Goodbye,Farewell and Amen... 24 Years Later

I am too young to have the conversation "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" But I AM young enough to remember where I was when the Final Episode of Mash aired.

The episode received the highest ratings of any TV show in history. It was on this date in 1983.... I was a mere freshman in college and I can remember about 50 of us crammed into the common area in the guy's dorm, crowded around the rather small television.

MASH is my only memory of the Korean War, since I wasn't born yet. The thing I liked about MASH was the way the characters endeared themselves to the audience in a plausible, authentic way. It was good writing. Yes, it was a comedy, but unlike the inane comedies of today, you could watch it with your mother without wincing at lame sex jokes or a sexual reference every 3.8 minutes. This is about as close as it gets:

"Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice." Dr. Sidney Freedman