All apologies to my…dozens of fans. December the last two years has been filled with classic television from before I was born and I dropped the ball this year. I consider Dave Chappelle’s show a classic, but that really doesn’t hold with the spirit. Apologies aside, here is that wacky dramedy set in and during the Korean War.
This review is brought to you by my father letting me stay up late on Saturday nights. Should I have been watching a show about drunken skirt-chasing surgeons? No but I shouldn’t have been watching wrestling either probably but here we are. “M*A*S*H” famously ran longer than the war it was lampooning and had an all but futile sequel. I just burned “After M*A*S*H*” and the Vietnam War in one sentence. Take that Jaime Farr!
Imagine “Hogan’s Heroes” but less flippant about war. There, you’ve got the right idea now. Critics (the internet is full of them) have tagged this program for getting a little maudlin towards the end of its run. This is when star Alan Alda started having more creative control as well. I would really blame them because, let’s face it, war lends itself to being a little sad. It is kind of crazy though. After all that bloodshed and war, main character “Hawkeye” Pierce gets so worked about a women killing a chicken on a bus.
IT WAS A BABY!
Old Hawk is everything Glen Quagmire wants to be without all the rape. He’s a hotshot surgeon serving his country and he is drowning in a sea of hot nurses. Even so, the still in his tent and his sexism gave me the creeps. I’m not sure what people saw in him. He’s always cracking wise and scooping up 18 year old nurses. You’re like 45 man! If this guy is the most competent man on staff I think America is in trouble.
Oh we tied the war? My bad. I mean we had a guy carrying a teddy bear around, some weird priest, and trashy blonde troll and somehow this guy “Trapper John” left the war and became Adam from “Bonanza”. I just wrote that sentence and I barely know what it meant.
Okay, for real talk about the people. Radar is basically everyone’s little grunt. He’s a sweet kid though and they all seem to like him until they need something. The actor that played him left the show before the finale and went on to….not be in the finale movie. I think his bear was though.
Klinger worse a dress, one Colonel was smart and the other was stupid. The latter also is in the bottom of a sea right now since his plan went down. God the creators of this show must have really been mad at that actor.
Originally Frank Burns is the antagonist to our…heroes? Frank has the nerve to want things to be orderly and professional. Then again he’s cheating on his wife with old Hot Lips so he really is a bad guy. Frank is like Squidward and Hot Lips is the clarinet. Just, don’t imagine the former pair in the analogy…..blowing anything.
I didn’t devote enough time to Hot Lips really, but I never really cared for the character. I just want to end by talking about the one guy in this show that was likeable.
NO! You sucked more than anyone. I mean BJ. He had a mustache, he didn’t cheat on his wife and cared about his kid. He also leaves us a good screenshot for me to go out on:
