M*A*S*H

August 15, 2010 9:48 AM

I'm feeling nostalgic, so am making my way through the M*A*S*H series on dvd. It's funny and heartwarming, but was anyone on the show faithful to his/her partner back home?

I am seeking concrete answers, but also wondering whether (since the show had many other redeeming qualities) this even matters. I was 12 when the show ended in '83, and don't believe I thought about this as I sat watching the series with my dad when it originally aired. All may be fair in love and war (ha), so why is this bothering me a bit as I sit here and watch this show at age 39? (am only at season 2 so far, though) Disclaimer: While I love men, love sex and have enough experience to know that there are many grey zones when it comes to love and romance, I will say that I couldn't stand 'The Bridges of Madison County...'

posted by analog to Society & Culture (25 answers total)

Are you asking about the show or about actual soldiers during war? Because the TV show lasted longer than the war, so they had to do something to keep the drama up.

Or are you asking why this bothers you now?

I think that older, white haired guy, the guy in charge, (too lazy to google his name) was faithful. No?
posted by bluedaisy at 9:53 AM on August 15, 2010

Sherman Potter
posted by HuronBob at 9:54 AM on August 15, 2010

This is addressed once BJ Hunnicutt joins the unit (Season 4). He does have one one-night stand with a nurse during the show (in Season 5) but agonizes over it. In Season 8, he falls for a war correspondent (played by the amazing Susan Saint James) and has to decide whether to stray again or not. Hawkeye is, as usual, unhelpful in this regard. But BJ's views on marriage and family and how they clash with the other army folk do become quite an engaging plot line through the latter seasons of the show.
posted by meerkatty at 9:56 AM on August 15, 2010

I don't believe Col. Potter ever cheats on his wife (IIRC there's an episode where he's tempted to do so, but declines, saying, "Not while there's a girl back home with my picture on her piano"). As to the question of whether it "matters", M*A*S*H may have been a great TV show, but I wouldn't take it as gospel truth on relationships, war, medicine or anything else.
posted by Bardolph at 9:57 AM on August 15, 2010

Also, I'm pretty sure Max Klinger is faithful to his gf/wife Laverne for a season or so until she divorces him for a sausage salesman or something.
posted by Bardolph at 10:00 AM on August 15, 2010

Nope, not even Colonel Potter, according to Wikipedia:

In the Season 6 episode "Lil", Potter befriends Colonel Lillian Rayburn, a visiting dignitary, much to Radar's consternation. When the friendship begins to get too warm he reminds himself of the "lady back home with [his] picture on [her] piano." At the end of the episode, he reassures Radar about his relationships with women his age by saying, "I've met many of those women - Married the one I loved!" In "Strange Bedfellows" from Season 11, Potter's son-in-law, Robert Wilson, pays a visit. After learning of a one-night stand Robert had with a woman in Tokyo, Potter admitted to Robert he once had a brief extramarital affair himself. After handing the departing Robert a picture frame with a snapshot of him and his family, Potter said to Robert "promise me you'll stay in the picture".

posted by nomadicink at 10:16 AM on August 15, 2010

@bluedaisy - I'm asking about the show, not the actual war. And I suppose that while I can't expect people to know my personal circumstances, yes, I'm curious about why this might be bothering me/anyone 27 years after the show ended. And for the record, I don't have any personally specific baggage with regard to adultery.

@Bardolph and @HuronBob - the irony!! I just googled our faithful character Sherman Potter, aka Harry Morgan, and came up with this on Wikipeida: "In July 1997, Morgan was charged with abusing his wife in July 1996 after a beating left her with injuries to her eye, foot, and arm. Prosecutors dropped the charges after Morgan completed a six-month domestic violence counseling program."
posted by analog at 10:24 AM on August 15, 2010

@nomadicink - oh no, we thought we'd found someone...
posted by analog at 10:39 AM on August 15, 2010

When the friendship begins to get too warm he reminds himself of the "lady back home with [his] picture on [her] piano." At the end of the episode, he reassures Radar about his relationships with women his age by saying, "I've met many of those women - Married the one I loved!"

Unclear whether that was an affair or not; either way, Col. Potter backed off of his own accord.

In "Strange Bedfellows" from Season 11, Potter's son-in-law, Robert Wilson, pays a visit. After learning of a one-night stand Robert had with a woman in Tokyo, Potter admitted to Robert he once had a brief extramarital affair himself.

If the thought it would keep his daughter's marriage together, I could see where it would be in character for him to have lied about an affair to add gravitas to any advice he gave.
posted by Doohickie at 10:51 AM on August 15, 2010

As odd as it may appear, I think it's ok for it to bother you. I'd say that in the case of a show like MASH, they did a good job of not making people and relationships downright disposable and utterly usable, but then again, I was a little kid when the show was on the air, so I have no idea what social norms were.

I was flipping channels a few months ago and landed on Two and a Half Men. I was sick with the flu, so it's not like I had anything better to do. In that episode, the not-Charlie Sheen character was on a date with the mother of a friend of his kid. The scene quickly went from a dinner table to a shot of the outside of a bathroom stall door with four hands over the top and the two of them moaning.

I was shocked. Or, maybe not so much shocked as bothered by it. We all know that things happen in the real world. One night stands. Cheaters. People get used. People get taken advantage of. Dating can be a minefield. We all know this, right? Granted, lots of good things happen too... people fall in love, people get married, they have marvelous relationships, they teach each other, they learn and grow together... But it bothers me to see the bad aspects of humanity trivialized and glorified on a so-called family friendly TV show. It bothers me.

Maybe that's why it bothers you?
posted by 2oh1 at 11:04 AM on August 15, 2010

...so why is this bothering me a bit as I sit here and watch this show at age 39?

Because the warm fuzzies you have of the show are now being seen through the eyes of an adult.

I'd argue that non of the characters were faithful was one an illustration of one of the main points of the show: war is hell and can completely destroy whatever veneer of civilization humans put on. That Hawkeye finally cracked up in the last episode really brings that home. Ultimately the war even broke him.
posted by nomadicink at 11:21 AM on August 15, 2010

fwiw, I believe Col. Potter's affair was described as having occurred way back in his youth, and that he was faithful during the term of the show. Not sure why I'm defending his honor, but there it is.
posted by Bardolph at 12:07 PM on August 15, 2010

To be honest, the sex angle is one plot point of M*A*S*H that always bothered me and kinda sorta ruined the "authenticity" of the series. For example, the episode where Blythe Danner shows up at the 4077 as a nurse and it is revealed that she and Hawkeye had "shared a loft" together back when they were both in their respective schools studying for their degrees. The Korean War took place from 1950-1953, a time when (at least) nursing schools had very strict guidelines/rules for their students, one of which was that they must be above reproach reputation- and lifestyle-wise. Given the time period, Hawkeye and Carlye would have been living together unmarried sometime in the 1940s, which simply was. not. done at that time. Obviously it was a case of the writers applying 1970s values to a 1950s scenario. Likewise, it always surprised me that with all the alleged canoodling that was going on, Margaret Houlihan was the only MASH-er who ever had a pregnancy scare (mind you, this was many years before The Pill was on the market). Come to think of it, where the heck was all this canoodling taking place? For example, BJ's one-nighter with the nurse - the nurses all shared that one tent, and BJ lived in The Swamp. The floor of the supply tent, perhaps?

Anyway, in answer to the OP, the only onscreen transgressions shown among married main character personnel were those made by Trapper John, BJ Hunnicut, Frank Burns and Henry Blake. Colonel Potter only alluded to a previous indiscretion while talking to his son-in-law, but it was never acknowledged that he cheated while at the 4077. Klinger apparently was also faithful to his wife until his long-distance divorce. (Indeed, there was one episode where he hooked up with a nurse named Debbie, one of the many transient nurses that tended to drift through the 4077, and when he started talking about taking her to Toledo and introducing her to his family she countered with, um, this was just a one-nighter.)
posted by Oriole Adams at 1:07 PM on August 15, 2010

Likewise, it always surprised me that with all the alleged canoodling that was going on, Margaret Houlihan was the only MASH-er who ever had a pregnancy scare

In the book the nurses get free condoms... a male anaesthetist is always at the front of the queue because he needs them for his equipment (I seem to remember he needs some something inflatable to hold a pipe in a patient's neck or something).
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:25 PM on August 15, 2010

Well, I can tell you why it bothers *me*. I really want to believe that people can be faithful, and I want to see that reflected back to me -- I want to look around at the world and believe that fidelity is a logical and safe assumption, so when I see a show or a celebrity or politician (or a billion shows/celebrities/politicians, or all the marriages around me), it makes me wonder if my beliefs are naive and I should just accept the inevitability of being cheated upon.
posted by MeiraV at 3:23 PM on August 15, 2010

If no one else, Father Mulcahey never had an affair with anyone. So he remained true to his vows.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:41 PM on August 15, 2010

I wouldn't take it as gospel truth on relationships, war, medicine or anything else.
A buddy of mine in college who's dad is/was a radiologist claimed that that they used x-rays more or less consistent with the diagnoses on the show and mostly put them up the right way around on the light boxes.
posted by plinth at 4:52 PM on August 15, 2010

Did Margaret ever cheat after she married Donald? When she was with Frank, she wasn't married (although he was).
posted by stennieville at 5:16 PM on August 15, 2010

Didn't Margaret hook up with Hawkeye when she was with Frank? Does that even count since Frank was married? I'd say yeah, since Margaret clearly thought they were a couple, what with Frank's wife back home.
posted by nomadicink at 5:33 PM on August 15, 2010

If no one else, Father Mulcahey never had an affair with anyone. So he remained true to his vows.

Although he is aggressively propositioned by a nurse he's tutoring in one of those episodes, no? Leading to two classic lines: "She hugged the stuffing out of me", and "you stop talking about her, you stop hating her, and YOU stop dating her!"
posted by Bardolph at 7:54 PM on August 15, 2010

I don't know how to put this without sounding insulting - to show you I don't want to be that way I'll share some of my personal history. I was raised very conservative Christian. Still Christian, but far less conservative personally, and I've learned a lot about human nature since I was 19-21, apparently.

Don't know where you fit in that spectrum, but I went through a spell where this kind of stuff really bothered me in entertainment. I think for me it was not only my conservatism per se, but the cognitive dissonance of realizing that my very conservative family watched and enjoyed this stuff, and then my eyes kinda got opened and I realized how different the values were of some of their entertainment to what they preached... I guess it was good that they weren't prigs on some level, but on another you kinda have to process the hypocracy. Echoing some things others have suggested, and given that you mentioned watching this with your Dad, I wonder if you're processing some of the same emotions.

And then I got older and realized that people and their values are just -complex. But that's another story. Truthfully, this show has not aged well for me, and the sexual hijinks are part of it. It doesn't offend me per se, but it comes off like some '70s ad-men playboy view of sexuality - there's very little angst (except for the exceptions mentioned above) about cheating, and most it's hur hur the men are chasing the nurses.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:21 PM on August 15, 2010

@randomkeystrike - I was raised in a very liberal household and have since carried on that tradition - I have been around the block and enjoyed the trip - I think maybe that is part of the reason I'm confused as to why I'm bothered by some aspects of the show. I don't think it's because I'm naive or repressed. And it's interesting that you bring up ad men, because I love Mad Men, but can't stand Don Draper, for pretty much these reasons (which are probably related to my M*A*S*H issues): http://ca.askmen.com/specials/2009_top_49/don-draper-1.html


Thanks everyone for your responses - very interesting and much food for thought.
posted by analog at 9:12 PM on August 15, 2010

analog, I wonder if the reason it bothers you is because so many of the characters are shown exercising strong moral judgement on all sorts of other issues, but it seems to go out the window on sex.

I really want to believe that people can be faithful, and I want to see that reflected back to me -- I want to look around at the world and believe that fidelity is a logical and safe assumption, so when I see a show or a celebrity or politician (or a billion shows/celebrities/politicians, or all the marriages around me), it makes me wonder if my beliefs are naive and I should just accept the inevitability of being cheated upon.

Shipping men off to face death or dismemberment for years on end, while leaving their partners isolated from them in another country isn't a great recipe for fidelty. Seems to be a bit of a habit we can't break, though.
posted by rodgerd at 12:38 AM on August 16, 2010

Yeah, I want to say Margaret cheated also, as after she and Hawkeye hooked up, she wanted to tell Frank, but Hawkeye was didn't want to, which pissed off her and put an end to their short relationship.
posted by nomadicink at 5:16 AM on August 16, 2010

"Come to think of it, where the heck was all this canoodling taking place? For example, BJ's one-nighter with the nurse - the nurses all shared that one tent, and BJ lived in The Swamp. The floor of the supply tent, perhaps?"

Yes, exactly. The supply room is where most of the show's nookie is shown to take place.

"analog, I wonder if the reason it bothers you is because so many of the characters are shown exercising strong moral judgement on all sorts of other issues, but it seems to go out the window on sex."

The show is moral about sex, some of the characters aren't. But for the most part, Frank excluded, the ones having affairs are morally pained by them.

And also, the moralizing was usually about killing people- an order of moral magnitude greater than who screws whom.
posted by gjc at 5:53 AM on August 16, 2010