I was just curious but who else is watching M*A*S*H on the FX cable network? And does anyone know if they are showing the original uncut episodes (I would think) or hacked up syndication versions?

I watch it every day on FX. And the episodes are all horribly hacked up syndicated versions, which is enough to make me want to throw something through my TV, or maybe through somebody's head, at times. Except for a few episodes which a friend was kind enough to give me a tape of, I've never seen the uncut episodes. But I'm not bitter about it. Not at all.

I watch it on FX. I really wish that they would try running them in order. They'll have Margaret's wedding one day, and her engagement a few days later. They also have an irritating tendency to take a particular episode and run it into the ground. Then there are other episodes they hardly, if ever show. Then when they DO show an unseen episode, they either show it again and again and again, or don't show it at all for a year or more. The episode "Communication Breakdown" was on a few days ago. That's the first time I've seen that episode since the original run.

(They did the same thing when they were running "Mission: Impossible". Seven seasons to play with, and they would rerun the same episode twice in a week.)

I really, really wish that some station would do like the Sci-Fi channel did for Star Trek TOS, and run the entire series in order, uncut.

(And while I'm dreaming, I'd like Prince Charming, 10 million dollars, and a private yacht.)

Okay thanks guys. I'm curious about running certain episodes into the ground, are you watching the show at multiple times of the day, because then the repeating is quite noticeable.

Also I'm surprised about them showing hacked up versions. FX prides themselves on thier uncut versions of the X-Files and NYPD Blue.

Oh, they do run them. When you're a hard-core watcher like I am, you notice the frequency of certain episodes. One time they ran the episode of the klutzy nurse about 6 times in a three-week period.

Perhaps FX purchased their copies already cut? I've seen M*A*S*H on various stations, and the cuts always seem the same.

most likely.

One thing I can't stand is syndication cutting of programs. Once you start chopping a half hour comedy you destroy a lot of the plot. The syndicated reruns of the Simpsons come to mind as major hack job, with the funniest jokes being cut out. I've never seen the original uncut M*A*S*H, is the cutting as bad?

I haven't seen the syndicated versions in a while. I have most of the episodes on tape frm Columbia House. I haven't really noticed bad cutting on the originals.

In my not-so humble opinion, FX shows the final episode (Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen) too much. I was looking forward to seeing it for the longest time, but now, when they advertise it, I'm like "Oh, they're showing it again." There's something called too much of a good thing, ya know!

They show EVERYTHING too much. They used to show the movie "The Stepfather" every time you turned around. Then it was "From Dusk till Dawn." And why do they have to have so many series back-to-back? I would gladly give up an hour of "M*A*S*H" (or better yet, "Beverly Hills 90210") to have "Mission: Impossible" back on again. And their original programming tends to pander to the lowest common denominator. "Son of the Beach" looks like it's going to be utterly (CENSORED), but since it's got well-stacked girls in bikinis, it'll probably do well.

I too would like to see the return of Mission: Impossible, and with the new movie coming in May it ride on existing hype. You are completely right, they (like most cable networks) rebeat programs ad nasaum.

Is it just me, or does FX only have 5 or 6 shows? This is next Monday's schedule from www.fxnetworks.com

7-9 MASH
9-10 Picket Fences
10-12 Beverly Hills, 90210
12-2 movie
2-4 MASH
4-5 In Living Color
5-7 Beverly Hills, 90210
7-8 MASH
8-9 NYPD Blue
9-10 X-Files
10-11 Married With Children
11-12 X-Show
12-1 X-Files
1-2 Milennium

That's only 10 diffrent series in an entire day. IMHO, the entire network needs more variety.

Margie--are you pleased with your tapes from Columbia House? How many episodes are on each tape?

I'm asking because I've gotten several series from them. Only one, "The Night Stalker" has been completed, probably because there were only 20 episodes. They told me they had no more episodes taped of "Space: 1999" after I had gotten about two thirds of the shows. I stopped getting "Columbo" after I'd gotten maybe half of the episodes, and I just recently was informed that they're shutting down on my "Mission: Impossible" tapes, and I haven't even gotten the complete first season yet! I'm sorta interested in getting "M*A*S*H", but not if they're going to cut me off again, and not if it's going to take forever and a day to get them. It is eleven seasons, after all.

It does take forever to get them all. There's 3 episodes on each tape. They're not in air date sequence. They're grouped by theme, such as 3 dealing with Margaret, 3 dealing with morale, etc.
The 3 shows do air around the same time frame, i.e. Henry & Potter are not on the same tapes. I like them, especially since there's no station around here showing M*A*S*H. (I don't have FX on my cable system either.) I can't remember when I started getting them, but I think I'm almost done.

Columbia House generally offers twenty episodes of a given series in each of their collections. I heard something like CH has many more than 20 episodes of M*A*S*H, but not the entire series availible. Before you are too hard on Columbia House, keep in mind that they provide collections of many, many classic television series. It would not be economically feasible for them to offer the complete episode run of all of these series, except in the special cases (such as Star Trek or M*A*S*H) where there was high enough widespread interest in and popularity of a show to justify this. This is why some of the other shows you ordered from them were cut off after just twenty episodes. Although I am a rabid completist, I can't really fault CH for this and instead appluad them for the superlative job they have done in making many great classic shows which are no longer generally shown on the air seen again. I got both the "Space: 1999" and "Route 66" collections last year.

I just got a note from Columbia House that I have received all the M*A*S*H tapes they've made. They haven't reproduced the whole series. And because they're not in date order, I'm not sure which episodes I'm missing. I was really hoping to get the finale episode, but that's one of the ones that hasn't been done yet. Bummer!

Never mind-I just got the final episode in the mail. Should've known that the postal service would delay it a month!

The prints run on FX may be cut, but they are clean and watchable. The New York area station running MASH (WNYW, the Fox station) runs copies that look like they just came up from the gutter, all old looking and grainy.

Is "M*A*S*H" leaving FX? They are adding three series to primetime in September ("Ally Mc Beal", "The Practice" and the third I don't recall.) "N.Y.P.D. Blue" is going to Court TV. There may not be room for "M*A*S*H".

This just in: "M*A*S*H" is moving from FX to the Hallmark Channel, starting in Sept. 2003. Hallmark paid $60 million for the rights to the 225 episodes.

Hallmark has just added JAG to it's line up.Interesting that it went out and spent the money to get two of the most successful military related shows in recent history.First M*A*S*H and now JAG.