A Televisual Feast

I’m not sure if the second episode is an out-of-nowhere improvement, but I think it qualifies (and it’s immediate, by the first commercial break I knew I was going to keep watching the show). While there still are the annoying transitions between scenes, “The Practice” becomes a packed forty-five minutes–the emphasis is on one case, […]

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The third episode–sans Spearchucker I’ve noticed (but still with Ugly John, in an instrumental role no less, and I’m guessing the first appearance of William Christopher as Father Mulcahy)–is either back on track or on a new track. The writing’s a lot better, courtesy Robert Klane (who went on to write, most significantly, Weekend at […]

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I know “M*A*S*H” is a sitcom, but doesn’t that genre suggest some comedy? In this episode, Hawkeye and Trapper need some hydrocortisone after black marketeers have taken the unit’s supply. And Henry has just gotten a new antique desk. Hijinks ensue.
There’s no texture to the episode, nothing interesting. There’s even wacky music.
It goes by in […]

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The pilot episode of “M*A*S*H” raises a lot of questions: is it visible how popular it’s going to become, is it good from the start, et cetera, et cetera–another question being, I suppose, how many times have I seen this episode? I’ve probably only seen the pilot twice and not particularly recently (ten or more […]

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Not sure what I’m supposed to get out of “The Practice”’s pilot episode–I get Dylan McDermott is honest and feeling but unable to show it in normal ways (or is able to show it in normal David E. Kelley ways). I get Camryn Manheim is also honest and feeling but is able to show it […]

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