Posted on 07/13/2012 7:14:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
While he certainly didn't help, I always thought that it was Alan Alda who really destroyed MASH. Week after week he kept giving anti-war sermons, talk about preachy! We get it, war is bad, now get back to being funny which they never did.
I think it's funny how after MASH, Alda always seemed to play the sleazy character like the senator in the movie The Aviator.
Ferrell is one of those typical Hollysnot types who divorces the baby momma (2 kids) in mid-life for a star, even if Shelly Fabares is a D-lister.
Mike probably warped in his Marine stint, which even if rare, does happen to a few. A reactionary recoil to the Marine discipline of warfare.
So Alda is as pompous in real life as he was in MASH (no surprise there) - this is the first generation of entertainers who don’t care if they alienate most their fan base - Linda Ronstadt said as much in response to the “shut up and sing” fan at one of her old-lady concerts.
The show was well written and funny, but therein lies its ability to deceive. Hawkeye is portrayed as a heroic figure dedicated to saving lives, working long hours to help the wounded soldiers. However, at the same time, he is promiscuous, continually on the prowl for willing females to take to bed. This is portrayed as humorous, ha ha, boys will be boys. So, because of his heroism, his amoral pursuits become acceptable and even endearing. What about pregnancies? What about venereal disease? What about reality? What about God? In a show that supposedly tried to show some of the reality of war, it fell far short of showing the reality of life.
Good point
I lived in Central Florida as a child when the refugees from Castro's firing squads began arriving. Their children began attending our schools and I was amazed at how educated and sophist iced they were. Some would fit the European definition of aristocrat but since most of their wealth had been seized by the Fidelistas they moved into middle class neighborhoods.
I knew it would be BJ.
It’s almost like the casting directors of MASH set out to find the most unlikable actor to play a very unlikable character.
Farrell is a whacked out kook who left the planet Rational years ago. The man is a certified liberal Fruit Loop.
IIRC, he also served in the Army, stationed in Japan in the late 50's.
Just like the stereotype of a Kennedy.
Ain’t Hollywood wonderful? </s>
“...I never disliked him and if I see something he did on TV, I watch it.”
He had a role in the 1997 movie “Murder at 1600” as the conniving National Security Advisor to the President. he did a good job. Of course, Diane Lane was easy on the eyes too.
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