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M*A*S*H

The M*A*S*H title screen (1972–1977).
Format Medical drama
Dramedy
Sitcom
Black comedy
Satire
Military
Starring Alan Alda
Wayne Rogers
McLean Stevenson
Loretta Swit
Larry Linville
Gary Burghoff
Mike Farrell
Harry Morgan
Jamie Farr
William Christopher
David Ogden Stiers
Theme music composer Johnny Mandel (written for the film)
Opening theme "Suicide Is Painless"
Ending theme "Suicide Is Painless"
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 11
No. of episodes 251 (List of episodes)
Production
Location(s) Los Angeles County, California (Century City and the Malibu Creek area)
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 24–25 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s) 20th Century Fox Television
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run September 17, 1972 – February 28, 1983
Chronology
Followed by AfterMASH
W*A*L*T*E*R
Related shows Trapper John, M.D.

M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH (which was itself based on the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker). The series is a medical drama and a black comedy that was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS. It follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. M*A*S*H's title sequence featured an instrumental version of the song "Suicide Is Painless", which also appears in the original film. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. It is the most well known version of the M*A*S*H works.

The series premiered in the US on September 17, 1972, and ended February 28, 1983, with the finale becoming the most watched television episode in U.S. television history at the time, with a record breaking 125 million viewers, according to the New York Times.[1] In contrast to the high turnout for the final episode of M*A*S*H, it struggled in its first season and was at risk of being cancelled.[2] However, season two of M*A*S*H placed it in a better time slot (airing after the popular All in the Family) and the show became one of the top ten programs of the year and stayed in the top twenty programs for the rest of its eleven-season run.[2] The show is still broadcast in syndication on various television stations. The series, which covered a three-year military conflict, spanned 251 episodes and lasted eleven seasons.

Many of the stories in the early seasons are based on real-life tales told by real MASH surgeons who were interviewed by the production team. Like the movie, the series was as much an allegory about the Vietnam War (still in progress when the show began) as it was about the Korean War.[3]

In 1997, the episodes "Abyssinia, Henry" and "The Interview" were respectively ranked number 20 and number 80 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[4] In 2002, M*A*S*H was ranked number 25 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.[5]