M.A.S.H.

M.A.S.H.

M.A.S.H.

M.A.S.H. is an American TV series. It was made by Larry Gelbart, inspired by Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It was produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS. Five decades after the widespread distribution of television, the relationship between television and American culture can best be described as ambivalent. On the one hand, the industry has made a genuine effort to treat American Jews as artists on an equal basis with whites, to end discrimination against them, and to depict them realistically. On the other hand, the industry continues to portray characters in stereotypical ways and is reluctant to hire them or to develop their talents.

This paper presents an analysis of a popular TV series, which has influenced the traditional American culture in myriad of ways; M.A.S.H. that ran for eleven sessions (Greenberg, 2007). While no one disputes M.A.S.H. as status as one of the most famous TV series watched by milions of viewers, it is arguably the format of M.A.S.H. that remains unique and influenced the American public at large. (Greenberg, 2007).

M*A*S*H aired weekly in its original CBS run, with most episodes being a half-hour in length. The series is usually categorized as a situation comedy, though it is sometimes also described as a "dark comedy" or a "dramedy" because of the dramatic subject material often presented.[3] The show was an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH; the asterisks in the name are meaningless, a contrivance introduced in the novel) in the Korean War (1950-53). The 4077th MASH was just one of several surgical units in Korea. As the show developed, the writing took on more of a moralistic tone. Richard Hooker, who wrote the book on which the show (and the film version) was based, noted that Hawkeye was far more liberal in the show (in one of the sequel books, Hawkeye, in fact, makes reference to "kicking the bejesus out of lefties just to stay in shape"). While the show was mostly comedy, there were many episodes of a more serious tone. Stories were both plot- and character-driven. Most of the characters were draftees, with dramatic tension often occurring between them and "regular Army" characters, either among the cast.

M.A.S.H.'s rise from an ordinary TV series to the height of its popularity can be seen as a powerful reminder of the rags-to-riches metaphor ...