View Full Version : The Only MASH Character To Appear In Every Episode


TMC
12-15-2022, 10:30 PM
https://www.looper.com/1139894/the-only-mash-character-to-appear-in-every-episode/

Hawkeye appeared in all 256 episodes of the series

Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (https://www.looper.com/862750/the-untold-truth-of-hawkeye-from-mash/) – played by Alan Alda in what is arguably his most recognized role in an accomplished career — appears in all 256 episodes of "MASH." This would make sense, as Hawkeye not only becomes chief surgeon of the MASH unit very early on in the series, but he essentially serves as the show's troubled conscience, the lens through which the tragicomic absurdities of war are filtered. "Casting Alda as the ensemble's moral center and chaos agent was key," wrote James Poniewozik for the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/arts/television/mash-50th-anniversary.html).

This makes Hawkeye the only character to appear in every single episode of MASH (via The News-Herald (https://www.news-herald.com/2022/09/23/50-things-about-mash-as-the-tv-series-celebrates-its-50th-anniversary/)). In fact, he's also the only character to appear as the sole ensemble cast member in their own episode during the show's eleven-year run. This episode was appropriately titled "Hawkeye," and featured Hawkeye as the only character from the ensemble cast to appear (via IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0638322/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm)). In the episode, Hawkeye is in a Jeep accident and is taken in by a South Korean family. Fearing he has a concussion, he talks about whatever comes to mind. The family cannot understand a word he says, and the episode essentially functions as a long monologue by Alda.

biffbronson
12-16-2022, 07:47 AM
That was a memorable episode.

It will come to no surprise to MASH viewers that Alda's character was the only one to appear in every episode.

Yong Fang
12-16-2022, 09:01 AM
Alda probably did this episode so that he was the only ones to be in all the episodes. I doubt the other players minded and went "Cool, a week off!"

I had the DVDs to MASH and skipped this one. Maybe Alda asked whoever to do an episode by himself because in his mind he was so great. Alda himself seems like a nice man in real life? Can nice people have big egos? Because that was Alda, who took over the show (for good or ill) and then had his own episode by himself which was sort of silly.