All The Reasons M*A*S*H* Is Still Perfect 50 Years Later

There are TV shows, and then there are the greats that will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Still, it’s tough to achieve. Plenty of old Hollywood productions have aged like milk, with movies becoming uncomfortable to watch in the present day and TV shows seemingly aging faster than anything else on offer.

Younger generations seem to be the ones critiquing the now-questionable jokes as beloved reruns reach a new audience, but it’s hard to find anything not to love about one comedy drama in particular. In fact, all the reasons ‘M*A*S*H*’ is still perfect 50 years later prove how the show had a host of things under its belt that no one else could dream of achieving.

M*A*S*H* blended comedy and drama better than most TV shows

Sitcoms know how to grab an audience by the throat every now and then, but that’s not usually why we turn to the show. However, ‘M*A*S*H*’ was far from a sitcom. It’s long been a comedy-drama, but the show somehow added more dramatic moments in a way that really kept us on our toes and made us realize how deep these characters can go. The first season alone shows the team failing to save a patient - and it wasn’t just anyone, as they were a close friend of Hawkeye, who later breaks down over it all. Teaming devastating news of people passing and losing friends in with the lighter moments was always enough to shock the audience back into the reality that ‘M*A*S*H*’ is set in the war, with major character losses still something relatively new at the time. While some shows have managed to pull comedy and drama together in the years since, it’s tough to find something that does it as well as ‘M*A*S*H*.’

The show allowed its characters to grow and develop over time

One thing TV shows have always been able to achieve better than movies is letting their characters grow and age naturally. After all, most shows have multiple seasons that occur over several years, compared to films that tend to be somewhere around the two to three-hour mark. In 1970, ‘M*A*S*H*’ the movie hit the big screen, but that all changed two years later when ‘M*A*S*H*’ the TV show hit the air. This time, we got to see the characters grow and change over 11 seasons instead of having everything crammed into one short run. For the first three seasons, things were much the same as in the movie. However, breaking into season four saw something change. Characters were swapped out, people were given deeper storylines, and the actors learned to blend with their roles more than ever. Noticing what was going wrong and allowing the characters we now know and love the chance to become their own people has certainly seen ‘M*A*S*H*’ go down as one of the greats.

The message behind M*A*S*H* is still as powerful and relevant

The Korean War might have been over for almost two decades when ‘M*A*S*H*’ first aired, but it was still in plenty of people’s minds at the time. Plus, the Vietnam War didn’t officially end until 1975, with ‘M*A*S*H*’ airing three seasons during that time. Of course, being set in the ‘50s meant ‘M*A*S*H*’ couldn’t comment on the affairs at the time, but the message the show pushed was enough to resonate with people across the world. ‘M*A*S*H*’ was never known for showing violence or combat, but it did reveal some of what was happening overseas. Hawkeye alone makes it no secret that he hates the idea of being at war, often lashing out at authoritative figures as he tries to save lives. Even the idea of showing the devastation that can be caused has resonated with people up until today.

M*A*S*H* pushed boundaries that hadn’t been seen before

Most of the time, ‘M*A*S*H*’ followed the same formula that has worked time and time again, using laugh tracks and mainly relying on comedy to fill the episodes. Still, ‘M*A*S*H*’ offered things that had never been seen before, such as season four, when we had an entire episode of Alda monologuing to himself to fight off a concussion, or season seven when the entire thing was filled from a first-person perspective of a patient. Nowadays, these kinds of things are to be expected in shows. However, ‘M*A*S*H*’ took the idea of pushing boundaries to new levels by always looking for the next way to bring its story to life.

A look at all the reasons ‘M*A*S*H*’ is still perfect 50 years later goes to show just how well the show has aged. From tackling difficult issues to breaking boundaries and everything in between, it could be time to enjoy those 11 seasons all over again.