MASH: Season Six

MASH: Season Six, 1977-1978. Hijinks in an army hospital.

Created by Richard Hooker (novel) & Larry Gelbart (developer). Directed by Alan Alda (5 episodes), Burt Metcalfe (5), Don Weis (4), Charles Dubin (4), George Tyne (3), Hy Averback (2), William Jurgensen (2), Stuart Millar (1) & Harry Morgan (1). Written by Jim Fritzell (6 episodes), Everett Greenbaum (6), Alan Alda (5), Ken Levine (4), David Isaacs (4), Burt Prelutsky (3), Laurence Marks (2), Ronny Graham (2), Larry Balmagia (2), Bill Idelson (1) & Allyn Freeman (1). Starring Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, Loretta Swit & David Ogden Stiers.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good). Winchester replaces Burns this season. He's a better character, but considerably less funny.
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Wow - a sudden and drastic drop in quality. It maintains the tone of season five, which is great, but that's about all this season has going for it. It's rarely funny, and when it's serious it's never compelling. Also, it's turning into The Alan Alda Show. Although the episodes he wrote and directed in earlier seasons were some of the series' highlights, now he seems to just be doing it for the sake of having more screen time than everyone else. So, the big question is: will the show pick up again in season seven, or did it just run for 11 seasons because people were in the habit of watching it?
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)