A group of courageous surgeons battle injuries, gung ho army officers and sometimes each other while at the same time tell jokes, pull pranks just to keep themselves sane, or insane? First of all Alan Alda is one of my hero's and this is his finest role. His comedic genius is what kept this show going so long. But not just Alan Alda, he had an exceptional bunch of supporting actors and their talents are too numerous to mention here. This show had it all comedy, adventure, superb story telling, romance, heroism, and the ability to show how war effects people, not lifeless statistics that many army officers would like us to believe. From the opening instrumental sequence of "Suicide is Painless" which in itself is an unforgettable song to the closing credits we are in Korea. And these doctors are our friends and teachers. Current TV could learn a thing or two from this show. It is powerful and unflinching in it's representation of war, and those who criticize this show obviously have neither intelligence, or a sense of humor. Often most criticisms I hear are relating to the special effects and jokes, to them I say this: it is not an action show dumb ass, it was not meant to show you war in it's direct form, if you want a direct form of war fine. Watch "Pork Chop Hill," or "Tae Guk Gi," don't criticize this for something it wasn't meant to have. Second this is loosely based off real occurrences of the Korean War, the humor is dark and it's corny, it's meant to keep their minds off the carnage. It's humor that was made for the moment to get their minds off carving up kids 7 days a week, if you don't like it alright. Watch a movie that describes your intelligence, possibly "Dumb and Dumberer." All in all you can't beat this show. Even after 30 years it still creates laughs and more importantly teaches valuable lessons.
Review of M*A*S*H
