What's new

HTF REVIEW: M*A*S*H Season 3 (1 Viewer)

AllanN

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 15, 2002
Messages
950
There is a famous story about that ending. The
cast had no idea how the show was going to end.
When Radar walks into the tent and makes the major
announcement, the reactions across the faces of the
cast are VERY real. They had no idea what they were
about to be told.
This was they way it was shot but there was a technical error and the scene had to be reshot.
 

Bill Williams

Screenwriter
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
1,697
Did anyone catch A&E Biography last night about M*A*S*H? They shared a lot of information on the development of the series, most of which I'd already heard before, but they had some good behind-the-scenes footage and a rare series interstitial which I'd never seen before. And this special was produced - believe it or not - by Fox. Possible inclusion in a future DVD set?

They also mentioned that they had filmed the pilot specifically where they did not want to have a laugh track added, but in order for the series to get on air, Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds had to compromise and have a laugh track in the non-OR scenes.

From what I remember reading about the final classic scene in "Abyssinia Henry", the writers had told everyone that they would have a scene in OR, no idea what would be said or anything, then pulled Gary Burghoff aside and gave him his script at the last second in which his now-famous message was present. That added to the sense of realism to the scene, and having the cast react instead of act made it all the more powerful. To this day that scene still resonates 30 years later as a moment that can still smack you in the gut because of its intensity. Television doesn't get any better than that.

One thing I didn't like about Season 3 on DVD was the obvious Photoshop-ed artwork of Radar and Henry. It looks like their heads were plastered on two other bodies, because the heads were too big for the bodies. More natural poses or original cast photos would work better for the cover art.

As for extras in future sets, I wouldn't mind seeing the A&E Biography, the MASH reunion special, the 90's special "Memories of MASH", and even the E! documentary on the special. Those are good extras, and while repetitive on much of the information, having them around is good.

Great review! I'm looking forward to Season 4 soon!
 

Alistair_M

Second Unit
Joined
Oct 11, 2002
Messages
276
I love this series on dvd. Its surprised me how many episodes I've never seen. I used to watch it in the 1980s when it was on BBC2 and taped all of them. It does look as though several episodes were not shown on british tv during the run.

Another great thing about the series is the price - its very good value - only £16 per series if you preorder (dvdsoon). I've bought all 3 series to date, and will get probably up to the end of series 6. I thought the last 4 series were very poor (they seem to run out of ideas, and the characters became too lovey dovey).
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,712
Messages
5,121,147
Members
144,147
Latest member
cennetkaralowa
Recent bookmarks
0
Top