M*A*S*H... love or hate?

I didn't hate it, but i found it tedious after a while. I worked in two surgical hospitals in 1970 and 1971, and there is much about which is pure bullshit. If Margaret Hoolihan assaulted an enlisted man, her career would be in the toilet, period. A great deal of the carrying on would simply never have happened. I also didn't like it because the enlisted personnel were non-entities except for several very unrealistic characters. I did like "Radar O'Reilly," both the character and the fact that the actor was reprising his role from the movie--but it was still not how the medical detachment in a surgical hospital works.

The other thing i really disliked was Alan Alda. He got old really fast, and he took over the show. That became the major turn-off for me.

Now, that being said, i also understand that it was very popular in its day, and that many people greatly enjoyed it. It was good entertainment, and my objections are based on a knowledge of the Army Medical Corps which most people do not possess, and an antipathy to Alan Alda.

So my advice is to check it out, and i suspect you might really enjoy it. A note for "test" driving it. If you have cable television or satellite television feed, and can get the History Channel, they show episodes on a regular basis. Last weekend, they had a MASH marathon.

And finally, my mother was a nurse in a field hospital in World War II, and landed at Normandy. Before the television program existed, i gave her the novel to read. Her response was basically: "Yeah? So what."

is it any good???????
good is not the word great fantastic any other superlative you care to mention.

You poor deprived child. first class show. I watch reruns of reruns of reruns.

by the way setanta talks out his arse

By the way, Setanta talked out his arse to recommend that this member would enjoy the show.

He also rises to bait.

Yeah, well you're the master baiter, aintcha?

Like MASH, thats an oldie but a goodie

The 70s and 80s were a kind of golden age for television comedy in the US. Two other show that i recommend you look for at youtube are Barney Miller and WKRP in Cincinnati.

Wikipedia's article on Barney Miller

Wikipedia's article on WKRP in Cincinnati

Wow, haha, those were some interesting posts.
And yes, it seems to possess several dull moments, and some irritably bad acting, but I just keep hearing about it, so I figure there must be something about it.
Do you know if most of the episodes are on Youtube, or are they incomplete and very bad quality?

I never watched it on youtube--i'm afraid i can't answer your question. Do you have cable or satellite feed? Can you get the History Channel?

I don't watch TV much so I'm not sure which channels I have & which I don't. I do have Cable though, so it's possible that I get the History Channel. I'll check tomorrow.

And I'll look into those links you gave me above, maybe it'll be something I'll be interested in.

The problem with reruns, especially sitcom reruns, is that the stations that run them are generally the ones with the lowest cashflow, so they've got to sell a hell of a lot of commercials, so they run usually something like four more minutes of ads a half hour than they did when the shows were run originally, which means the syndicators have usually chopped the shows unmercifully to cut out those extra minutes. Which means most of the subplots disappear, and often the parts of the main plot which make it make sense. This also seems to be affecting first run shows too. Look at a DVD of a show from around 2000, and an hour show actually ran about 42 minutes of show. Now some more recent ones seem to be closer to 40 minutes. And even those 2000-era shows were much shorter than 70s shows like MASH.

So try to get the DVDs. Your local library or library consortium is likely to have some, since the show IS a classic. I thought the subplots were often better than the main theme. And Alan Alda is not a subtle actor, and did tend to take over too much.

Several of my favorites involve Charles Emerson Winchester: the grunt whose hand he saved tho it was impaired, only to find he was a concert pianist and would rather be dead rather than have a damaged hand; and his Christmas gift of chocolates to the Korean orphanage, are two I thought were particularly well-done.

Well, you made it sound worth watching, that's for certain, Monterey Jack. Especially with the part about saving the pianist's hand.
I have already checked if my library has them, and it does not, but I know that I can request to borrow them from another library. I might be placed on a waiting list for some time, but it'll be worth the wait, I hope.

WKRP in Cincinnati, not THAT was a great show

MASH was an incredible series that ran longer than the Korean War it was set in. It typically tackled a serious issue surrounded by humor in every episode. The final show was a campus event when I was in college and was one of the most watched shows of all times with 60+% of households watching. It's worth your time to see a few episodes.

Dr. Johnny Fever was my idol . . .

Yep.

... and Night Court.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Court

Les Nessman was my idol

M*A*S*H was a good show for about the first four seasons. After McLean Stevenson left, however, the show abandoned the witty wordplay and keen satire of its earlier years for puerile punnery and shrill, anachronistic moralizing. By the end, it was nearly unwatchable.

And then M*A*S*H ended and Bevis and Butthead became popular.