Yet another part of our childhood goes away... When I was a kid, M*A*S*H* was my favorite show. In high school, I had every episode on tape. This wasn't when you could buy each season at the store, or get the box set.... No, every weeknight at 700PM, I taped EVERY episode for over a year. I missed the last episode live, because I had a Boy Scout dinner to attend. I was pissed off....
Yeah, I was a big fan... No, I wasn't a fan of Alan Alda's politics making their mark on the show, but it was still funny and touching, which is what make great TV - like life, good TV has the ability to make you laugh and cry - usually at the same time.
Over it's 12 seasons, M*A*S*H* went through lineup changes - changes that most thought would kill the show. It's tough when a show loses main players, but good shows (especially ensemble shows) survive and can even thrive them. BJ Hunnicutt was deeper than Trapper John McIntyre. Charles Emerson Winchester was every bit the match that Frank Burns wasn't, yet he had a heart stuck in there somewhere that came out occasionally...
When McLean Stevenson's Henry Blake character was killed off, Harry Morgan took over as gruff Col. Sherman T. Potter. A lifelong army soldier, Potter could have been the new bad guy on the show. But instead, Morgan made the character the paternal, no nonsense yet wise and sensitive role model that real Colonels in the military actually are. On the surface, they are tough as nails, but no good officer earns their soldiers respect without caring for them. That was Sherman T. Potter in a nutshell...
Morgan was a staple on the big screen and TV for almost 50 years. I saw a few reruns of Dragnet as a kid, but that was before my time... Like people growing up in the 30s and 40's, where Joe Louis was always Champ and FDR was always President. M*A*S*H was always on, and Morgan is forever Colonel Potter. As he used to say "Or Revore!!" We salute you..
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1 comment:
Mike-Harry Morgan was a rose in the cow pasture known as Hollywood...teg
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