"Page 2 ^
editorials • letters
The Pendulum
Thursday, March 3, 1983
Welcome Home 4077
This past Monday night, many Elon
students no doubt had their TVs tuned to
channel 2 at 8:30 p.m. In fact, according to
the Nielsen polls released, that was what the
majority of Americans were doing Feb. 28.
The reason for this was “M*A*S*H”
was programming its last show.
As the strains from the song “Suicide is
Painless” drifted from millions of television
sets across the country, people realized that
this was the last time they would see a new
installment with Alan Alda, Jamie Farr,
Loretta Swit and Harry Morgan acting their
roles of Hawkeye, Klinger, Margaret and
Col. Potter.
Lots of series have ended. If a series
cannot keep up its ratings, the station
affiliate cancels the program.
But the demise of “M*A*S*H” was
different. The program perennially in the
top 10 of the ratings, ended because the
creators, directors and actors themselves
wanted it to end. They felt that
“M*A*S*H” had outlived its usefulness.
Opinions on this point differ greatly.
“M*A*S*H” was one of the few television
programs that was not “fluffy”—it was not
a sitcom by strict definition. It was one of
the few shows that dealt with true
emotions, painful circumstances and reality.
In spite of the horror of the Korean War,
people coped. And in doing so, this showed
us how to cope with life a little better.
Sure, the comedy on the program was at
times hilarious, but the jokes and punning
are not what will be remembered by the
public. The lessons, the objectives that the
writers and actors strove so diligently to
portray are what will endure.
It was during that flnal program that the
audience may have realized that although
the characters were fictionalized, the emo
tions and roles they portrayed were very
real. Hawkeye’s mental breakdown over the
death of the baby and the urgency to
survive to the end of the war to go home
echoed the sometimes desperate attempt
that everyone has to survive. Everybody
does this differently.
It may have hurt the viewers, especially
the people who watch “M*A*S*H” regu
larly and look on the program as being a
type of American institution, to see the
4077th family breakup. Actually, the break
up had been coming for several years. It’s
just that this time, everybody left at once.
It would do no good to review the entire
program .and analyze the acting, because
that was not what was important in the last
“M*A*S*H.” What was important was
that the characters were saying goodbye.
Television stations and the American
audience has truly lost a great series. The
greater loss is that an incredible group of
actors have been broken up. Their acting
skills will live on in other possible series
and movies, as they are all planning on
making, but there will never be another
“M*A*S*H.” The series will live on in
renms for years to come.
Althou^ it is certain that the series will
be miss^, as well as the actresses and
wtors. It can be safely said that the
Amencan audience is glad to see an end
come to the Korean War and hopefuUy an
rad to aU wars. And they are glad to see
that all the “M*A*S*H” characters are
safely out of Korea.
Welcome home, 4077th.
Television quality will suffer
with M^A'kS-kH demise
Immunity to mistakes
not always possible
There is an old maxim in the newspaper business
that says ,“If a newspaper is correct 98 percent of
the time, its readers will first notice the two percent
that is incorrect.” Like all papers, the Pendulum is
not immune to mistakes.
One of the more glaring mistakes made in this
newspaper this semester was in the January 13 issue.
We erroneously reported that Marydell Bright had
been named director of admissions and financial aid
when, in fact, she already was director of
admissions and financial aid; she was actually
named dean of admissions and financial aid. We
apologize to our readers and Mrs. Bright.
Such mistakes occur in professional papers, and
they will occur in our student-run paper also, but
we pride ourselves in saying that such obvious
mistakes are a rarity in the paper.
More often than not, the Pendulum’s mistakes
are typographical errors. The Pendulum is more
susceptible to this kind of error than daily papers or
many college papers because it relies on an
antiquated system of getting what reporters write
onto newspnnt.
While many newspapers now use computer
systems that transfer written and edited copy
directly to the newspaper’s pages, the Pendulum’s
copy is typed on a typewriter, its length in column
inches is roughly estimated and it is sent to a
typesetter in Burlington.
Any mistakes that slipped past our editors and
those that will happen in typesetting must be caught
and correct^ on the laid-out newspaper page.
Everyone is involved in this often hectic and tedious
operation, and proofreading is as meticulous as
possible. But mistakes will still go undetected
'occasionally.
Because of the great diversity of activities offered
by the many groups on the Elon campus and the
Pendulum’s relatively small staff, our coverage of
many events must be unfortunately limited because
of space. However, we do try to satisfy our readers’
many interests as best we can.
We always appreciate our readers suggesting ways
we can improve the newspaper because we are
students trying to leam a trade, and part of any
healthy learning experience is good, constructive
criticism.
(
The Fendnlnm wekomcs letters, limited to 250 words,
from oar readers. Longer material may be submitted as
opinion articles for page 3. Editors reserve the right to edit
for length, libel, good taste and accnracy.
The Pendulum Staff
EdItor-iaCkicf
Maugtot Editor
Ncwi Editor
Fcatwa Editor
Ad Maoagcr
Cartooabt
Head Pbotograpbcr
Sport* Editor
Adviaor
TW (lafr ■ccts Tkusdajv
at 9:30 a.n.
Room 2M !■ Loag Stadcal Ccater
^bUikcd by ihc Coamoakatlons Media Board of Elon Coll***-
^oaM oa Octobcr 14, W4 as Uw itndent aewspapcr wrvlng Uie
i^n CoUcfc coaimaalt;, Ihc Peadolaai Is pnblialMd cacb Thursdsy
doriag tbc rcgalar temis except for cxaniaatioD and holiday periods.
Sherri Moore
Dong Norwood
Loalda Louk*
Jo Cravea
Bettnda Peoples
Tawaana WUilams
Ron Kmppa
Debbie Hnriey
Robert Nowell