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M*A*S*H

I recently picked up the DVDs for season nine of M*A*S*H. When I was growing up my father had a half dozen tapes of M*A*S*H episodes that he had recorded. Whenever I got sick I used to watch them. I was working on the adage that humor helps heal. I've always liked the humor of M*A*S*H and over the years the show dealt with many meaningful topics. The ninth season is full of more puns than I remember from previous seasons. I also feel that the over quality of the seasons is declining from some of the earlier ones. I can't quite place my finger on anything in specific but some of the episodes seem more formulaic then in previous seasons. Part of that may also be that I've not seen many if any of the episodes past season seven.

I think part of it maybe that set of memories you created as a kid that makes certain things have great nostalgic value. The problem is that if you try to relive some of them the magic has gone away. I don't know if it is the fact that I'm getting closer to one of those threshold ages or that what matters to me is changing. It has happened to me a couple of times in the past week.

First was playing the game Rummikub last night. I loved that game growing up as a kid and have played it a few times over the last couple of years. However, last night the mechanics of the game seemed trite. I have a bad feeling it may get added to the pile of other nostalgic games that I boxed up and just stored in the basement.

The other slightly more disheartening event was renting some of the Looney Tunes collections. I picked up the discs that focused on Bugs Bunny since he was always one of my favorites. Alas, even though I thought I'd have a chance to catch the other levels of humor I missed as a kid, I didn't find myself laughing like I thought I would. Classics like "What's Opera Doc?" were amusing but not as I remember them. I hate to think that all that I once loved can only be left as memories and never enjoyed again.

Posted by Daniel Rinehart on January 19, 2006 10:45 PM |

Comments

In my Children's Lit class this fall one of our assigments was to go back to something that had a lot of impact on us as kids and check it out again. A book, a magazine, TV show, movie, whatever. She warned us that those things we held dear in our hearts might not be as great as we remember them and sometimes students were crushed by the process. She warned that if we thought that might happen to us, don't take the most meaningful, take the 2nd or 3rd most meaningful. My report about Highlights Magazine showed me what a great product that is, it's even better than I remember!

Posted by: Lis | January 20, 2006 7:33 AM