Noir Dame

Thirty-five years ago this month, a half hour sitcom aired for the first time on CBS. Adapted from the 1970 Robert Altman film and Richard Hooker’s 1968 original novel about doctors serving in Korea, no one expected M*A*S*H to become an enduring part of pop culture. The Vietnam conflict was not going well, and war comedies like Hogan’s Heroes appeared anachronistic, even tasteless to a war-weary audience. Instead, M*A*S*H continued for eleven years, as a show that never flagged in its wry humor or its exploration of the human spirit under fire.

And so we come to a new pop classic, the fun podcast “Just My Show,” featuring interviews with the “old friends” and creators of retro television. (They’re to be uniquely commended for being one of the few, the proud, the gifted with strong memory cells — for reuniting the cast of lost kid classic, The Great Space Coaster! — take that, VH1!!)

Now in season two, they’ve recently released an enjoyable podcast celebrating the M*A*S*H anniversary, reuniting Mike Farrell, William Christopher and Jamie Farr. You can listen to the podcast from the page or download it to your Ipod here.