Search - M*A*S*H TV Season 6 on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 3/29/2024...

Dated but classic TV with a great plotline that is fun to watch!

Goodbye Ferret Face and Hello Major Winchester

L. Bloom | Hollywood | 04/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hello to Charles Emerson Wichester III and goodbye to Frank Burns. Actually, this was refreshing as last season was spent with Frank Burns being rejected by his long time mistress Margarget "Hot Lips" Houlihan in favor of her new beau. This season the transition is complete. Winchester is a welcome addition to the staff as a surgeon of equal rank. The writing seems to take on a different edge here without the political humor that was so common with Frank Burns as bumbling surgeon and whining twerp. Winchester is more sophisticated and so is the humor -although not quite as wacky as before - the stories seem more clever and mature rather than relying almost entirely on insult comedy. The stories seemed focused more on each character's human side rather than just their dislike for each other. Definitely, a new era in MASH and well worth the money I paid."

Season 6, Episode 7: In Love and War

Mike | San Jose, CA | 01/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The "transitional" seasons of M*A*S*H were often the strongest: Trapper leaves, BJ arrives, Henry Blake leaves, Colonel Potter arrives...

Season 6 said goodbye to Frank Burns. Larry Linville articulated his reasons for leaving after five seasons, and you can watch these interviews on the "extras" portion of M*A*S*H - Goodbye, Farewell & Amen (1983). The Frank Burns character was so integral to the show, often providing the motivation for all of the other major characters, that the loss seemed insurmountable. Enter Major Winchester.

Like all of the other "new" characters, David Ogden Stiers had to find his way as Major Winchester. Fortunately, because of the structure of the show (a central story arc and many intermingling sub-stories among the major characters) he didn't bear the burden alone. He grew into the role, but it remained business as usual for all of the other main characters.

Among the stand-out episodes in Season 6 are Episode 1: Fade Out, Fade In (the arrival of Winchester), Episode 2: Fallen Idol (nice, unexpected interplay between Radar and Hawkeye), Episode 4: War of Nerves (Sidney Freedman deals with a soldier who blames him for his injuries), and Episode 11: The Grim Reaper (another opportunity for the series to make a strong and sobering comment on the nature of war). The high point, however, is Episode 7: In Love and War.

The only shortcoming of the episode is that the story feels somewhat compressed, that it requires more breathing room and time to play out than a single episode can provide. It's one of the key episodes for the Hawkeye character, because it reveals his humanity and the fact that despite his many speeches on top of the soap box and his often high moral ground, he is not without his own set of preconceptions and prejudices.

He takes offense to his having to assist a woman he sees as an "aristocrat." He soon finds out that she is not what she seems, and that she is carrying the twin burdens of caring for a dying mother and orphaned children. The episode is very, very heavy and carries some deep psychological roots. Are we seeing pure, selfless compassion in Hawkeye because he wants to help Kyong Soon, or are we seeing unrestrained selfish behavior because she fills some level of emptiness in his own life? Does helping Kyong Soon make Hawkeye feel better about himself? Is it a form of penance for his own sins, a way to wash away his regrets about the war and his role in it?

M*A*S*H wouldn't be M*A*S*H without blended doses of high morality and goofball sitcom fun. There's plenty of both in season 6, with the goofball highlight coming in Episode 10: The M*A*S*H Olympics.

One of the stronger seasons, for a number of reasons. Five stars."

WELCOME BACK TO THE 4077

Z. Jackson | 01/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the season we see Frank leave and be replaced by Major Charles Winchester, although he is not as funny as Major Frank Burns the "boys" still get to have some fun with Major Winchester. Season six includes the following episodes.

"FADE OUT, FADE IN"
A distraught Frank searches Tokyo for Margaret and her husband, a disastrous act that gets him sent stateside and gets Major Charles Emerson Winchester III sent to the 4077.
"FALLEN IDOL"
After Hawkeye convinces Radar to go to Seoul for a little R&R, he feels so guilty when Radar returns as a casualty that he gets too drunk to finish Radar's emergency surgery.
"LAST LAUGH"
Colonel Potter is shocked when he receives word that the Provost Marshall's office is sending a colonel to the 4077 to investigate whether BJ is really a doctor or just an impostor.
"WAR OF NERVES"
Psychiatrist Doctor Sidney Freedman returns to the 4077th, but this time he's a patient who found himself pinned down in a foxhole with a solider he recommended be sent back into the action.
"THE WINCHESTER TAPES"
Desperate to get away from BJ and Hawkeye, Winchester tapes a letter to his influential parents back home begging them to pull a few strings and get him shipped stateside.
"THE LIGHT THAT FAILED"
When the 4077 runs out of light bulbs, BJ passes around his latest murder mystery for all to read by candlelight, while Charles makes a mistake during surgery in a a darkened OR.
"IN LOVE AND WAR"
Hawkeye's resentment for a wealthy Korean woman who asks Colonel Potter to send a doctor over to her home, changes when he realizes she's actually caring for the homeless.
"CHANGE DAY"
Winchester's sneaky plan to cash in big on Change Day runs into a few road blocks after BJ and Hawkeye get wind of his scheme.
"IMAGES"
While Radar goes off in search of the perfect tattoo, a confrontation between Hot Lips and one of her nurses leads to grater understating on both their parts.
"THE MASH OLYMPICS"
Inspired by the 1952 Olympic Games taking place in Helsinki, Colonel Potter decides the best way to get all the troops into shape is to hold their own MASH Olympics.
"THE GRIM REAPER"
Hawkeye has a run-in with Colonel Victor Bloodworth, a hardened battle commander who thinks of the men under his command as mere statistics.
"COMRADES IN ARMS, PART 1"
Hawkeye and Margaret find themselves stranded behind enemy lines after they drive over to the 8063 MASH unit only to find the whole unit has bugged out.
"COMARDES IN ARMS, PART 2"
After taking refuge in an abandoned hut, Hawkeye and Margaret drink some Japanese Scotch, discuss Margaret's husband-problems, and end up seeking solace in each others arms.
"THE MERCHANT OF KOREA"
When BJ needs a quick $200, he borrow it form the wealthiest tenant in "The Swamp" totally unaware how much Winchester will take advantage of the debt owed him.
"THE SMELL OF MUSIC"
Fed up with Chalres' French horn playing, Hawkeye and BJ give him an ultimatum: give up his playing or share a tent with two docs who refuse to shower.
"PATENT 4077"
Frustrated that the Army can make a gun that can level a village from 30 miles away yet can't make a teeny tiny surgical clamp, Hawkeye and BJ turn to a local Korean jeweler.
"TEA AND EMPATHY"
Father Mulcahy finds himself in a religious predicament after he recalls the confession of a corporal trafficking in stolen medical supplies which the 4077 desperately needs.
"YOUR HIT PARADE"
Hit by a deluge of patients and clean out of type AB negative blood, Hawkeye and BJ are forced to turn to the only compatible donor - a very drunk bomb disposer on R&R.
"WHAT'S UP, DOC?"
Problems arise when Margaret thinks she's pregnant and wants a pregnancy test done - and the only rabbit available for testing is Radar's pet rabbit Fluffy.
"MAIL CALL THREE"
After three weeks of no mail delivery, five sacks of mail arrive full of good news, bad news and a stack of love letters meant for another Benjamin Pierce, but opened by this one anyway.
"TEMPORARY DUTY"
When a surgeon's temporary stint at the 4077 threatens to turn permanent, BJ and Charles join forces in order to get rid of the obnoxious new roommate and get Hawkeye back.
"POTTER'S RETIREMENT"
Potter consider retiring when he's called to Seoul by General Waldo Kent and told that the troops back at the 4077 are complaining about his leadership.
"DR. WINCHESTER AND MR. HYDE"
Charles undergoes a sudden personality change after taking amphetamines in an effort to keep his energy during the incredibly long operating shifts in the OR.
"MAJOR TOPPER"
While the docs try to convince the wounded that plain sugar pills are really morphine, Corporal Boots Miller is convinced he's shooting down planes that aren't there.
"