RIP David Ogden Stiers

[EStreetJoe]

Giving fatherly advice ....

 

[EStreetJoe]

"You can cut me off from the civilized world. You can incarcerate me with two moronic cellmates. You can torture me with your thrice daily swill, but you cannot break the spirit of a Winchester. My voice shall be heard from this wilderness and I shall be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer."

 

[poindexter]

Sorry, guys. MASH was garbage by the time Stiers got there. You know it and I know it.

I loved his role as part of that odd family in The Accidental Tourist. And he played the new WJM boss in several Mary Tyler Moore episodes very well.

 

[Songbird]

Giving fatherly advice ....

Very funny scene.

 

[WriteThinking]

Sorry, guys. MASH was garbage by the time Stiers got there. You know it and I know it.

I think a lot of people would disagree with that, including me.

 

[BTExpress]

You can sense the garbage smell becoming more apparent with the added screen time for Klinger and Mulcahy. Winchester was great.

 

[outofplace]

The early seasons were the best, but there was plenty of great stuff after Winchester arrived. He changed the dynamic because he could actually hold his own with Hawkeye, but there was a real decency to the character when you got past the bluster.

 

[poindexter]

The show relied too much on silly wordplay in the later years. Radar was a disaster of a character by then. BJ was never any good. As previously mentioned, Klinger should never be more than a bit character. Winchester was a good egg, though.

 

[BTExpress]

The show relied too much on silly wordplay in the later years.

We need to check and see if Steve Rushin wasn't a contributing writer during that time.

 

[HanSenSE]

The major shift in the series came when Alan Alda became a producer. Dropped the laugh track and took on a more serious tone.

 

[poindexter]

Remember how outright devious Radar was in the first seasons?

 

[Slacker]

Remember how outright devious Radar was in the first seasons?

Did not know this about Burghoff until a few years ago. From Wiki ...

Covering the conclusion of the M*A*S*H series for TV Guide in 1983, Burt Prelutsky wrote:

"Although nobody wanted to be quoted for the record, the feelings about Gary Burghoff's leaving were fairly unanimous: loved Radar, hated Burghoff. As summed up by one of the principals: 'Gary had personality problems.' He always felt there was a conspiracy against him. He was rude to everyone, but if anyone ever said anything back to him, he'd throw a tantrum. He had frequent spats with his cast members, particularly with Alan Alda. Once Mike Farrell told him that his problem was that he could dish it out but he couldn't take it, and Gary said, 'And I'm getting real sick and tired of dishing it out.' The poor guy didn't even realize what he'd said."​

Farrell later said, "Gary Burghoff may well have been the best actor in the company, it's always seemed to me. His focus, his ability to find those little gems of behavior that made everything absolutely true were a marvel to behold."

 

[maumann]

I remember Stiers as the head of the American Olympic Committee in the fairly obscure "The First Olympics" miniseries back in the 1980s. Also, perhaps Matt Frewer's film debut, long before Max Headroom and Honey, I Shrunk.

SCI-FI NERD ALERT: The Star Trek Episode where Stiers has to decide whether to follow culture and end his life at a certain age resonates similarly to Carousel in "Logan's Run." That's particularly poignant now as I reach the age when the industry I helped evolve has deemed me obsolete. (And I'm perfectly fine with that.)

Also, Edward G. Robinson's character in "Soylent Green" should be about my age in 2022, when the world runs out of plankton. And yet, people still eat kale. Go figure.

 

[Moderator1]

 

[playthrough]

We need to check and see if Steve Rushin wasn't a contributing writer during that time.

I love Rushin but this still made me laugh.

 

[goalmouth]

In high school my film teacher obtained a M*A*S*H shooting script ahead of the episode's airing, which he then passed to me so I could follow at home as it was broadcast. It was the episode where three Koreans use acupuncture to aid Charles's bad back. The high point of my academic career.

Crossthread trivia: M*A*S*H Director/producer Thad Mumford had been a Yankees batboy.

 

[YankeeFan]

In high school my film teacher obtained a M*A*S*H shooting script ahead of the episode's airing, which he then passed to me so I could follow at home as it was broadcast. It was the episode where three Koreans use acupuncture to aid Charles's bad back. The high point of my academic career.

Crossthread trivia: M*A*S*H Director/producer Thad Mumford had been a Yankees batboy.

Were there any differences between the script, and what aired?

 

[goalmouth]

Were there any differences between the script, and what aired?

The script was nearly word for word what was broadcast.

 

[Slacker]

 

[poindexter]

Robert Simon at 0:31:
"This is a press conference. The last thing I'm going to do is answer a bunch of questions!"