re: RIP Sidney Freedman

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In before the Mash was only good for the first 3 years crowd arrives

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Sorry I'm late

I didn't care for Sherman Potter. Henry Blake was one of the greatest characters in sitcom history IMHO and Stevenson played him perfectly. Henry>>>>>>>>>>>>Potter

And before anybody asks, Trapper>>>>>>>>>BJ

But as for Frank vs Winchester: This is the one exception for me. By the time Frank left he had become an idiotic buffoon. Charles was a worthy opponent for Hawkeye and could match him quip for quip -- some of their exchanges are pretty funny.

The rest of the show was starting to suck bad: BJ instead of Trapper, Col Potter instead of Henry, Hot Lips becoming "Margaret" and treated like one of the boys instead of an enemy, Alda's relentless liberal preaching -- but IMHO Charles was actually an improvement over late period Frank.

As for the original subject of this thread, I never really cared for Sidney Freedman. Arbus played him rather drowsily and he was a harbinger of bad Alda revelation scenes to come. The only really good Arbus episode was the poker game with Dr. Pak and the old guy who Radar keeps running over.

And we have a thread on AA but not one mention that he was married to the infamous Diane Arbus?

Couldn't remember the title... It's not my favorite episode, but it might be top 10

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And before anybody asks, Trapper>>>>>>>>>BJ

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Dang. Took awhile for some Trapper John appreciation.

In a way, Trapper was just a watered down version of Hawkeye. So in that light, I didn't mind getting BJ as a bit of a different character - married, more stable guy. But yeah, BJ was kind of a vanilla character.

BJ was probably my least favorite character. Frank was my favorite but I didn't mind Winchester. Potter was ok. The early cast is the best. Rader was good when he was shady and didn't act ghey.

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watching those two buffoons play a Major and a LTC in the Army, much less doctors, was cringe worthy.

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Vietnam was still going on when they started the show. I always thought Frank was the epitome of what anti-war people wanted the public to think Army officers would be like. You could even argue Col Blake could have been the anti-war people's choice to represent the old school leader who is in over his head.

Frank was a wretched weakling character that you wouldn't want any kid to have to take an order from.

I didn't get to watch MASH as a kid. My parents were Goldwater/Nixon conservatives that thought it was a commie pinko show. We were still watching Dragnet, Gunsmoke or Lassie after we got the KIA count from Walter Cronkite at 6:59.

MASH was as controversial back then as the shows people say have "gay agendas" are now.