Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The last MASH

A reader inquired about the final MASH and whether I was involved in that one too. Directly? No. I had left the show several seasons before. But I did take part in some of the celebratory hoopla. You know me – a party in a bag.

As for the episode itself, it was written by Alan Alda and the staff at the time. The last show was broken down into half hour segments and each writer or team would be assigned one. They would then collaborate with Alan. Ironically, like with CHEERS, the final episode was not the last one shot. Each series filmed one additional episode (that obviously aired before the finale). Although, in the case of CHEERS, after that last episode was filmed and the audience was sent home, the final scene of everyone sitting around the bar was shot. So when the final wrap was called it was just the staff there to see it.

But I digress…(as usual)

The cast and staff of MASH from that final season watched the finale in a screening room. I was not invited. I watched the episode at home like one or two other people.

There was however, a huge party for everyone associated with the series at Morton’s restaurant in West Hollywood a week or so before the airing. That I was invited to. Our son Matt was two months old and we got my parents to sit. I think it was our first night out since he was born so my wife and I would have been thrilled to be invited to the premiere party for HOSTEL.

The MASH soirée was tre elegant. Bobby Short played. Imagine being able to just lean on the piano while Bobby Short sang. I also met Larry Gelbart for the first time. Larry had left the show the year before we came aboard. From time to time we would hear second hand that he liked a particular episode and it would boost our spirits for months.

At one point my wife and I approached Gene Reynolds, one of the real creative forces of MASH (and the man who originally hired us. Blame him for our career.) He was in a small group of people. We exchanged greetings and then Gene introduced one of the group members. “Do you know Gerald Ford?” Uh…no, but I’ve heard of him. So there we were chatting up the former president of the United States.

It was a great and memorable night. Too great and memorable. When Executive Producer Burt Metcalfe took my partner David and I aside and said Larry Gelbart was going to create the sequel and wondered if we were interested in getting involved, we might not have said, “Sure! You bet!” AfterMASH sounded a lot better with four glasses of wine and the former leader of the free world saying he enjoyed our work.

18 comments :

  1. It's hard for me to understand the popularity of MASH. It came on the air when I turned 16 (and got a drivers licence) and ran during a time when I watched almost no TV due to being out at night living a young man's life. Whenever I have tried to watch an episode in reruns (in my more sedentary years), it just seems so dated and silly. What is the fascination? Compared to Coupling, it isn't even a distant runner-up in quality.

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  2. I would say the fascination with MASH is that people like comedy.

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  3. And it also had more depth than many comedies, as well as tapping into the thinking of a large percentage of the audience at the time. Along with being very funny, that meant it had a lot to offer.

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  4. http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/165203/

    South Park deals with the WGA strike!

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  5. I feel as though I was at the party with you - thanks for writing this. I, too, have a wonderful Bobby Short memory - of seeing and hearing him sing the Oyster Song in the Cafe Carlyle on New Year's Eve Eve. I've never read of someone chatting up Gerry Ford, though!

    How about your memoirs? Any possibility of you writing them?

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  6. So, wait, the Republicans were responsible for Aftermash?

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  7. Ken, when you're tired of being you, may I take over?

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  8. Jimbo, I'm about the same age as you are. When MASH was about to make its TV debut, I was appalled. How could that brilliant, biting film satire be shrunken down to a sitcom? Then, I watched the premiere, teeth clenched. It blew me away. And continued to do so for all of its eleven (11 Ken?) years.

    The popularity of MASH was/is the brilliant blending of social satire, social commentary and comedy, that was then put into the hands of gifted actors and directors. I'm so sorry that you can't see that. It may seem silly using the today's sensibilities as your measuring stick, and certainly, there was PLENTY of SCHTICK, but, MASH never used schtick to supplant quality of writing. Many sitcoms lose their momentum by using schtick instead of brains for laughs. MASH was never one of them.

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  9. methinks Jimbo is being sarcastic. i mean, COUPLING?

    and i thought the idea behind AfterMASH was just great, since veterans are frequently forgotten once a war is over. the execution didn't quite pan out, but i don't see any flawed thinking in that it coulda been a great show.

    but what do i know? i still want to see a "Sidney Freedman" spin-off!

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  10. I don't think jimbo's being sarcastic; just disingenuous. Surely he realizes that he need not share someone's enthusiasm for a show to understand it. I presume he likes Coupling (which I haven't seen) because he finds it funny, smart, provocative -- the same reasons some of us like M*A*S*H. But nothing we say will make him suddenly exclaim, "Oh, NOW I get it! You're right, M*A*S*H is great!"

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  11. From what I remember, AfterMASH wasn't a bad show. But these were three supporting characters that should've have stayed that. With all due respect, a little Klinger, a little Mulcahy, a little Potter, goes a long way.

    Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle, as with a Frasier or Lou Grant. Sometimes you don't (Joanie loves Chachi, Joey, etc)

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  12. Comparing MASH to Coupling gave me intellectual whiplash. Both good shows, but apples and oranges.

    MASH was better when the funny guys (like Ken and Larry) were around, and less "it was a baby, it was a baby" brooding.

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  13. Goodbye, Amen and Farewell to that!

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  14. Thanks for answering my question, Ken. (For whatever it's worth, I consider M*A*S*H to be really three shows in terms of tone -- Seasons 1-2, Seasons 3-7 and Seasons 8-11, with the first two years being a little too silly and the final four a little too serious. The middle was where they hit the balance just right, and you and David were part of that period).

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  15. Maybe jimbo meant 'Kipling.' Or 'coupling' in the Biblical sense. Or both. As far as the show 'Coupling' being near MASH standards, I'd have to say, "Horse hockey!"
    The backstory situation, such death and agony, and the docs' ability to laugh to survive mentally, made it for me. Seeing the pain in Alda's face when he cracked a joke...or maybe that was just gas, what do I know....
    What absolutely ruined MASH for me was, after years of repeats, my little brother's ability to recite every dang line 3 seconds before the character said it.

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  16. It's weird... I actually remember where I was when the last MASH aired. I was working in a JC PENNEY TV department in Holyoke, MASS and I watched the first half hour on 25 TV sets on the wall, along with a few customers... then when the store closed at 9:30 I raced home to watch the rest of it... no VCR or TIVO in those days. I guess my point is, there haven't been many shows in TV history that elicited that sort of response from people all around the country. I envy you having been a part of something as special as MASH, Ken. Well done.

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  17. Kipling reminds me...

    Beverly Hillbillies.

    Q: Do you like Kipling?

    Jed: I don't know. I ain't never kippled.

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  18. that'd be "david and [me] aside"...

    u call yerself a writer... ?? ;)

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