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Summary: About the character of Charles Emerson Winchester
Review: He was very much a product of the writers. Do not give actor David Ogden Stiers all the credit for creating CEW as much of Winchester that made him popular (like his nifty Boston background) was the invention of writers not Stiers himself. Show still very good (though inferior to it's first three years). BTW Hawk became an only child in season four, not season six.
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Summary: The Winchester Years!
Review: I loved it when Charles Emmerson Winchester III came into MASH, he was a brilliant character who Hawkeye and BJ couldn't toy with the way they did with Frank Burns, they got back just as much as they gave, which was refreshing in a way. Also Winchester showed a humane side to him that Frank Burns could never or just wouldn't do. I love the Winchester/Klinger duo thing developing throughout the series and the fact that Klinger could also develop more as a character. Although I loved the early years of MASH and have series 1-5, I am looking forward to start collecting the rest of the series with the new gang!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A New Era
Review: I think the show really peaked during seasons 3, 4 and 5, with season #4 being the best overall. Just incredible material!! Don't get me wrong, all of MASH is fantastic. Season 6 has some great episodes and I can't wait for 6/8/04, as well as season 7 later on this year!!
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Summary: Season 6 -- A New Era
Review: I think the show really peaked during seasons 3, 4, and 5, with the best season in my opinion being #4. Just incredible material. Season six is on the back end of the shows' peak; however, it is nonetheless fantastic!! Some great moments for sure. Don't get me wrong, every season is great, and I can't wait for season 7 later this year
Rating:
Summary: Good, but gradually declining
Review: I thought that the M*A*S*H Six Season DVD was good, but you can statrt to see the decline of the show somewhat, especially in episodes like "In Love and War," and Comrades in Arms, both of which were written by Alan Alda. I especially didn't like the constant bickering between Hawkeye and Hot Lips in the episode. It makes you want to go to a nebbish convention. However the great majority of episodes in the season, including "Change Day," "The Winchester Tapes," and "Major Topper," still are funny and faithful to the first five seasons of the show.
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Summary: I LOVE M*A*S*H
Review: I was just 15 when M*A*S*H first aired, and fell instantly in love with the show. Even now, I can only find a few faults with the program. The one that persistently bothers me is the fact that during the first 5 seasons, Larry Linville's character was never allowed to grow, or mature. When I contemplate how WELL he handled the character of Frank Burns as a pathetic, sad, jerk; I often wonder what it would have been like if he had been allowed to make Frank 'grow up'.
The producers of the show were fortunate indeed when they found David Ogden-Stires to play the role of "Charles Emerson Winchester, III; he was a fresh and hilarious version of the necessary "jerk' character, and I am really looking forward to receiving my copy of the 6th season!
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Summary: I'VE BEEN A BIG MASH FAN FOR 5 YEARS NOW
Review: I'M SO HAPPY THAT SEASON 6 OF MASH WAS PUT ON DVD ITS SO FUNNY AND IT RULES!
MY FAVORITE EPISODES FROM SEASON 6 ARE COMRADES IN ARMS THE SMELL OF MUSIC THAT EPISODE IS SO FUNNY I COULDN'T STOP LAUGHING!
I'VE BEEN A BIG MASH FAN FOR 5 YEARS NOW I LOVE IT!
FROM A BIG MASH FAN FOR 5 YEARS NOW KIRSTEN
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the 4077th Charles Emerson Winchester, III
Review: In a refreshing change from Maj. Burns, we welcome David Ogden Stiers as Major Charles Emerson Winchester, III, Hawkeye's and BJ equal in every sense, as long as it's Medical!!
A thoroughly enjoyable season contined M*A*S*H's tradition of brilliantly mixed drams with comedy and vice versa. We also got a lot of depth on all the other characters as well.
Other than M*A*S*H, there's only one other show I can watch repeatedly, and still laugh outloud and that's Frasier.
For the episodes themselves, M*A*S*H has never been better, more convenient, and funnier (thanks to long edited scenes rarely seen in syndicated TV)! It's almost like seeing it for the first time. I was surprised to notice that many episodes had close to five (5) minutes edited out in Syndication.
One allure of DVD's, in addition to the Sound and Picture Quality, are the "Extras". Other than the ability to take out the laugh tracks (Yes!), this has none. There are no cast interviews, no bloopers, no Director's/Producers/Writers Commentary, not even Cast Biographies. Even the insert is rather plan and has nothing extra to it. The episode description look as though they were written by some one who hadn't even watched the show. I was hoping for more when the DVD's came out. Like the book "Complete Book of M*A*S*H" was not complete in it's fullest sense by leaving out that which would have made it truly complete (the secondary story lines, etc.), this is not complete in the DVD's fullest sense...the extras we've all come to expect in them. In that respect I am disappointed. But I am not disappointed in having a whole season on only 3 DVD's! I am not disappointed in the quality of the sound and picture (much better than the Video's from Columbia House and the Broadcast versions).
My only other complaint is with their painfully slow release schedule of only two seasons per year. At this rate, it's going to be the end of 2006 before the whole series is available.
A great season you surely don't want to miss.
Now, on to Season 7!
Rating:
Summary: Out with Frank, in with Charles
Review: In the opening episode, "Fade Out, Fade In," we learn that Frank Burnes has gone totally bonkers and won't be coming back to the 4077th. He is replaced by Charles Emerson Winchester III (played by David Ogden Stiers), an intellectual Bostonian snob. Like Frank, Charles is also a class-A jerk, but he's a jerk with more sophistication. For example, in "The Smell of Music" (one of my all-time favorites), he insists on playing his French horn [badly], to the annoyance of Hawkeye and BJ, who, in turn, refuse to bathe until the music stops. A feud ensues. Charles doesn't rant and rave like Frank -- he just calmly goes on playing through it all. The wit here is more subtle than in previous seasons, but still hilarious. Frank was basically a schoolyard bully, and he never outgrew that role. When he left the 4077th he was pretty much the same jerk he had been when he arrived. Charles, on the other hand, will grow and mature as the series progresses. He learns in "The Light that Failed" that he is capable of making mistakes like anybody else. In "Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde" his self-abuse of amphetamines to keep up with the hectic pace (and his facade of perfection?) has disastrous results. By the end of the season, he comes down off his high horse a bit and joins the team -- but never loses his upper-crust dignity. Other characters also begin to grow in new directions during this season. Margaret becomes more humanized, and is no longer merely a foil for sexist jokes. Much of this was due to Alan Alda having his own consciousness raised on feminist issues. This season aired in 1977-78, remember, and the times they were a'changing. Frankly speaking (pun intended), much of the crude humor in the early seasons was based on jokes that would now be considered sexual harrassment. After "Comrades in Arms" in this season, Margaret and Hawkeye reach a truce of sorts, and treat each other with more respect. While some fans deplore the sixth-season switch from heavy comedy to more serious drama, I applaud it wholeheartedly. Had the show continued with its original form of verbal slapstick, it would probably have gone off the air long before it did. As the actors and audience matured over the years, so did the show -- and that was its strength. I love this season, and look forward to the rest.
Rating:
Summary: Say Good-Bye to Boston Charles Emerson Winchester
Review: M*A*S*H is like almost no other show in the history of television. It survived many cast changes. Back in Season 4 Colonel Blake was replaced by Potter, and Trapper John was replaced by B.J Honeycutt. Season 6 witnessed the arrival of Charles Emerson Winchester. Like in the other cast changes there were big changes in the characters. This seasons big change was no exception. Charles was everything that Frank wasn't. Charles was a very talented surgeon, Frank wasn't. Charles was able to keep up with B.J and Hawkeye with practical jokes, and sociability. Frank was neither.
Fade out Fade In - Frank Burns flips his beanie in Seoul in search of Margaret on Donald on their honeymoon. He acts like he's shampooing a woman's hair and begs to clip her toenails then jumps off a moving bus, nibbles on a womans buttons, and jumps into a hot-tub with a big time general and his wife. Meanwhile Charles Emerson Winchester, a high class Boston surgeon in Tokyo teaching new techniques is playing cribbage with a colonel. He wins $672.17 which gets him sent to the 4077th to fill in for Frank, who's in the middle of his tyrade.
Frank's actions get him transfered out of the 4077th. The charges are dropped and Frank is transfered back to Indiana and promoted. Potter seeks a new permanent surgeon. Charles happens to end up stuck in Korea for the duration.
Fallen Idol - Radar, acting upon an idea of Hawkeye's, heads to Seoul to "AHEM". He gets injured, and is delivered back to the 4077th on a stretcher. Very poinient. We see a major shift in the relationship between Radar and Hawkeye.They both argue for a while until they realize that they are no different. Things might have changed a bit, but they still respect each-other.
Last Laugh - A report that B.J is under investigation turns out to be a good friend of B.J pulling off a master practical joke. This leads to a nice series of jokes. A hotel party that gets B.J arrested, an exploding cigar, and electic buzzer handshake, stolen papers, and a jeep with no gas.
War Of Nerves - Sydney comes to MASH as a patient, and ends up helping everyone out who are stressed out due to hard work and little sleep. Sydney talks to each of the main members individually. The process of burning uniforms leads to a bon fire which include a ladder. Potter tells Sgt. Zale that if the ladder doesn't come down he'll find a giant hot-foot in his record. Sydney tells Potter that the fire might just be the release that the camp needs to ease the tension that is gripping the camp.
Images - Radar wants a tattoo. Margaret has a falling out with one of her nurses. They end up getting closer when Margaret realizes that she was just too harsh on her and that some people adjust longer to the blood and mess of MASH.
The Grim-Reaper - Colonel Bloodworth, callous and uncaring, gets the ire of Hawkeye, who shoves him into a wall at the O-Club. The Colonel threatens to court-marital Pierce. Charles has a gourmet meal that he shares with Margaret and not his swamp mates. This makes him and Margaret sick. An injured soldier, Danker, comes in only to head right back home that same day from injuries. He's from Toledo Ohio. Klinger shows up in a bright dress and they both talk about Toledo. Colonel Bloodworth shows up on a stetcher. He gets to see first hand that Hawkeye is a bright surgeon who just happens to use his humor as an escape. He decides not to charge him. The end of the show has Klinger, Hawkeye, B.J, and then Charles eating Packo's Hungarian Hot-Dogs, a Toledo staple sent to Klinger by Danker upon his return to Toledo.
Comrades in Arms. This is a two parter where Margaret are send to the front and never get to their target camp. They end up in a hut and spent the night in each-others arms. Bombs going off all around them. B.J and a pilot disobey orders and go looking for them. Potter gets on the radio and orders them back to 4077th. Just as they are turning around B.J sees Margaret.
Merchat Of Korea - B.J gets a note from his wife that some land that they want is available if he can sent money to her. He doesn't have it. Hawkeye and Radar are also broke. Charles, though, lends it to him. He then acts like it's his ticket to have B.J do him favors. B.J ends up challenging Charles to a game of poker. At first Charles blows them all away. They find the secret to his playing, and take him to the cleaners.
The Smell Of Music - Charles, much to the dismay of B.J, and Hawkeye, gets a new horn. He keeps playing and playing. B.J and Hawkeye refuse to shower until he stops. This get them both evicted from the mess tent. Charles plays while they are both arguing over their odor. The take the war to new heights. B.J and Hawkeye have a kazoo, a jeep horn, and a barrel and try to play louder then Charles. Also Potter deals with a suicidal patient. This ends with B.J and Hawkeye getting a bath from the entire camp. Charles' horn gets smashed under a jeep.
Mail Call Three - Mail is delayed for a few weeks. When it finally comes it brings bad news for some good for others, and causes problems all around. B.J gets distressing news from home, Charles gets good news on stocks, Klinger gets a Dear Maxie letter, and Hawkeye gets letters from another Ben Pierce. Klinger goes AWOL, B.J calls home, waking up Radar. B.J finds that he's still needed at home, and Klinger comes back on his own.
Temporary Duty - An exchange brings a boorish, but talented, doctor to the 4077th. It also brings an old friend of Margaret's. They both talk about old times. The boorish surgeon talks of a permanent transfer. Charles conspires to get rid of him by having him ride Sofie, Potter's beloved steed. This gets him booted out of the camp real quickly.
Potter's Retirement - A series of bad reports on the 4077th causes Potter to examine his career. He comes back on fire and rips into Radar, Hawkeye, B.J, and Margaret. He interupts a Kentucky Derby party to announce that he's leaving Korea. He later tells B.J and Hawkeye that the reports are coming from the camp itself. B.J. and Hawkeye think that it's Charles, and dig through his stuff. Charles catches them and tells them to check the mail. Radar B.J and Hawkeye look through the mail and find out who it is. The turn him in to Potter, who the convince to stay.
Dr. Winchester and Mr. Hyde - To survive long bouts of surgery and lab work, Charles turns to taking amphetamines to stay awake. Meanwhile, after joking with some Marines that he wanted to be a Marine, Radar sets up a race between Sluggo, the Marine's rat, and Daisy, his mouse. B.J and Hawkeye set up wagers and the whole camp gets involved. Race day comes and Charles is really starting to feel the effects of the pills he's been on. He's racing around all night, and is nervous as all get up. Radar's mouse wins the race, at 10 to 1 odds against. The entire camp celebrates, aside from Charles, who crashes from his ride on amphetamines. A few weeks after he finally breaks the habit, he's back to normal, with no major changes.
M*A*S*H really started to touch on serious issues with a great sense of humor in the last 6 years of the show. This year touched upon a soldier with frayed nerves, love, the Olympics, calous Colonels, wartime passions, internation relations, serveral long sessions of O.R., more mail calls, temporary duties, and drug abuse. Mash was so able to do what so many shows these days don't do. I see so many shows that are all about sex and sex and sex. How I yearn for another show like MASH to come along.
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