COL. Blake or COL Potter?

[cspotrun]

for me, Col. Potter Harry Morgan was better, in fact the 2nd cast was better than the 1st cast of MASH, but the show is timeless, and like Seinfeld i've seen every epoisode a million times and i enjoy seeing them again.

 

[radioman148]

for me, Col. Potter Harry Morgan was better, in fact the 2nd cast was better than the 1st cast of MASH, but the show is timeless, and like Seinfeld i've seen every epoisode a million times and i enjoy seeing them again.

It is indeed a classic.

 

[LKellerIII]

I think this has been debated here before - there are a surprising number of people who prefered the first few years of the series. As for me, if you're tallying votes - make that one for Potter over Blake.

Also - one vote for Winchester over Burns.

In comedies like M*A*S*H that are trying to portray a serious message (not just slapstick comedy, in other words), I find buffoonish and silly characters very irritating. While Burns was a total buffoon, Blake was a more complete and believable character. Still - the Potter character added a dimension to the show.

 

[landtuna]

Potter! No contest.

Even when Harry Morgan played a background character (as in "Support Your Local Sheriff") he could steal a scene. His character in MASH was very similar AND he was much more believable than the Blake character.

 

[cspotrun]

Potter! No contest.

Even when Harry Morgan played a background character (as in "Support Your Local Sheriff") he could steal a scene. His character in MASH was very similar AND he was much more believable than the Blake character.

MASH, i didn't like the movie(it was Animal House at war) but the TV series was light years better, and it is usually the other way around.

 

[RicoGregg]

MASH, i didn't like the movie(it was Animal House at war) but the TV series was light years better, and it is usually the other way around.

You have GOT to be kidding! The movie was countless times superior to the sitcom. The author of MASH, Dr. Richard Hornberger, who more or less was "The Real Hawkeye", absolutely, positively hated the TV show, and even though he was offered the chance to consult the series, refused to have anything to do with it. His intelligence was so insulted by the sitcom that he refused to see the "Goodbye, Farewell, & Amen" finale. He was quoted as saying that the MASH series "...wasn't his kind of humor." He felt that both his book and the movie were far more realistic than the series.

In the original Blake vs. Potter debate, it should be noted that in both the book and movie of MASH, Henry Blake is NOT the wishy-washy milquetoast commander that is portrayed in the series. He is actually quite strong and assertive, and is not afraid to get into anyone's face, including Burns & Houlihan.

For that matter, there are two different Radars. Instead of TV's naive farm boy, the Radar O' Reilly of the film and book is a slick con artist who uses his ESP gifts to both his and the unit's advantage.

When a classic film is made into a TV series, there are always differences. Which is better is always up to the individual viewer.

 

[Smittian]

MASH, i didn't like the movie(it was Animal House at war) but the TV series was light years better, and it is usually the other way around.

You have GOT to be kidding! The movie was countless times superior to the sitcom. The author of MASH, Dr. Richard Hornberger, who more or less was "The Real Hawkeye", absolutely, positively hated the TV show, and even though he was offered the chance to consult the series, refused to have anything to do with it. His intelligence was so insulted by the sitcom that he refused to see the "Goodbye, Farewell, & Amen" finale. He was quoted as saying that the MASH series "...wasn't his kind of humor." He felt that both his book and the movie were far more realistic than the series.

He hates the TV show, yet he was offered the chance to consult on it.............. Sounds like he doesn't have anything to gripe about there, since he had the chance to make it more to his liking, but refused. He never saw "Goodbye, Farewell, Amen"............. what about anything from the other 10 seasons?

I've seen both the movie and pretty much every episode from the TV series. The movie puts me to sleep after about 20 minutes.

 

[RicoGregg]

MASH, i didn't like the movie(it was Animal House at war) but the TV series was light years better, and it is usually the other way around.

You have GOT to be kidding! The movie was countless times superior to the sitcom. The author of MASH, Dr. Richard Hornberger, who more or less was "The Real Hawkeye", absolutely, positively hated the TV show, and even though he was offered the chance to consult the series, refused to have anything to do with it. His intelligence was so insulted by the sitcom that he refused to see the "Goodbye, Farewell, & Amen" finale. He was quoted as saying that the MASH series "...wasn't his kind of humor." He felt that both his book and the movie were far more realistic than the series.

He hates the TV show, yet he was offered the chance to consult on it.............. Sounds like he doesn't have anything to gripe about there, since he had the chance to make it more to his liking, but refused. He never saw "Goodbye, Farewell, Amen"............. what about anything from the other 10 seasons?

I've seen both the movie and pretty much every episode from the TV series. The movie puts me to sleep after about 20 minutes.

I don't remember him griping about it, just expressing his honest opinion. Dr. Hornberger had a busy practice in Maine, and was not a big-city type, so chances are excellent that he wanted nothing to do with Hollywood.

I'm just wondering if the version of the MASH movie you saw was edited and censored. Many stations and even some basic cable outlets have butchered the film. It's a different film when it's uncut.

 

[LKellerIII]

I thought the movie was brilliant. It was directed by the great and prolific TV and movie director Robert Altman during the 1970s, which was his most creative period. Some of his other films in that decade were 3 Women, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville, and Brewster McCloud.

He liked working with Elliot Gould, who played Trapper in the film version of M*A*S*H. If you get a chance to see The Long Goodbye - with Gould playing a modern version of the detective Phillip Marlowe - check it out.

Part of the problem with the first couple years of the TV series (for me) was the re-casting of characters. Robert Duvall played Frank Burns in the film very differently than the buffoon Linville portrayed. Sally Kellerman was Hot Lips, and her portrayal was much more subtle that the shreiking and shrill character played by Loretta Swit.

But comparing a film to the TV show version is always difficult. It's apples and oranges. Both have their strengths, but they're very different.

 

[Stanislav]

This is like a "Curly vs. Shemp" argument (leave it to a Stooges fan to come up with such a metaphor...). Curly was more popular, but Shemp was around longer; both have their own style, and it is silly to try and say one was "better" than the other. Same thing with Blake vs. Potter. Both are great characters, though completely different. The creative minds behind the show always made it a point to go in a completely different direction when there was a cast change. Thus, the goofy, incompetent Blake was replaced by the wise "regular Army" Potter; bumbling paranoiac Frank was replaced by the erudite top surgeon Winchester; womanizer Trapper by the more straight-laced B.J., etc.

As a fan, I like BOTH. Now, if I were a member of the 4077th, I'd also be torn -- Henry would have been a lot of fun to have around, but you wouldn't be able to deny that things ran more smoothly with Potter. (Didn't Hawkeye once liken Blake's effect on the outfit to being commanded by Daffy Duck?) ;D

 

[wbhist]

The author of MASH, Dr. Richard Hornberger, who more or less was "The Real Hawkeye", absolutely, positively hated the TV show, and even though he was offered the chance to consult the series, refused to have anything to do with it. His intelligence was so insulted by the sitcom that he refused to see the "Goodbye, Farewell, & Amen" finale. He was quoted as saying that the MASH series "...wasn't his kind of humor." He felt that both his book and the movie were far more realistic than the series.

Dr. Hornberger wasn't the only one; from what I've read in interviews, Robert Altman didn't like the TV version either. I think Mr. Altman also didn't have that much kind words for Alan Alda and the direction he took the show.

As for me . . . I think the more classic moments were from the first three years with Trapper and Col. Blake. As opposed to one or two good moments I can think of from the B.J. / Potter (and later Winchester) era.

 

[ajc_trw]

for me, Col. Potter Harry Morgan was better, in fact the 2nd cast was better than the 1st cast of MASH, but the show is timeless, and like Seinfeld i've seen every epoisode a million times and i enjoy seeing them again.

I would have to say Henry Blake was far better than Potter (who everyone seems to forget was General Steel) and Trapper was head and sholders above BJ. Both Blake and Trapper were funny and likeable while Potter and BJ were mired in sloppy sentiment, so much so they dragged everyone else down with them.

IMHO Mash was good for the first three seasons and limped till Burns left. Potter was an old fart, Winchester was a boring gassbag and BJ was a wussy. All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[TexasTom]

I didn't start watching MASH in first run until the fourth season -- which was right after Blake and Trapper were written out of the series. Consequently, to me the "original cast" (ie, those who were on the show when I first started watching) included Potter and BJ, but also Frank Burns. To this day, the two seasons after Blake and Trapper were gone but before Frank Burns left are my favorites.

That said, when I rewatched the series on DVD, I did realize that the Frank Burns character left at the right time -- his character was essentially one dimensional and would have just become annoying if he had been kept around much longer. Also, when Frank Burns was written out, that allowed the "Hot Lips" character to evolve.

So, on the Blake versus Potter debate, I'm firmly on Potter's side. Regarding Trapper John versus BJ, I liked BJ's character better because he made a more interesting sidekick to Hawkeye -- he was enough different that he didn't fall into Hawkeye's shadow in the way that Trapper John seemed to.

Finally...when I saw the movie, I really, really disliked it. Considering how different the movie and TV series are, that's hardly a surprise. At launch, the creative group behind the TV series were largely the same folks that did "Hogan's Heroes" (Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart) -- a similarity that is apparent in many episodes from the first couple of seasons. I wouldn't expect them to give us a TV series with the feel of Altman's much darker movie -- and if they had, it would have been gone in 13 weeks.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I've always liked the TV series better than the movie as well, probably because it was what I had seen first. Cocerning the editing of the movie, I thought when it first came out it was rated R, but later theatrical versions were rated PG. When I actually bought a copy on VHS the box said the movie was rated PG while the tape itself said it was rated R. By today's standards it probably would be PG or PG13. But was there an edited theatrical version released that could be rated PG, or did standards change enough that when it was re-released the rating was changed with no editing?

I've always liked the TV series as a whole including the cast changes. But I've wondered at times what it would have been like to see the interaction of original cast members who left the series with later cast members, like seeing the interaction of Henry and Trapper with BJ, Potter, and Winchester, or Burns and Winchester.

 

[RicoGregg]

I've always liked the TV series as a whole including the cast changes. But I've wondered at times what it would have been like to see the interaction of original cast members who left the series with later cast members, like seeing the interaction of Henry and Trapper with BJ, Potter, and Winchester, or Burns and Winchester.

You almost got your wish in 1981. That year, every cast member except for Mclean Stevenson guested on an episode of Dinah!, Dinah Shore's daytime talk show. They all took turns talking about the show, Loretta Swit sang (badly), and Gary Burghoff played the drums.

At one point, someone said something like "Who couldn't like being on a show like this (MASH)?", and Harry Morgan quipped "Mclean Stevenson." Everyone laughed.

I'd like to say that that particular episode of Dinah! was riveting, but it was much closer to a snoozefest. They didn't talk about why people left, or much of anything else that you might have wanted to hear.

 

[Stanislav]

I've always liked the TV series as a whole including the cast changes. But I've wondered at times what it would have been like to see the interaction of original cast members who left the series with later cast members, like seeing the interaction of Henry and Trapper with BJ, Potter, and Winchester, or Burns and Winchester.

You almost got your wish in 1981. That year, every cast member except for Mclean Stevenson guested on an episode of Dinah!, Dinah Shore's daytime talk show. They all took turns talking about the show, Loretta Swit sang (badly), and Gary Burghoff played the drums.

At one point, someone said something like "Who couldn't like being on a show like this (MASH)?", and Harry Morgan quipped "Mclean Stevenson." Everyone laughed.

I'd like to say that that particular episode of Dinah! was riveting, but it was much closer to a snoozefest. They didn't talk about why people left, or much of anything else that you might have wanted to hear.

Much of the cast was together for that TVLand special that was done for the 25th or 30th (forget which) anniversary. The funniest memory was of Mike Farrell (B.J.), who said that in his early days on the show, he would sometimes have a fan approach him and say, "I really love you on the show -- would you sign a photo?" and then it would turn out to actually be a photo of Wayne Rogers (Trapper)! Rogers had a good laugh over that,,,

 

[anotherguyTN]

Much of the cast was together for that TVLand special that was done for the 25th or 30th (forget which) anniversary. The funniest memory was of Mike Farrell (B.J.), who said that in his early days on the show, he would sometimes have a fan approach him and say, "I really love you on the show -- would you sign a photo?" and then it would turn out to actually be a photo of Wayne Rogers (Trapper)! Rogers had a good laugh over that,,,

That was the 30th anniversary special. It was originally on Fox, and then TV Land got the rights to it and Memories of MASH, which was the 20th aniversary special.