TV’s M*A*S*H: The Ultimate Guide Book

The year was 1991- television cable had just hit India, and a schoolboy I welcomed with awe firangi movies and firangi television serials to my home. Irrespective of plot, nature or character- I took great relish in seeing English serials. Thus on 7:30 pm on each weekday there was aired a serial in Star Plus which concerned itself with doctors in the war field. At first the serial did not impress me- and I watched it just for the sake of killing half-an-hour. But slowly and steadily the series I began to enjoy watching it, began to love it, and slowly it became an obsession. The serial was M*A*S*H and I still watch reruns on television even though I have purchased the complete DVD Collection.

When the internet hit India (sometime in the late Nineties), one of the first searches I did was on M*A*S*H and frankly I was surprised to see many a M*A*S*H maniac in this part of the world. When the social network craze spread over here- I joined a community/group dedicated to M*A*S*H.

We all knew about M*A*S*H, and had a vague idea about its creation. But save for the perfunctory knowledge, we knew nothing more. Its here at this juncture I got hold of this book published in 2009. And at the outset itself, let me tell you- the tile is misleading. Its not the ultimate guide….its something more than ultimate- and a word needs to be coined in English that describes a work that’s most comprehensive among the most comprehensive…most exhaustive among the most exhaustive and most ultimate among the most ultimate. With more then 825 pages the work explores in detail each and every episode of M*A*S*H, with in-depth interviews with many cast members, directors and writers. Even the occasional guest stars have been included in this study. And the most attractive feature are the author notes that lends credence and authority to the study. Special care is taken to mention about MASH Spin-offs and sequels.

As a M*A*S*H addict, I found this book a veritable plethora of information. I will treasure the same, and I sure will have it in my hand, the next time I watch M*A*S*H. So are there any lacunae in the work? I wouldn’t say lacunae- but I would have liked more photographs included in the work from the series.  Of course, I guess, inclusion of the same, would make the book more bulkier and that’s the reason why the publishers opted out of the same.

Hats off to Ed Solomonson and Mark O’Neill for their painstaking and elaborate research and cheers to BearManor Media for this wonderful production. Looking forward to more works on Television popular culture from them. And authors and publishers- if you guys are reading this…would like to read a book titled TV’s FRIENDS: The Ultimate TV Guide….Hey FRIENDS is probably the only television serial to make its impact felt in India after MASH. And for M*A*S*H and F.R.I.E.N.D.S addict here is a tough trivia- can you guess two persons who have been associated with both M*A*S*H and F.R.I.E.N.D.S. The name Elliott Gould is the easy answer (he was Trapper John in the movie M*A*S*H and father of Ross and Monica in F.R.I.E.N.D.S), and the tougher one is….I wont give the answer- read this book and find it out.

Truly the  ‘best book anywhere’

TV’s M*A*S*H: The Ultimate Guide Book
Ed Solomonson and Mark O’ Neill
BearManor Media (2009)
ISBN 9781593935016
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for Rebecca's Reads (03/11)