HIMYM...
The final M*A*S*H episode aired in February of 1983. I was 11 years old at the time and I remember watching it with my mother. I had grown up watching reruns of the show and was quite familiar with the characters and the overall storyline, but had to ask my mom what was taking place as the depth of the episode eluded me at times.
Even so, the significance of the event was fully understood. I remember my cousin, Stuart, who was in college at the time, and one of his friends discussing the upcoming final episode as well as a Newsweek issue devoted to the show's farewell that included a layout of the camp that was especially memorable (I am a geographer after all). The title for this last airing was aptly entitled: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". There was something special about it; history was being made and TV would never be the same.
I'm assuming many of you are well aware that the series finale of How I Met Your Mother was aired earlier this week. I wasn't able to watch it live, but did take it in the next day. I wouldn't call myself a devoted fan of the show, but have picked up enough syndicated broadcasts to understand the storyline and character development that has taken place over the past 9 seasons, much like my connection with M*A*S*H. I also don't want to place the two shows on the same platform; How I Met Your Mother is fun, M*A*S*H is art. But I never connected with the characters of Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar, or Colonel Blake as I did with the clan from MacLaren's Pub. The latter had the advantage of being set in the present (as opposed to the Korean War) and were roughly my age. Most importantly, the central character, Ted, is narrating to his children his quest to find the very same thing that has eluded me in my adult life: a wife.
For those of you that know me, let me be clear: Malcolm Reynolds is, and always will be, my perfect type cast (minus the disillusionment with God). But Ted's "emotional endurance" as a hopeless romantic is something I can relate to and strive to remind myself of at times like the present where much of that hope wavers with the given day and hour.
Critical reception of the final episode has been mixed. I found myself falling in love with the series and am curious as to what others who watched it thought.
Even so, the significance of the event was fully understood. I remember my cousin, Stuart, who was in college at the time, and one of his friends discussing the upcoming final episode as well as a Newsweek issue devoted to the show's farewell that included a layout of the camp that was especially memorable (I am a geographer after all). The title for this last airing was aptly entitled: "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen". There was something special about it; history was being made and TV would never be the same.
I'm assuming many of you are well aware that the series finale of How I Met Your Mother was aired earlier this week. I wasn't able to watch it live, but did take it in the next day. I wouldn't call myself a devoted fan of the show, but have picked up enough syndicated broadcasts to understand the storyline and character development that has taken place over the past 9 seasons, much like my connection with M*A*S*H. I also don't want to place the two shows on the same platform; How I Met Your Mother is fun, M*A*S*H is art. But I never connected with the characters of Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar, or Colonel Blake as I did with the clan from MacLaren's Pub. The latter had the advantage of being set in the present (as opposed to the Korean War) and were roughly my age. Most importantly, the central character, Ted, is narrating to his children his quest to find the very same thing that has eluded me in my adult life: a wife.
For those of you that know me, let me be clear: Malcolm Reynolds is, and always will be, my perfect type cast (minus the disillusionment with God). But Ted's "emotional endurance" as a hopeless romantic is something I can relate to and strive to remind myself of at times like the present where much of that hope wavers with the given day and hour.
Critical reception of the final episode has been mixed. I found myself falling in love with the series and am curious as to what others who watched it thought.
posted by The Bearded | 4:22 PM
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