No matter how well-created a show may be, how original the idea, and punctiliously wrought from start to finish, there is no guarantee how viewers will take it. There is no sure insulation against flopping. With such a variegated audience as there is in America, the challenge for M*A*S*H’s creators was amplified. But they did it.
One true measure for the series’ success is its longevity. Like a true classic, M*A*S*H has withstood the test of time; its messages and humor remain relevant, even to the current generation and quite possibly the next.
Who Is This Captain Turtle?
If you do not remember who Captain Tuttle was, that’s because there really was no captain to speak of. The only episode Tuttle “appeared in” was aptly titled “Tuttle,” and the so-called captain was just a figment of Hawkeye’s imagination.
However, weirdly enough, Tuttle’s name appeared during the show’s credits for playing himself. How odd for something that no one has ever heard of, nor seen, to be only in a person’s mind and yet become acknowledged in the show credits. Was this an early version of the now popular trend of placing easter eggs in shows, films, and games?
Inconsistencies
One of the M*A*S*H TV series’ stronger points was that many of those who were involved in it were former soldiers themselves, or had at least some direct experience working with the military or during wartime. It gave the show credibility, made the scenes feel less contrived, and added a sense of realness to everything, even the funny parts.
However, the TV program continued to create inconsistencies, which makes us wonder why none of the experienced cast and crew made any efforts to correct them. For one, there were too many Purple Heart Awards given to soldiers wounded in the line of duty, even after they got wounded for the second time. Purple Hearts are only given once. As a rule, if the same awardee gets injured again, he/she should be given the Oak Leaf Cluster. This wasn’t difficult to research and is just one of many similar discrepancies with military reality.
Hot Lips & Empty Arms
It would be sacrilege to forget a bombshell like an actress, Loretta Swit, who played the role of Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan; especially considering she was quite the gal surrounded by an ocean of men. That, and she played the role for all of M*A*S*H’s 11 seasons.
Looking back on the M*A*S*H series, Swit says her favorite episodes were “Margaret’s Engagement,” “Hot Lips & Empty Arms,” and “The Nurses.” All those titles seem perfectly fitting to her personality, but she further admits that she’s given up watching the program’s reruns.
Dishonorable Discharge
By the time the M*A*S*H TV series was around seven years old, now quite established as a mainstay of American television, actor Gary Burghoff had started to tire of working on the set. He missed his family and wanted to spend more time with them, and this ultimately led him to quit.
Mike Farrel tried to keep him from leaving but failed. Four years after his departure, TV columnist Mike Drew wrote about it saying, “No castmates cried much over the departure of Burghoff,” to which the latter bantered, “While there may not have have been tears shed by my cast members over my leaving the show, they did know – and still do – of my contribution.”