M∗A∗S∗H was TV's first black sitcom. No, not like Amos 'n' Andy and The Jeffersons were black sitcoms. It was a sitcom about war. No, not like Sergeant Bilko and Hogan's Heroes. M∗A∗S∗H was more than lovable lunks running around doing nutty things. This was comedy that showed war. Not like a John Wayne epic, but one of small-scale, more human dimensions. M∗A∗S∗H showed the blood and violence of war without ever actually showing the blood and violence. It showed the inside and underside of battle. The loneliness, the fear, the emotional as well as physical casualties. It showed death.

And yet M∗A∗S∗H was a lot of laughs.

Actually, M∗A∗S∗H—maybe the most sophisticated sitcom of them all—was not a sitcom at all, but a minimovie with a laugh-track. (p. 297)

It was...