[M∗A∗S∗H], which began as one of the most promising series of the new season, is now one of its biggest disappointments…. M∗A∗S∗H started out as television's first black comedy. It is now as bleached out as Hogan's Heroes.

The creeping blandness was probably foreordained. Commercial television is simply not prepared to accept the savage satire of the movie original. Beyond that, no series could hope to recreate the film's peculiar tension between comedy and horror. The writers seem to have given up their initial efforts and now stand on their clichés.

Gerald Clarke, "Viewpoints: 'M∗A∗S∗H'," in Time (reprinted by permission from Time, The Weekly Newsmagazine; copyright Time Inc. 1972), Vol. 100, No. 16, October 16, 1972, p. 95.