Rewatching MASH and just watched “Abyssinia Henry” (still one of the biggest gut punches in tv history) and the show generally avoid giving dates but they specifically state it is 1952. The war ends July 1953. That means the remaining 8 seasons take place in less than a year, lol

(By no means do I think this is some huge realization, I’m sure millions of people already made this deduction, but it’s the first time I’ve noticed it, lol)

The time line was always screwy, they had at least 6-7 explicitly Christmas episodes and the war only lasted 3 years, lol

It’s also interesting how well the comedy holds up. Hawkeye and Trapper are aggressively sexual predators and the humor of their lecherousness would never work in anyway today, but somehow it still works and is charming in a way almost no other aged shows have managed.

And I am sure there are people that will vehemently disagree with that take and they are probably right, I’m not sure how I feel about myself that I can still find it funny when objectively I shouldn’t. Maybe it’s just that Alan Alda is that good of an actor?

Or that they openly and frequently acknowledge that Hawkeye is a flawed, damaged person? Just like the drinking, they make it funny, but never really stray from the commentary that it is not actually good behavior and an expression of deep issues.

Damn, this thread got me going to deeper places than I expected with what I intended as an amusing observation, lol