Characters like Hawkeye and Hot Lips were left out because they lasted the entire run.

If you haven't seen too many episodes, go to FX. They show "MASH" 87 times per day.

I prefer B.J., Potter, and Burns. It was very funny, without relying on the godawful puns that almost ruined the later years. The show's preachiness also went way over-the-top as it aged.

Honk!

I watched the show from the first season, and the cast with Trapper and Henry is still my favorite. The show still had heart back in those days.

This is (IMHO) still the very best television show in history.

Yes, it probably ran 2 or 3 years too long, but it was the pinnacle of quality for years and years.

Twenty years later, there is still nothing that comes close to it for sheer brilliance, taking chances, touching our hearts, deconstructing the format and genre, balancing screwball comedy with dark drama, delivering messages, NOT delivering messages, and on and on.

I would put the best years of this series up against any other series, hour or half-hour.

Love most of the seasons, as this is probably my favorite show (maybe behind Andy Griffith Show) but I still love McLean Stevenson. He was awesome. He was a lot like my dad. Ditzy but understanding.

So I go with the Henry Blake and Trapper seasons.

And yes, the show did get more dramatic while keeping to comedic routes and I appreciate Alda's stance on how the show should be viewed "war-wise".

For me the show went downhill after Frank left. There were some decent episodes with Winchester but MASH was at its best with Ferret Face.

The best recurring character was Colonel Flagg. Dude was hilarious!!!

never liked mash, made me sleepy.

-k
###

p.s. he's dead.

Trapper John, Henry Blake, Frank Burns definitely. The first season of this show was good, every other season was repetitive, preachy, and uninspired.

Some classic Colonel Flagg lines....

Flagg: I want to make a call.
Henry: Can I get the number for you?
Flagg: I don't know the number.
Henry: Well, then, how can you make the call?
Flagg: I have to throw up. The number's in a capsule.
Henry: Well. I'll just run along.
A Smattering of Intelligence

Frank: You're crazy, buddy!
Flagg: You call me that again, I'll reach into your throat and pull your heart out.
Margaret: Please, Frank - I've seen him with his shirt off!
A Smattering of Intelligence

Flagg: I've got to nip this rotten apple in the bud! This sort of action's contageous. One man decides he's not gonna fight, it catches on, the next thing, you know what you've got on your hands?
B.J.: Peace?
Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?

Flagg: Okay, pipsqueak, what tipped you off?
Radar: Well, you don't look anything like you, sir, and since you're a master of disguises, I figured you were the only one who couldn't look like you that much.
Flagg: I'll buy that, for now. But if you ever cross me up, you're gonna get a Number Eight.
Radar: What's that?
Flagg: Have you ever heard of the Malaysian Chest Implosion torture?
Radar: No, sir.
Flagg: Good! 'Cause there's no such thing... yet.
The Abduction of Margaret Houlehan

Flagg: I've trained myself not to laugh or smile.
Potter: Really?
Flagg: Watched a hundred hours of The Three Stooges. Every time I felt like smiling, I jabbed myself in the stomach with a cattle prod.
Potter: That ought to do it.
The Abduction of Margaret Houlehan

Flagg: Let me tell you something. I have a complete record on you. I know every move you make, everything there is to know about you, so watch your step, Hunnicut!
Hawkeye: I'm Pierce!
Flagg: Fine. You want to call yourself Pierce, I can play that game too.
The Abduction of Margaret Houlehan

Potter: Making yourself at home, Flagg?
Flagg: I have no home. I'm the wind.
Hawkeye to B.J.: I told you he was the wind. You said he was the stars!
B. J.: No, I said he was the moon!
The Abduction of Margaret Houlehan

Hawkeye: Why stop there? Why don't we just drop an atomic bomb?
Flagg: Hey. Don't try to make friends with me.
The Abduction of Margaret Houlehan

Hawkeye on Flagg: The wind just broke its leg.
The Abduction of Margaret Houlehan

Frank: But my orders are--
Flagg: The CIA can supercede anyone's orders.
Frank: Except the president, of course.
Flagg: Give it time.
White Gold

Flagg: Don't play dumb! You're not as good at it as I am!
Rally Round the Flagg, Boys

Flagg: Don't kid with me, I have no sense of humour!
Charles: You could have fooled me!
Rally Round the Flagg, Boys

Wow, that's an over-generalized statement.

I like the line where Flagg wants to order a scorpion.

I voted for the Winchester/Radar years. Don't get me wrong, I liked Frank, but there was soemthing about the way Winchester played off Hawekye and B.J. ...

And while I agree the show went downhill toward the end, I like Klinger a lot more in the episodes after Radar left. They really let him grow once he became the company clerk.

Flagg: "You were insanely jealous of her engagement. You were furious at being rejected! You were capable of murder."
Hawkeye: "That's right! So you hit over the head with a blunt instrument."
B.J.: "A saxophone."
Hawkeye: "Then you hypnotized her and told her she was Johnny Ray."
B.J.: "Then you performed plastic surgery on her, made her look like Johnny."
Hawkeye: "The rest is obvious. You stuck her in a trunk, you mailed her to Las Vegas, and now she's doing two shows a night at the Sands."
B.J.: "Three on Saturdays."
Flagg: "There's only one flaw with that theory."
Hawkeye: "Only one?"
Flagg: "They don't do three shows Saturday night at the Sands."
Hawkeye: "How do you know?"
Flagg: "I was a showgirl for six weeks."

****

Flagg: Where's Houlihan?
B.J.: I think it's near Dublin.
Flagg: That's insubordination. You do that to me one more time and I'm entitled to...bite off your left ear.

****
Flagg: I'm on to you, Pierce. Now you took a yellow Red before a white American which is pretty Pinko.
Hawkeye: You're even boring in technicolor.

This is an internet message forum. It is where overgeneralized statements belong.