I watched Hawkeye Pierce prank snooty Charles Emerson Winchester on “M*A*S*H.” NY Times
I watched M*A*S*H when I was younger. Of course, we loved the prankster, Hawkeye, who was funny and witty and kind and who kind of hi-jacked the show in the first year after it become popular. It happens to a lot of sitcoms. Sitcoms are like buildings: an architect designs one with regard to a harmonious and balanced over-all design. Then the buyer looks at the plans and says, “I love the balcony– I want six more. And can we make this part bigger? And I want a wall here.” And thus the harmony, balance, and the acoustics are destroyed and it becomes a mediocre building. They are like chefs who prepare a wonderful dish only to see the diners smother it with ketchup and salt.
That is, indeed, what happened to M*A*S*H. The show became Hawkeye-centric. That is why Wayne Rogers, who played Trapper John initially, left the show. He had been promised one thing, in the early scripts, but the producers wanted more Hawkeye. They wanted more cowbell. They wanted more Fonz. They wanted more Sheldon.
The original butt of all jokes was Frank Burns, of course, who carried on a passionate affair with “Hot Lips” Hoolihan. But Frank was a moron. Charles Winchester was more challenging: he really was smarter than Hawkeye.
Until now, I never clued into another peculiarity. We all joined in the ridicule of Charles Emerson Winchester. Ha ha! So snooty! He deserves his comeuppance. Well, the character, as depicted in the show, deserved his comeuppance. Decoded, the message was different. Decoded, the message was that educated, intellectual people are not as smart as they think they are and they should be mocked and ridiculed to prove that we working class schmucks are really smarter than they are. You are not going to see a likable smart character who reads books and thinks about complex issues. (Unless, like Sheldon in “Big Bang Theory”, they are weird and funny and socially inept. And everyone suddenly depends on those smart people to keep their computers and “smart” phones connected to Instagram and Facebook. But Sheldon is never shown to prefer foreign films or books by David Foster Wallace or poetry or serious art; he is a technician.)
Hawkeye Pierce was a progenitor of Donald Trump. Charles Winchester was a progenitor of Hillary Clinton. Hawkeye (and Alan Alda, who played him) are presented as “liberal” in a harmless, ineffectual way. He stands for tolerance and kindness and is against war (who isn’t), but not single-payer healthcare or a carbon tax.
Incidentally, CBS and many fans are pissed off that “Big Bang Theory” never got much love at the Emmy’s, aside from Jim Parsons’ nominations for acting. “One of the funniest comedies in TV history”, says a CBS executive. Not even close. It didn’t deserve any Emmy’s. The funniest comedies in TV history are “The Larry Sanders Show”, “All in the Family”, “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, “I Love Lucy”, and “Seinfeld”. And “All in the Family” doesn’t really deserve this ranking for it’s comedy, but for its bold introduction of the 20th century to TV sitcoms, for its topicality, and it’s grit.
I thought that TV sitcoms would never be the same afterwards, but here we are, 40 years later, and TV is once again dominated by sitcoms that resemble “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Make Room for Daddy” and “My Mother the Car” more than “All in the Family” or “Maude”. No, we don’t have talking horses or cars, but the jokes are the same: Sheldon thinks everyone forgot his birthday. Lucy thinks everyone forgot her birthday. Edith thinks everyone forgot her birthday. The Fonz thinks everyone forgot his birthday. Mr. Ed thinks Wilbur forgot his birthday.
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 52% approval rating for the first season based on reviews from 23 critics, with an average rating of 5.18/10. Wikipedia
That sounds about right.