M*A*S*H used both an outdoor set and a mockup of the camp on an indoor soundstage. The outdoor set was in Malibu Creek State Park. The site now has picnic tables, a derelict ambulance and jeep from the show, info signs, and ropes that outline where the tents were. http://www.hikespeak.com/trails/mash-hike-malibu-creek-state-park/
And it was a freaking great show until Alan Alda took over as director about half way through and killed all the fun. Turned it into a platform for his liberal ass bullshit. Wtf Hawkeye?
I don't remember that . . . there were 36 different directors on the show. I think the writing got better in the last five years and the cast got a lot better, too. The casting was always brilliant. The show actually managed to replace three major characters without missing a beat and those characters were both funnier and more believable than the originals (Trapper John/BJ Hunnicut) (Henry Blake/Sherman Potter) and (Frank Burns/Charles Winchester). Then they were smart enough to not even try to replace Radar but instead promoted Klinger to clerk which worked because the old Klinger dress routine was getting old.
Im not sure how many Alda directed but they are easy to figure out. They are the ones that aren't funny and stay stuck on the tragedies of war.
I liked Trapper John better than BJ and Frank Burns was funnier than Winchester. Colonel Potter was a lot more believable as a real Army Colonel than Blake. Somebody like Blake would never get promoted that high. And Shane is right about Alan Alda. He always had some liberal agenda to promote at the expense of being funny
Burns was completely unbelievable as a doctor or an officer, a buffoon. Winchester allowed for some more sophisticated humor.
True about burns but he was part of some of the funniest stuff. When hawk and trapper were in those gorilla costumes. Still split a gut watching that. But yeah he was a tool.
Burns was unlikeable but somewhat believable early in the series. He was much like the character from the novel and movie, a holy roller and not a bad doctor, just not as good as he thought he was. I think as it became clear that he was leaving the show after his last season, they wrote him to become so unlikeable and so unbelievable that it was a welcome relief when he left. Winchester was a much more worthy foil for Hawkeye/BJ. And speaking of....I know I'm in the minority of M*A*S*H fans in preferring BJ to Trapper. Go back and watch the first 3 seasons, you can't help but notice that Trapper really didn't offer much in the way of his own comedy; he just played off of Hawkeye. BJ was funny in his own right.
