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M*A*S*H - Season Three (Collector's Edition)

In honoring M*A*S*H's third season with the prestigious Peabody Award, the judges praised this series "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." Contained on three discs, season three comprises several benchmark episodes illustrative of what the Peabody judges called "television of high purpose." In "Rainbow Bridge," Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper (Wayne Rogers), Radar (Gary Burghoff), Klinger (Jamie Farr), and an opportunistic Frank Burns (Larry Linville) participate in a swap with the North Koreans of wounded POWs. In "The Consultant," Robert Alda (Alan's dad) guest stars as a visiting doctor who cracks under the pressure of operating so close to the front. And the shocking season finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," took a page from Mister Roberts and killed off commanding officer Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), who was en route home.

M*A*S*H's sense of humor did not go AWOL. The season opener, "The General Flipped at Dawn," earned guest star Harry Morgan an Emmy nomination for his performance as a certifiable general and paved the way for Morgan to join the cast in season four. "Adam's Ribs" is a classic episode in which Hawkeye orders out to Chicago for a very special delivery of spare ribs. In "Iron Guts Kelly," the war's "greatest fighting general" gets a little too gung-ho and perishes in Margaret's (Loretta Swit) tent. Because of its wartime setting and life-and-death struggles, this is that rare sitcom that may actually play better without a laugh track, an option this set offers. To paraphrase the title of one episode, this was a full, rich season that offered each member of one of television's finest ensembles the opportunity to shine. But Alda, who was honored that year with a Golden Globe award, fully emerges as the series' star. --Donald Liebenson

No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 18-FEB-2003
Media Type: DVD

M*A*S*H - Season Two (Collector's Edition)

M*A*S*H redux. Sign up for another stint with the 4077th. This three-disc set contains all 24 episodes from the superb second season (1973-74) of the series ranked by TV Guide as among the top 25 television shows of all time. The season opener, "Divided We Stand," is a deft reintroduction to these now iconic characters: bleeding-heart surgeon Hawkeye Pearce (Alan Alda in his signature role), kindred misfit spirit Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), clueless administrator Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), buttoned-up Frank Burns (Larry Linville), and unbuttoned head nurse "Hot Lips" (Loretta Swit). In this episode, a visiting psychiatrist evaluates the 4077th to determine whether the unit "can function as a team." His evaluation can serve as this series' mission statement: "These impossible people are in an impossible place doing totally impossible things. They're mad--quite mad." M*A*S*H experienced no sophomore slump from its Emmy Award-winning first season. It continued to subvert sitcom convention with multiple-story episodes such as "Radar's Report." Scenes in the operating room play without a laugh track (this DVD gives viewers the option of watching entire episodes minus the intrusive chuckles and guffaws). M*A*S*H also tackled such issues as racism ("Dear Dad... Three," "L.I.P.--Local Indigenous Personnel"), homophobia ("George"), and war atrocities (Hawkeye and Trapper try to get the Army to take responsibility for the accidental shelling of a South Korean village). Not that M*A*S*H forgot how to be funny. "Five O'Clock Charlie" and "For Want of a Boot" are strictly for laughs. Hawkeye and Hot Lips memorably exchange flu shots in "Carry On, Hawkeye." Loyal viewers will note the emergence of several supporting characters, including Jamie Farr's Klinger and William Christopher's Father Mulcahy. One also sees the (to some) unfortunate transformation of Gary Burghoff's savvy, crackerjack clerk Radar into a naïve innocent. Allan Arbus makes his first appearance as compassionate psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Friedman in "Radar's Report." This second-season set is representative of why M*A*S*H was a cut above. --Donald Liebenson

Explores the day-to-day lives of the people who live and work at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 23-JUL-2002
Media Type: DVD

M*A*S*H - Season Eleven (Collector's Edition)

Here's an essential addition to the TV time capsule, M*A*S*H's complete final season, including the DVD premiere of the historic feature-length final episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen." Still the most watched television series episode ever, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" brings M*A*S*H to a richly satisfying conclusion, giving each of its characters dramatic and fitting curtain calls. But the finale shouldn't completely overshadow what was a memorable and multi-Emmy-nominated season. After a decade, Kellye Nakahara, as compassionate and "cute as hell" Nurse Kellye, gets her own showcase episode with "Hey, Look Me Over." Echoing his obsession with "Adam's Ribs" back in season 3, "The Moon Is Not Blue," finds Hawkeye (Alan Alda) determined to secure for the morale-challenged camp a screening of a supposedly scandalous film. In "Friends and Enemies," Col. Potter (Henry Morgan) has the difficult task of confronting an officer, an old friend, who is irresponsibly endangering his men. After 11 seasons, we don't need anyone to tell us yet again that the "good and decent" people at the 4077th "make use of humor as a weapon against war," as a U.N. dignitary observes in one episode. In "The Joker Is Wild," B.J. (Mike Farrell) confirms his status as the camp's reigning practical joker with an epic, "brilliantly conceived" prank against Hawkeye.

Two emotional episodes set the stage for the finale. In "Who Knew?" a nurse's tragic death moves Hawkeye to show what he feels "through the (wise)cracks" and tell those in camp he is closest to that he loves them. In the penultimate episode, "As Time Goes By," Margaret (Loretta Switt) collects camp artifacts, among them, Radar's teddy bear, to put in a time capsule. Finally, after 251 episodes, there is "the sound of peace" in "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," but not before a traumatic incident sends Hawkeye to a psychiatric ward, B.J. is sent home before he can say goodbye to Hawkeye, Charles (David Ogden Stiers) forms an attachment to a band of Chinese musicians, and Klinger (Jamie Farr) falls in love with a Korean woman separated from her family. That there is no audio commentary for this television benchmark is a major disappointment, but the series eloquently speaks for itself. M*A*S*H, we salute you. --Donald Liebenson

As the eleventh season begins rumors are running rampant around camp. One rumor has everyone believing that Marilyn Monroe is going to pay the 4077 a special visit while another claims that the peace talks are finally making headway. This second rumor gets Margaret thinking after Charles mentions how a Los Angeles skyscraper had a time capsule built into its cornerstone. Although he thinks the idea is insane Margaret decides to make a time capsule of her own to bury in camp. We could put something in the ground to remind people we were here she suggested. With Hawkeye s help items from around camp were gathered up for the capsule: a chopper s broken fan belt Radar s teddy bear one of Henry Blake s fishing flies a bottle of Charles s cognac and Father Mulcahy s boxing gloves.And finally the gang of the 4077 hears the announcement they ve been waiting for: This is Robert Pierpoint speaking to you from nearby Panmunjom. It is one minute before ten p.m. We can still hear the sound of nearby artillery. At some point during the next few seconds the guns should go silent as the cease-fire officially goes into effect There it is. That s the sound of peace. System Requirements:Running Time: 390 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543253129 Manufacturer No: 2235312

M*A*S*H - Season Ten (Collector's Edition)

Unlike old soldiers, M*A*S*H showed little signs of fading away in its penultimate season. Alan Alda and Loretta Switt were officially saluted with Emmys for their exemplary work this season, and Henry Morgan and David Ogden Stiers received well-deserved nominations. But the overlooked Jamie Farr enjoyed some of his finest half-hours, including "Follies of the Living--Concerns of the Dead" (written and directed by Alda), an episode out of the Twilight Zone in which a fever-wracked Klinger communicates with the spirit of a soldier who has just died and roams the 4077th. Stiers further distinguishes himself in "Sons and Bowlers," in which Winchester lends compassionate support to Hawkeye, who anxiously awaits word of his father's operation, and in a moving scene, opens up about his strained relationship with his own father. Stiers also directed the powerful "Identity Crisis," featuring Joe Pantoliano as a soldier who desperately switches dog tags with a deceased buddy. Another season benchmark is the Emmy-nominated "Where There's a Will, There's a War," in which Hawkeye, trapped on the front lines under heavy fire, composes his will and reflects on what to leave his friends.

M*A*S*H took some hits for perceived preachy self-righteousness in its final years. "Give 'Em Hell Hawkeye," in which Hawkeye writes a protest letter to Harry Truman, and "Blood and Guts," in which Hawkeye gives a sensationalistic war correspondent his comeuppance, are this season's worst offenders. While at times it seems like M*A*SH is marching in place ("Communication Breakdown," in which B.J. goes into a tailspin when he learns his wife has gotten a job stateside, echoes season 8's "Period of Adjustment"), it does so with its usual crack precision that made it one of television's most decorated and beloved series. --Donald Liebenson

Relive your favorite M*A*S*H moments with this three-disc DVD Collector's Edition containing all 21 classic Season Ten episodes!They were the 4077 MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War. As the war drags on it begins to take a toll on the docs and nurses who day after day fight to save the incoming wounded helicoptered in directly from the front lines. But as much as the gang of the 4077 cared for the wounded soldiers they also cared about each other. And that camaraderie coupled with a liberal dose of hijinks and hilarity served to make their tour of duty in Korea an experience none of them would ever forget.System Requirements:Running Time: 561 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 024543241409 Manufacturer No: 2234140

M*A*S*H - Season Eight (Collector's Edition)

Unlike the good doctors of the 4077 (otherwise known as "this hellhole" and "sewer"), M*A*S*H shows little signs of fatigue in its eighth season. Familiar characters reveal new sides of themselves and the series itself performs some radical surgery on sitcom convention. The most pivotal personnel change is the departure of Gary Burghoff, the only ensemble member to have appeared in the original film, as Radar. His splendid two-part send-off sets the stage for one of the season's best episodes, the Emmy-nominated "Period of Adjustment," in which Klinger (Jamie Farr) must begin to make the role of company clerk his own, and family man B.J. Honeycutt (Mike Farrell) is devastated when a letter from home relates how his baby daughter called a visiting Radar "Daddy." Pompous Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers) gets his "Of course I care" episode when he tends to a classical pianist who has lost the use of his hands in "Morale Victory." Harry Morgan, as Colonel Henry Potter, was honored with an Emmy, most likely for the emotional episode "Old Soldiers," in which he receives word that the last of his World War I band of brothers has passed on. Loretta Switt was also saluted by the Academy for her work this season. Among her best episodes is "Are You Now, Margaret?" in which she is accused of being a communist sympathizer.

Two episodes truly distinguish themselves: "Life Time," which unfolds in real time as the doctors race against the clock to perform an emergency procedure that requires a graft from a dying soldier; and "Dreams," writer-director Alan Alda's Emmy-nominated, love-it-or-hate it episode that visits the nightmares of the sleep-deprived doctors. M*A*S*H continues to walk the scalpel's edge between hilarious comedy ("Too Many Cooks," "April Fools") and powerful drama ("Heal Thyself, in which a visiting doctor suddenly suffers a break down, and "Guerilla My Dreams," which climaxes with a tense standoff between the doctors, who have saved the life of a wounded female Korean guerilla, and the North Korean officer hellbent on executing her. As with past M*A*S*H sets, viewers have the preferred option of viewing the episodes without the intrusive laugh track. But we're putting whoever's in command on report for yet again not managing to stitch together any kind of cast commentary, interviews, or archival goodies. --Donald Liebenson

Explores the day-to-day lives of the people who live and work at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 24-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

M*A*S*H - Season Nine (Collector's Edition)

In M*A*S*H's ninth season, tears flow almost as freely as the blood and laughter, affording the decorated ensemble (Alan Alda, Harry Morgan. Loretta Swit, and David Ogden Stiers were all nominated for Emmys) ample dramatic license. Margaret (Swit) cries while reflecting on a patient to whom she became emotionally attached in "Letters." B.J. (Mike Farrell) tears up when Hawkeye (Alda) and company surprise him with a wedding-anniversary home movie of his wife in "Oh, How We Danced." And Winchester (Stiers) reveals that he's "human like the rest of us" in three of his finest half-hours (each was nominated for an Emmy). In "The Life You Save," he becomes obsessed with death after discovering a sniper's bullet grazed his head. In the moving Christmas episode, "Death Takes a Holiday," he struggles to uphold a family tradition of making an anonymous charitable gesture. In "No Laughing Matter," he is reunited with the colonel who exiled him to the 4077th, but will groveling and brass-kissing get him reassigned to Tokyo?

In its early years, M*A*S*H primarily prescribed laughter, with measured doses of sensitivity and compassion, to combat the tragedies and absurdities of war. By the ninth season, the good doctors of the 4077th were no longer content to be cut-ups, and this television institution began to overdose on self-righteousness. In the episode "Depressing News," Hawkeye builds a "monument" out of 500,000 tongue depressors mistakenly delivered to the camp. "We wouldn't have this supply if they didn't think there'd be a demand," he laments. "My God, hasn't this elimination tournament gone on long enough?" When, after much fanfare, he destroys his creation for the benefit of a confused Stars and Stripes reporter, he spells it out: "Senseless destruction; get the picture?" While there are no groundbreaking episodes on the order of "Point of View" (from season 7), season 9 finds cast and crew working at peak efficiency. --Donald Liebenson

The perfect comic relief, the perfect holiday gift!

The Rockford Files - Season Four

Series about an ex-con-turned-private-investigator named Jim Rockford who would rather run away than fight and would rather go fishing than work. He isn't a coward and he isn't lazy--just a bit on the cautious side that's all. And he bears a very strong resemblance to Western TV hero Bret Maverick. Rockford is sometimes aided (and sometimes deterred) in his cases by friends Dennis Becker (a police detective) Angel (his cowardly former cellmate) and pretty Beth Davenport (his lawyer).Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025195005715 Manufacturer No: 61100691

The Rockford Files - Season Five

James Garner returns in his Primetime Emmy® Award-winning role as wisecracking ex-con-turned-private detective Jim Rockford in all 22 Season Five episodes of The Rockford Files! In this thrilling five-disc set Rockford chases down underworld mobsters art thieves an organ transplant ring and other criminals who never expect to find the world's most unlikely detective behind Rockford's easygoing laid-back demeanor. Along for the chase this season are such phenomenal guest stars as Tom Selleck Ed Harris John Pleshette Harold Gould and more. From legendary TV producer Stephen J. Cannell the Primetime Emmy® Award-winning series that earned eighteen nominations returns for more intelligent mysteries devious suspects and classic Rockford action!System Requirements:Running time: 297 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025195017237 Manufacturer No: 61102094

M*A*S*H - Season Five (Collector's Edition)

M*A*S*H's fifth tour of duty finds the 4077th operating at peak efficiency. Harry Morgan, as Colonel Sherman Potter, and Mike Farrell as BJ Hunnicutt, pumped new blood into series, and in this, their sophomore year, became integral parts of the ensemble. Gary Burghoff joined the Emmy elite for his role as company clerk Radar O'Reilly. William Christopher was also promoted, finally earning his opening-credit stripes for his role as Father Mulcahy. This season was also pivotal for Loretta Switt's Major Margaret Houlihan. "The Nurses," one of Switt's finest half-hours, humanized her rigid, by-the-book character. Margaret's engagement provided the season with its dramatic arc, and set the stage for the departure of Larry Linville's Major Burns, who by this time had wrung all the music he could from his one-note character. In addition to "The Nurses," another episode that looms large in the show's legend is the Emmy-winning "Dear Sigmund," in which weary and depressed psychiatrist Sidney Friedman sought refuge at the 4077th. This episode further fleshed out BJ, and established him as the camp's practical joker. The episode "Hanky Panky," in which a compassionate BJ consoles a nurse whose marriage has fallen apart, ranks as one of his best.

Alan Alda's Hawkeye suffers physical and psychological crises in two of his most effective episodes, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," in which he is temporarily blinded, and "Hawk's Nightmare," in which the war haunts his dreams. We also see the first warning signs of sanctimony that would infect the show in later seasons. Tell us, Hawkeye--and he does, in "The General's Practitioner"--why war is worse than hell. Whereas Hawkeye and Trapper in earlier seasons were partners in crime, Hawkeye and BJ become tireless (and sometimes tiresome) crusaders to right all wrongs in their "little corner" of the world, as witness their shutdown of a heartless junk dealer in "Souvenirs." One cure is "Movie Tonight," an ensemble episode in which camp members bond during a much-interrupted screening of My Darling Clementine. --Donald Liebenson

No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 9-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

M*A*S*H - Season Seven (Collector's Edition)

The war in Korea wages on with no end in sight, but the medical corps at the 4077th valiantly battle on against soulless military bureaucracy, tedium, and insanity. The seventh season of one of television's most decorated series continued to break new ground, with episodes such as "Point of View," which unfolds under the subjective eye of a wounded soldier. And just when you think you have these characters pegged, the writers provocatively challenged them. One of the most powerful episodes of the season, and the series, is "Preventive Medicine," in which Hawkeye (Alan Alda) takes drastic measures to stop a gung-ho colonel from further endangering his men. "Inga," another series benchmark, written and directed by Alda, finds Hawkeye threatened by an accomplished woman doctor (Mariette Hartley).

Unlike Larry Linville's one-note Major Burns, David Ogden Stiers found new notes to play as Charles Emerson Winchester III. His character remains, as Hawkeye observes, "pompous, arrogant, conceited, and a total bore." But he's also "all right" in three of his finest half-hours: "Major Ego," in which he lets a magazine profile go to his swelled head; "Rally Round the Flagg, Boys," in which he outwits camp nemesis Colonel Flagg; and "Ain't Love Grand," in which he falls for a Korean girl he meets at Rosie's Bar (the setting for another essential episode, "A Night at Rosie's," in which the company seeks refuge from the war). The seven-year itch got to Gary Burghoff, who would depart the series in season 8. Episodes such as "Hot Lips Is Back in Town," in which Radar sweetly woos a new nurse, demonstrate why he would be keenly missed. The two-part "Our Finest Hour" is anything but. It is a rehash of the season 4 classic, "The Interview," that serves as a clip episode. This is a rare misstep in another satisfying season that did this series proud. --Donald Liebenson

As the seventh season opens, peace talks to end the war have been going on for over a year and Hawkeye has had enough. He jumps in a jeep and roars off to the talks, and although he makes it onto the speaker's floor, his rant does little to speed up the negotiations. His discontent isn't helped by the return of war correspondent Clete Roberts who has came back to the 4077 to tape another one of his television talks for the folks back home.

Yet Hawkeye isn't the only one feeling the pressures of war. BJ nearly drives himself to exhaustion trying to help a poor Korean family, Father Mulcahy almost gets himself killed trying to get a promotion, Charles falls in love with a working girl at Rosie's Bar, and Margaret's divorce is finally made official. It's all part of life during wartime.