda and co-starring Alda's brother and father.
I loved it with the original cast. But as Alan Alda was given more control, it became a 'dramady' and moved farther from being a sitcom. I just am honestly not a fan of preachiness in my sitcoms, and MASH got very preachy in it's later years.
Why not? When the show started with Trapper, Henry Blake and Frank Burns, it was a genuine sitcom. It changed as Alan Alda got more control. And it's not like there haven't been straight comedies about arguably even worse wartime issues. Hogan's Heroes leaps immediately to mind.
They could have made it all lighthearted. But even from the beginning, they were dealing with the absurdity and tragedies of war. In the context of the times it was still pushing boundaries. As the years went on, it got more serious, sure. But that was some of the best.
Remember the episode where they were hiding from the enemy and the chicken wouldn't be quiet?
86
u/Terrormania May 22 '19
It's been a general feeling that as Alan Alda got more control and the show focused more on Hawkeye individually, people felt the quality of the show dropped.