It was a very busy war.

[gridlore]

I just caught the M*A*S*H episode "The Moon Is Not Blue". This episode concerns Hawkeye, BJ, and KLlinger trying to get a copy of The Moon is Blue, a racy film banned in Boston.

Here's the fun part. The Moon is Blue was released on 8 July, 1953.

The war ended on 27 July, 1953.

So, the film has to be banned in Boston, make its way to Korea, sit in the office for a few days while Klinger deals, and then make it's way to the 4077th. All this has to happen before the events of Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.

M*A*S*H often tripped over real world events. The episode A War for all Seasons was wrapped around the year 1951 , with Major Winchester betting heavily against the Giants coming back. Russ Hodges' famous call is played as we see Winchester passed out in the compound. However Winchester is present for the entire episode, which starts with a New Years Eve Party where Col. Potter plays Fathertime. Neither are being treated as newcomers. So every episode with LTC Blake and Frank Burns has to happen between October and early December of 1950! (They used the same set, showing that the MASH wasn't moving as part of the Pusan Breakout. Also, there were constant references to HQ being in Seoul or Uijeongbu, so the window for those early shows are very, very short.)

Yes, I'm too damn logical.

Comments

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Heh... given that the show was on for longer than the war... I'm not terribly surprised. I've always been curious as to what a total add up of the timeline of the episodes would be? How much longer were they in Korea than the duration of the war?

I have read

[capplor.livejournal.com]

That the writer's interviewed every medical staff person they could find who had participated in the war & then used the ensemble to portray events that happened or were based on events that happened to something like 200 people. So yeah, there would be some timeline confusion.

Of course, if you throw in the events in the original book/movie then things get even more confused timewise.

[johno.livejournal.com]

You do realize that the show ran for years longer then then then the actual Korean conflict.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. But once I looked at the numbers, I was amused by the fact that the entire Henry Blake/Frank Burns arc had to happen in two months!

[johno.livejournal.com]

Considering both actors left because their characters were not growing and changing.

Which could be explained as no one really changes a whole lot in 2 months.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Bah! On the very first episode of "Happy Days", the Cunninghams sit down to watch "The Untouchables", which didn't air until 1960. And don't get me started about the front door mysteriously moving from one side of the house to another.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Whatever happened to Chuck?

Seems that the pinball machines in Al's were contemporary with the filming dates.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Chuck went went off to college, and never came back. Perhaps he was shunned because he took up housekeeping with Radar.

By Al's do you mean Arnold's? (Unless they changed the name during the Fred Grundy era.)