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dewlineThere's an old quote that's been coming back to mind after reading news and opinion pieces from places ranging from CBC News to iPolitics.ca. It comes from a book about a TV series - one of the earliest examples of what we now call "dramedies" - a portmanteau showing the blending of comedy and drama - on American television that won many Canadian hearts as well.
“I think there is a misconception on the part of a lot of people in this country that Frank Burns is unusual. My hope is that they see he is not unusual. He is fairly ordinary. He comes in sleeker packages, God knows. I hope when people think about who they are going to vote for, or who they’re going to work for, or whatever, they cast an eye toward Frank Burns and say ‘Now, does this person behave the same way? Am I dealing with this kind of monster?.’ Watch for him, be careful of him. There are Frank Burnses everywhere. Learn to know the type. Don’t elect them. Don’t make them chairman of the board. Frank is a dangerous man because he acts without reason, often without true intelligence, and, perhaps more importantly, with no real knowledge or perception of what consequences an action will bring out. He is not a man with perception and, consequently, he is incredibly dangerous.”
- Larry Linville, interviewed by David S. Reiss for the book M*A*S*H - the exclusive inside story on TV's most popular show (1)
Putting that quote into a more recent, Canadian-minded context: I wonder if those who supported Stephen Harper and his fellow believers might not have had a certain dislike for M*A*S*H while it aired in first-run on TV. Certainly, they had problems with CBC, which had the Canadian first-run rights for the series.
(1) Well, the people at Bobbs-Merrill weren't exactly shy about picking a sub-title for promoting that book, were they?
“I think there is a misconception on the part of a lot of people in this country that Frank Burns is unusual. My hope is that they see he is not unusual. He is fairly ordinary. He comes in sleeker packages, God knows. I hope when people think about who they are going to vote for, or who they’re going to work for, or whatever, they cast an eye toward Frank Burns and say ‘Now, does this person behave the same way? Am I dealing with this kind of monster?.’ Watch for him, be careful of him. There are Frank Burnses everywhere. Learn to know the type. Don’t elect them. Don’t make them chairman of the board. Frank is a dangerous man because he acts without reason, often without true intelligence, and, perhaps more importantly, with no real knowledge or perception of what consequences an action will bring out. He is not a man with perception and, consequently, he is incredibly dangerous.”
- Larry Linville, interviewed by David S. Reiss for the book M*A*S*H - the exclusive inside story on TV's most popular show (1)
Putting that quote into a more recent, Canadian-minded context: I wonder if those who supported Stephen Harper and his fellow believers might not have had a certain dislike for M*A*S*H while it aired in first-run on TV. Certainly, they had problems with CBC, which had the Canadian first-run rights for the series.
(1) Well, the people at Bobbs-Merrill weren't exactly shy about picking a sub-title for promoting that book, were they?
