Larry Gelbart Dead at 81 Page 3

I was talking to my mom tonight and mentioned that Larry Gelbart had died and we ended up talking about MASH. She never liked to watch it because her dad (my grandfather that I was afraid of, he looked just like Snidely Whiplash) said it was incredibly inaccurate in its take on the Korean Conflict, because he should know, he served. I thought a second and said, "Wasn't he in the Navy?" She said, "Yeah, he was crazy. That's why I never took you to his house." Just something I thought about. She was a Wayne Rogers woman, BTW.

Robert Altman, who directed the movie MASH, thought the subsequent TV series was crap.

Not only crap, he accused it of being racist! Bless him, Altman, he was an "artist" who made some great films (also some shit films), but he was a bit pompous when it came to M*A*S*H the TV series. He didn't seem to get the idea that the TV series was serving a different purpose to the movie. Plus I think there it was just professional jealously that the TV show for a long time eclipsed the movie in the minds of the public.

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 17 2009, 9:01 AM BST

Not only crap, he accused it of being racist! Bless him, Altman, he was an "artist" who made some great films (also some shit films), but he was a bit pompous when it came to M*A*S*H the TV series.

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And don't forget the snobbery there is about television still, in which a lot of people in films look down on it. Obviously since shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, this perception has changed somewhat, but there's still a lot of people who look down on telly as a medium.