MASH (Season 3) DVD

Rated: Not Rated
Genre: TV Series
Length: 613 minutes
Director: Various
Year: (1974)

Britt Gillette's MASH (Season 3) DVD Review

Based on a Richard Hooker novel of the same name, MASH was released in 1970 as a full-length feature film by 20th Century Fox before experiencing widespread success as a groundbreaking television sitcom in the Fall of 1972. The show's brilliant integration of drama and comedy made it one of the most celebrated shows in TV history, culminating in an eleven year prime time series stint. The 1983 series finale of MASH made history as the program with the single largest audience in television history, beating out several SuperBowls and the fabled "Who Shot J.R." episode of Dallas. With the proliferation of new television mediums, it's a record likely to never be broken…

The sitcom is set in South Korea during American involvement in the Korea War (with M*A*S*H standing for "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital"). Buffered from the front lines by a mountain range and a minefield, the men and women of MASH were tasked with patching up wounded American soldiers. Unique to its genre, the cast of MASH was unusually large. Surgeons Dr. Benjamin Pierce (Alan Alda) and Dr. "Trapper" John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers) play the roles of excellent doctors who enjoy women and booze, while Dr. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) and Nurse Practitioner Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) play foil to the two men's shenanigans (due to a contract dispute, Rogers' character was later replaced by Dr. B.J. Hunnicutt - played by Mike Farrell). The character of Frank Burns was also later replaced by Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester (David Ogden Stiers)…

Corporal Max Klinger (Jamie Farr) provides comic relief with his early attempts to procure a discharge by dressing in women's clothing, and Father Francis Mulcahy (William Christopher) adds flavor to a diverse cast of characters. Also rounding out the cast are Lt. Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff), and Col. Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan)…

The MASH (Season 3) DVD offers a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere "The General Flipped at Dawn" in which the MASH unit is visited by Major General Bartford Steele who, through his various actions, is perceived to be mentally insane. When Pierce goes over Steele's head in the transfer of a medical patient, Steele orders a court martial, but Pierce is cleared when it becomes obvious that Steele is a mental case… Other notable episodes from Season 3 include "Iron Guts Kelly" in which a recently expired general is smuggled to the front lines where he would've preferred to have died, and "Aid Station" in which Hawkeye, Houlihan, and Klinger bond while at the front and develop a new respect for one another…

Below is a list of episodes included on the MASH (Season 3) DVD:

Episode 49 (The General Flipped at Dawn) Air Date: 09-10-1974
Episode 50 (Rainbow Bridge) Air Date: 09-17-1974
Episode 51 (Officer of the Day) Air Date: 09-24-1974
Episode 52 (Iron Guts Kelly) Air Date: 10-01-1974
Episode 53 (O.R.) Air Date: 10-08-1974
Episode 54 (Springtime) Air Date: 10-15-1974
Episode 55 (Check-Up) Air Date: 10-22-1974
Episode 56 (Life with Father) Air Date: 10-29-1974
Episode 57 (Alcoholics Unanimous) Air Date: 11-12-1974
Episode 58 (There is Nothing Like a Nurse) Air Date: 11-19-1974
Episode 59 (Adam's Ribs) Air Date: 11-26-1974
Episode 60 (A Full Rich Day) Air Date: 12-03-1974
Episode 61 (Mad Dogs and Servicemen) Air Date: 12-10-1974
Episode 62 (Private Charles Lamb) Air Date: 12-31-1974
Episode 63 (Bombed) Air Date: 01-07-1975
Episode 64 (Bulletin Board) Air Date: 01-14-1975
Episode 65 (The Consultant) Air Date: 01-21-1975
Episode 66 (House Arrest) Air Date: 02-04-1975
Episode 67 (Aid Station) Air Date: 02-11-1975
Episode 68 (Love and Marriage) Air Date: 02-18-1975
Episode 69 (Big Mac) Air Date: 02-25-1975
Episode 70 (Payday) Air Date: 03-04-1975
Episode 71 (White Gold) Air Date: 03-11-1975
Episode 72 (Abyssinia, Henry) Air Date: 03-18-1975

Britt Gillette

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Posted on 05 April 2005