Ken Levine spoofs Aaron Sorkin

Mike Farrell was unwatchable.

 

OK, then let's discuss.
Worst Bad Era MASH episode -- the one where Hawkeye gets punked by the nursing staff after advertising his availability with a bottle of vintage wine, or the "Why don't you ever notice me?" episode featuring Nurse Kellye?
I vote for the second.

 

I think it was the one where Harry Morgan got drunk and beat up half the nurses in a drunken rage and they had to call the MP's on him.

Oh wait - that was real life.

 

THAT I'd have watched.

 

I think that was on AfterMASH.

And we've had this on a thread before, but it's always joyous (to me) to have an opportunity to bring up Gary Burghoff's failed pilot, W*A*L*T*E*R, in which Rader becomes a cop:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%2AA%2AL%2AT%2AE%2AR

/oh yeah, and Levine's thing was very funny

 

Holy god, that would have sucked.
And Doug Rader was a cop?
Who knew?

 

The episode where Rader took a shit on the birthday cake was a classic.

 

That was Sparky Lyle, I think, but excellent Ball Four range there, EB.

 

I don't know who was to blame, but the problem with 'MASH' was losing the Frank Burns character.
When 'MASH' was at its best, Burns and Hot Lips were just the bad guys. There were no attempts to humanize them or provide perspective on why they were the way they were. They were supposed to be funny, weird and unlikeable, and they were.
Then Hot Lips and Burns broke up, and the Hot Lips character changed. She became more real, more multi-dimensional and less funny.
And then the Burns character left. In comes Winchester, more real, more multi-dimensional and less funny.
I think there's also a direct correlation between increased Jamie Farr screen time and declining funniness.

 

Buck --
I think you're onto something, although the William Christopher factor is not to be underestimated.

 

Lorretta Switt always looked kinda manish to me. I wouldn't fuck her with Bea Authur's dick.

The show really started its downward spiral after MacIntyre left. When the show started - Pierce and MacIntyre were supposed be equals like in the movie. When it became the Alan Alda show it lost its fastball.

 

But not right away. The key to me always is to check and see if Larry Gelbart's name is still in the credits. If it is, then I'll watch. Gelbart worked his chops in Sid Caesar's writing room, competing with Neil Simon and Woody Allen. He also wrote a lot of the final script for "Tootsie." He was the real deal.