Jeff Shires wrote:
>"M*A*S*H"'s early episodes featured a laugh track during the operating
>room scenes in the first one or two seasons. It was later that the
>laugh track disappeared. This makes the "flashback" episodes
>interesting because sometimes it is there, sometimes it isn't.
> "M*A*S*H" also had episodes that had no laugh track. Hawkeye's
>monolog and "POV" (filmed from the patients viewpoint) were two episodes
>filmed without it.
When the BBC bought M*A*S*H for screening in the UK in 1974, they decided
that the laugh track was inappopriate for the subject matter and insisted
that Fox struck prints for them without it. So in the UK it had no laugh
track from day one. It is rumoured that this influenced either Fox or the US
network to pull it from later seasons.
On at least one occasion and undoctored print snuck through and the BBC was
deluged with complaints.
There is a more depressing footnote, however. The BBC rights to re-run
M*A*S*H expired last year and the show has been picked up by Sky One (one of
our satellite TV channels). They are stripping the show daily and have
strucked fresh prints from the master negatives (they say). All the early
episodes thus have the laugh track reinstated, which is very traumatic for us
priveleged Brits.
Nigel
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Nigel Curson [log in to unmask]
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ALL OPINIONS, BOTH STRANGE AND SENSIBLE, ARE MY OWN
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