Writing As the series progressed, it made a significant shift from being primarily a comedy with dramatic undertones to a drama with comedic overtones. This was a result of changes in writing, production and acting staff. Series co-creator and comedy writer
Larry Gelbart departed after season 4. Executive producer
Gene Reynolds departed at the conclusion of season 5 in 1977, resulting in
M*A*S*H being almost fully stripped of its original comedic foundation by the beginning of season 6. Wayne Rogers' Trapper John had been Hawkeye's partner in high jinks and womanizing, while his successor in Mike Farrell's B.J. gave Hawkeye a more mature best friendship. A gentler characterization made Margaret a less pointed comedy foil, and after Klinger took over Radar's responsibilities he discontinued cross-dressing and other attempts to get a
Section 8 psychiatric discharge. The end of the Vietnam War in 1975 was a significant factor as to why storylines become less political in nature and more character-driven. Several episodes experimented by going outside the sitcom format: • "Point of View" – shown from the perspective of a soldier with a throat wound • "Dreams" – an idea of Alda's, where during a deluge of casualties, members of the 4077th take naps on a rotation basis, allowing the viewer to see the simultaneously lyrical and disturbing dreams • "A War For All Seasons" – features a story line that takes place over the course of 1951 • "Life Time" – utilizes a
real-time method of narration but subsequently was determined to have survived the fire. as part of the "MASH: Binding Up the Wounds" exhibit in 1983 There was an exhibition called
M*A*S*H: Binding Up the Wounds at the
National Museum of American History from July 30, 1983, through February 3, 1985. The exhibition was extremely popular, drawing more than 17,000 in a single week, a record for any Smithsonian display. The Swamp and Operating Room sets, one of the show's 14 Emmy Awards, early drafts of the pilot script, costumes from the show and other memorabilia were all exhibited. Sets were decorated with props from the show including the iconic signpost, Hawkeye's
still and Major Winchester's
Webcor tape recorder and phonograph. The exhibit also encouraged visitors to compare the show to real Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals of the Korean and the Vietnam Wars.
Laugh track Series creators Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds wanted
M*A*S*H broadcast without a
laugh track. Though CBS initially rejected the idea, a compromise was reached that allowed for omitting the laughter during operating room scenes if desired. "We told the network that under no circumstances would we ever can laughter during an OR scene when the doctors were working," said Gelbart in 1998. "It's hard to imagine that 300 people were in there laughing at somebody's guts being sewn up." Seasons 1–5 utilized a more invasive laugh track; a more subdued audience was employed for seasons 6–11 when the series shifted from sitcom to comedy drama with the departure of Gelbart and Reynolds. Several episodes ("O.R.", "The Bus", "
Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?", "
The Interview", "Point of View" and "
Dreams" among them) omitted the laugh track altogether; as did almost all of season 11, including the 135-minute series finale, "
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". On all released DVDs, both in Region 1 (including the U.S. and Canada) and Region 2 (Europe, including the UK), an option is given to watch the show with or without the laugh track. "They're a lie," said Gelbart in a 1992 interview. "You're telling an engineer when to push a button to produce a laugh from people who don't exist. It's just so dishonest. The biggest shows when we were on the air were
All in the Family and
The Mary Tyler Moore Show both of which were taped before a live studio audience where laughter made sense," continued Gelbart. "But our show was a film show—supposedly shot in the middle of
Korea. So the question I always asked the network was, 'Who are these laughing people? Where did they come from?'" Gelbart persuaded CBS to test the show in private screenings with and without the laugh track. The results showed no measurable difference in the audience's enjoyment. "So you know what they said?" Gelbart said. Since there's no difference, let's leave it alone!' The people who defend laugh tracks have no sense of humor." Gelbart summed up the situation by saying, "I always thought it cheapened the show. The network got their way. They were paying for dinner."
Content In his blog, writer Ken Levine revealed that on one occasion, when the cast offered too many nitpicking "notes" on a script, he and his writing partner changed the script to a "cold show"—one set during the frigid Korean winter. The cast then had to stand around barrel fires in parkas at the Malibu ranch when the temperatures neared . Levine says, "This happened maybe twice, and we never got a ticky-tack note again."
Jackie Cooper wrote that Alan Alda—whom Cooper directed in several episodes during the first two seasons—concealed what Cooper felt was a lot of hostility toward him, and the two barely spoke to each other by the time Cooper's tenure on the show ended. ==Episodes==