Keeping it "civil, clean, and in the spirit of light-heartedness and good cheer" (I'll try! ;) - who's your least favorite character?

Mine would be Frank Burns, followed by Pierce and Henry Blake.

'Followed by Pierce'? Man, you didn't like this series much then, did you? No offense, but i gotta wonder how you can care about a series and dislike it's central character (around whom 90% of the plots revolved) at the same time?

Because, from season 6 on, I like *all* the other main characters. Some quite a bit. And I can tolerate Pierce when he's not wooing or preaching or giving advice - he's funny, nutty, clever, and I love how he bounces off his Swampmates. I don't hate him, I just don't like him!

I like Pierce. Second favorite character!

Anyway I would have to say Margaret or Winchester. I never liked Margaret. And I never liked Winchester because he was way too huffy.

My least favorite is Trapper because he's so boring. He's little more than a pale version of Hawkeye.

Following that, I'd say Radar past season two. He turns into a little old lady and grows more and more naive, which gets annoying.

Wow, people, them's fightin' words! After Margaret, Trapper is my favorite character! Margaret I like for reasons listed in the previous topic. Trapper I like because, while he was sometimes sexist, and often disrespectful, he was also a sweetie, a good doctor, and much less frequently irritating than Pierce. In short, he was all the qualities I liked in Pierce, without the arrogance, and a cutdown in disrespect and chauvanism. Add to that the fact that he is FINE, and we got Lilith's favorite male lead in a TV show.
Okay, now as for my least fave character. I would like to say Father Mulcahy, just to see what Lurker said, but one just can't work up strong feelings for a preacher-man. I would have to go with BJ. He's a whiner. He has his good moments, like in Dear Sigmund, but all in all he spent the lions share of his time grousing about how lousy life was etc. I know that griping was a favorite past time at the 4077, but BJ just had this attitude that his problems were so much worse than everybody else's. Prime example: Wheelers and Dealers. For those who've seen this episode, I think that speaks for itself. He was such a jerk! He acted like his lot was worse than everybody else's, and he sent off vibes that said his problems were somebody else's fault. Another example is Period of Adjustment. Need I say more? Anyway, that's my least fave character.

OK, Lurker, i get the idea. And i have to admit, i like the goofier Hawkeye of the earlier seasons much better myself.
I also agree with Lilith on Trapper (good to know i'm not the only one who was admiring the scenery for the first three seasons!) I always thought he had an interesting dark streak (as per the ep where he tried to desert) that they didn't have the time to develop.
Least favorite character....probably Charles. He was such a one-joke character - at least Burns was creatively annoying.

After all, who wouldn't like the "Yankee Doodle Doctor"?

Trapper was the best looking guy I've seen on M*A*S*H so far, but his casual infidelity turned me off big time. And B. J. can definitely be a jerk - I never pegged him as a whiner, though! He really misses his family and gets down over it, but I don't remember any whining. Maybe I haven't seen the right episodes. Anyway, I love strong morals and values, so that's why I'm a preacher-man's lady ;)

Hey! I forgot about Mulcahy! I really liked him, too! :-)

B.J. didn't exactly whine, but he did seem to carry his angst on his sleeve a lot. He never could seem to develop the goofy coping mechanisms the rest of the cast did - which makes him simultaneously the most human and (sometimes) least tolerable of the M*A*S*H crew.

I've always held that being human is the most intolerable state in the universe.

I actually liked the main characters pretty much. The character I didn't like was Sgt. Zale. He was mean, hypocritical, and a jerk. His character is basically summed up in the scene with the bar fight, where he's shouting encouragement, waving his fists, calling Klinger a coward for not getting involved, all the while carefully staying out of the way. Or perhaps it's where he wants to break up with his remorsefully unfaithful wife, and B.J. finds him lounging with his moose.

I agree with D.K. In the main I like all the major characters throughout the series. However, if I had to pick my least favorite character, no doubt about it, it'd be Captain Calvin Spaulding. A generally useless character, no personality beyond playing generally lousy songs on his guitar (although "Tokyo Blues" was good). The only thing Spaulding had going for him, is that, at least in name, he may've been a tribute to Groucho Marx. ("Hurray for Captain Spaulding/The African explorer/Did someone call me 'snorer'?/Hurray, hurray, hurray!")

Yeah...I was never quite sure where that character was supposed to be heading. He showed up - with no explanation - for a few episodes, sang what sounded a lot more like '60's folk tunes than '40's, then BOOM! dropped from the show. (I have this mental image of the rest of the cast smashing that guitar over his head and tossing him out, a la the Warner Bros. cartoons.)
That said, I do think the idea of a 'Greek chorus'-type character was an intriguing one...but not that one.

Around that time there was a hit song called "Dead Skunk". It was performed by Loudon Wainwright III, the same guy who played Spaulding. I keep wondering if he was hired to make the show more hip or something.

By the way, I think I've misspelled "Spaulding". I believe it should be "S-p-a-l-d-i-n-g".

I always thought Warren Zevon ("Werewolves of London," "Lawyers, Guns and Money.") was a better satirist via his music than Loudon Wainwright. Wainwright did not even last a full season on "M*A*S*H".

Captain Johnathan Tuttle for me!!!!!

I don't like Pierce or Klinger.

Pierce was funny as heck, but far, far too self-righteous. What bothered me about the show was how virtually every career military officer (except the main characters) was corrupt, greedy, incompetent, or insane while the North Koreans were always the innocent victims.

Flagg. Too one-dimensional. I guess that's the same reason some people like him though.

Frank was really under-developed too, at least until Margret's marriage.

BJ's character depended too much on who was writing. All too often his lines were interchangeable with Hawkeye's.