Alan Alda and his anti-war pushiness got old at times. I'm not in favor of war, but his character came across as extremely smug, as though he was the only person who truly understood. This led to him doing things that nobody would get away with in actual life. Alda could be funny, but not as funny as he thought he was. He was best when he was being sentimental about other people.

The other main characters added a lot. Gary Burghoff was great as Radar. Loretta Swit was good in the later seasons, after her affair with Larry Linville's Frank ended, although she could be too brash.

It wasn't perfect, but it did a good job letting the viewer get to know and care about the characters. The first part of the final episode, with Hawkeye in the asylum was dumb.