The Ultimate TV Comedies Bracket -- Round Six, Day Two
I call the big one Bitey.
Friends, we’re almost at the end of the Ultimate TV Comedies bracket. Today, we’re deciding which of two shows should move onto a finale in which it will face the brilliant NBC sitcom Cheers. Will it be the wartime sitcom? Or the animated show that is more than 30 years in the making?
Well, let’s go!
(1) M*A*S*H vs. (2) The Simpsons: It’s not that M*A*S*H wasn’t an important and memorable show, and one whose final episode has ratings that are still remarkably sky-high. But The Simpsons has essentially dominated popular culture in the Internet era in ways that its competition here hasn’t. This is my way of saying that the influence I know M*A*S*H had isn’t enough to compete against the denizens of Springfield.
But that’s my take. How do you vote?
M*A*S*H
The Simpsons
M*A*S*H ought to win the whole thing.
First of all, Gina Dalfonzo is right and MASH should win this whole thing. Secondly, to say that The Simpsons has had a stronger relevance in the culture is simply inaccurate. MASH ruled the world when it was on the air. The fate of Major Burns at the end of the third season was as water cooler a moment we'd ever had - BEFORE there were water cooler moments. Famously, it lasted almost three times as long as the war it was depicting - but of course, it wasn't about Korea at all. The very first episode of TV to be told in real time was on MASH. Letters home eps, the cinema verite eps where the actors answered without scripts, whole comic episodes taking place in an operating room with blood everywhere while bombs dropped nearby. I respect the Simpsons and I recognize its monumental achievement. But MASH helped me become a better human. And millions more like me.
OK. I'm done.