M*A*S*H (TV SERIES)

'''M
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The series was a medical drama/black comedy produced by 20th Television Fox for CBS. The show followed a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the 4077th 'M'obile 'A'rmy 'S'urgical 'H'ospital in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. ''M
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The series premiered on September 17, 1972, and ended February 28, 1983, with the finale becoming the most-watched television episode in U.S. television history. The show is still broadcast in syndication on various television stations (mostly during the late night/early morning hours) and in 2007 began a run on TV Land with the "Major, Major M
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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. The series was more an allegory for the Vietnam War (still in progress when the series began) rather than just about the Korean War;[1] the show's producers have said it was about war in general.

Contents

Episodes

Synopsis

Cast

Recurring characters

Actors with multiple roles

Changes

"Goodbye, Farewell and Amen"

Change in tone

Awards

Popularity today

Spinoffs and specials

DVD releases

Trivia

Unique and unusual episodes

Notes and references

External links

Episodes

Main articles: List of M
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Season	Ep #	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	24	September 17, 1972	March 25, 1973
Season 2	24	September 15, 1973	March 2, 1974
Season 3	24	September 10, 1974	March 18, 1975
Season 4	24	September 12, 1975	February 24, 1976
Season 5	24	September 21, 1976	March 15, 1977
Season 6	24	September 20, 1977	March 27, 1978
Season 7	25	September 18, 1978	March 12, 1979
Season 8	25	September 17, 1979	March 24, 1980
Season 9	20	November 17, 1980	May 4, 1981
Season 10	21	October 26, 1981	April 12, 1982
Season 11	16	October 25, 1982	February 28, 1983

Synopsis

''M
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A letter to ''TV Guide'' written by a former MASH doctor in about 1973 stated that the most insane jokes and idiotic pranks on the show were the most true to life, including Klinger's crossdressing. The hellish reality of the MASH units encouraged this behavior out of a desperate need for something to laugh at. (Another former MASHer, though, pointed out later that an habitual crossdresser would not last long in such a place; real women were too scarce.)

Cast

:''For a complete list of characters, see .''
''M
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Character	Actor/Actress	Rank	Role
Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce	Alan Alda	Captain	Chief surgeon Temporary Commanding Officer Officer of the Day
Francis John Patrick Mulcahy	George Morgan (Pilot Episode), Replaced by William Christopher	Lieutenant, later Captain	Chaplain
Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (O'Houlihan in the film)	Loretta Swit	Major	Head nurse, Temporary Commanding Officer
Maxwell Q. Klinger	Jamie Farr	Corporal, later Sergeant	Orderly, Company clerk Mailman Temporary Commanding Officer for 1 day
John Francis Xavier "Trapper" McIntyre (Seasons 1-3)	Wayne Rogers	Captain	Surgeon
Henry Braymore Blake (Seasons 1-3)	McLean Stevenson	Lieutenant Colonel	Surgeon, Commanding officer
Franklin Marion "Frank" Burns (Seasons 1-5)	Larry Linville	Major, later Lieutenant Colonel (off-screen)	Surgeon, Temporary Commanding officer
Walter Eugene "Radar" O’Reilly (Seasons 1-8)	Gary Burghoff	Corporal (briefly Lieutenant)	Company clerk, Mailman, colonels personal assistant Bugler
B.J. Hunnicutt (replaced Trapper; Seasons 4-11)	Mike Farrell	Captain	Surgeon, clean cut american good guy
Sherman T. Potter (replaced Henry Blake; Seasons 4-11)	Harry Morgan	Colonel	Surgeon, Commanding officer (After Lt. Col. Blake) Company Clerk for 2 days
Charles Emerson Winchester III (replaced Frank Burns; Seasons 6-11)	David Ogden Stiers	Major	Surgeon Temporary Commanding Officer Company cook for 1 day Company clerk for one day

Recurring characters

Apart from the characters stationed at the camp, there were several others who occassionally visited the 4077th.

★ Nurse Kealani Kellye, a recurring nurse character in the 4077th appearing in 82 episodes, played by Kellye Nakahara

★ Jeff Maxwell played the bumbling Pvt. Igor Straminsky in 66 episodes. In his earlier appearances, he was the camp cook's aide, complaining that despite not actually cooking the food, he still had to listen to everyone's gripes about it. He was often the target of Hawkeye's wrath because of the terrible food.

★ Supply sergeant for the 4077th, Zelmo Zale, was portrayed by Johnny Haymer. He made his first appearance in the Season 2 episode, "For Want of a Boot", and his final appearance in the Season 8 episode, "Goodbye Radar". Zale's name is mentioned for the final time in "Yes Sir, That's Our Baby".

★ G.W. Bailey played the perpetually lazy Sgt. Luther Rizzo in 14 episodes.

★ Dr. Sidney Freedman, a psychiatrist, was played by Alan Arbus who appeared twelve times (once as Dr. ''Milton'' Freedman).

★ Col. (Sam) Flagg, a paranoid intelligence officer, was played by Edward Winter and visited the unit six times.

★ Herb Voland appeared four times as Henry Blake's commander, Brigadier General Clayton.

★ G. Wood appeared three times as Brigadier General Hammond.

★ Robert F. Simon appeared three times as General Mitchell.

★ Loudon Wainwright III appeared three times as Captain Calvin Spalding, who was normally seen playing his guitar and singing.

★ Eldon Quick appeared three times as two nearly identical characters, Capt. Sloan and Capt. Pratt, officers who were dedicated to paperwork and bureacracy.

★ Sgt. Jack Scully, played by Joshua Bryant, appeared in three episodes as a love interest of Margaret Houlihan.

★ Pat Morita appeared twice as Capt. Sam Pak of the army of the Republic of Korea Army.

★ Sorrell Booke appeared twice as Gen. Bradley Barker.

★ Robert Alda appeared twice as Maj. Borelli, a visiting surgeon.

★ Lt. Col. Donald Penobscot appeared twice (played by two different actors), once as Margaret's fiancé and once as her husband.

Actors with multiple roles

At least 17 guest stars made appearances as multiple characters:

★ Dennis Dugan appeared twice; as O.R. orderly Pvt. McShane in 3.20, "Love and Marriage" and again in 11.11, "Strange Bedfellows" as Col. Potter's philandering son-in-law, Robert (Bob) Wilson.

★ Tim O'Connor appeared as wounded artillery officer Colonel Spiker, and as visiting surgeon, Norm Traeger. Both characters were noticeably at odds with Hawkeye.

★ Dick O'Neill appeared three times (each time in a different U.S. service branch); as a Navy Admiral Cox, as an Army Brigadier General Prescott, and as a Marine Colonel Pitts.

★ Harry Morgan played both the 4077th's second beloved C.O.(Col. Sherman T. Potter), and the mentally unstable Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele in the show's third season in the episode "The General Flipped at Dawn".

★ Soon-Tek Oh appeared five times; twice as North Korean POWs (in 4.6, "The Bus", and 8.10, "The Yalu Brick Road"), once as a North Korean doctor (5.9, "The Korean Surgeon"), once as O.R. orderly Mr. Kwang ("Love and Marriage") and once as a South Korean interpretor who posed as a North Korean POW (11.3, "Foreign Affairs"). (Soon-Tek Oh is one of the few Korean actors to play a Korean on MASH; most of the other characters were played by Japanese actors.)

★ Robert Karnes appeared twice: once as a Colonel in 4/1 and as a General in 6/4.

★ Clyde Kusatsu appeared four times; twice as a Korean bartender in the Officer's Club, once as a Chinese-American soldier, and once as a Japanese-American surgeon.

★ Robert Ito played a hood who works for the black market in 1.2, "To Market, To Market", and a North Korean soldier, disguised as a South Korean, looking for supplies, in "The Korean Surgeon".

★ Mako appeared four times; once as a Chinese doctor, once as a South Korean doctor, once as a South Korean officer, and once as a North Korean soldier.

★ Jerry Fujikawa appeared as crooked Korean matchmaker Dr. Pak in "Love and Marriage" , as Trapper John's tailor in 3.3, "Officer of the Day", and as an acupuncturist named Wu in 8.24 "Back Pay".

★ John Orchard starred as the Australian medic, Ugly John, in the first season, and later appeared in 8.13 as a disgruntled and drunken Australian MP.

★ Richard Lee Sung appeared ten times as a local Korean who often had merchandise (and in one case, real estate) he wished to sell to the hospital staff.

★ Jack Soo appeared twice; once as black market boss Charlie Lee with whom Hawkeye and Trapper made a trade for supplies in "To Market, To Market", and in "Payday" as a peddler who sold Frank a set of pearls.

★ Ted Gehring appeared twice: in 2.12 as moronic Supply Officer Major Morris who refuses to let the MASH doctors have a badly needed incubator, and in 7.6 as corrupt supply NCO Sgt Rhoden.

★ Edward Winter appeared as a Intelligence Officer named "Halloran" in 2/13, and in 6 episodes as Colonel Flagg.

★ Shizuko Hoshi appeared at least twice: once as "Rosie" of "Rosie's Bar" in episode 3.13, "Mad Dogs and Servicemen," and once in 4.18, "Hawkeye," as the mother in a Korean family.

Changes

During the first season, Hawkeye and Trapper's bunk mate was a black character called "Spearchucker" Jones, played by Timothy Brown, who appeared in the film version as a neurosurgeon. The character disappeared by "Sometimes You Hear The Bullet," when it was discovered there were no black doctors in the Korean War.^[1] Another actor, George Morgan, played Father Mulcahy only in the pilot episode. By season three, McLean Stevenson was growing unhappy playing a supporting role to Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers. Midway through the season, he informed the producers he wanted out of the show. With ample time to prepare a “Goodbye Henry” show, it was decided that Henry Blake would be discharged and sent home for the Season Three finale, which aired on Tuesday March 18, 1975. In the final scene of his last episode, “Abyssinia, Henry,” Radar tearfully reports that Henry’s plane had been shot down over the Sea of Japan, and he was killed. The scene was the last one shot of the entire episode, and the page of script that reveals that development was only given to the cast moments before cameras rolled. The scene had to be shot twice due to a noise off camera, the actors had to recompose and act shocked at the news a second time. Up until then, they were going to get a message that Blake had arrived safely home. Although this is now regarded as a classic episode, at the time it garnered a barrage of angry mail from fans. As a result, the creative team behind ''M
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Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) was planning to return for Season Four but had a disagreement over his contract. He was told to sign a “morals clause” on his contract renewal , but he refused to do so, demanding the producers sign one as well. Though Rogers had been threatening to leave the series since Season One, his departure was unexpected, as compared to that of McLean Stevenson. In addition, Rogers felt his character was never given any real importance and that all the focus was on Alda’s character. Mike Farrell (Rogers’ replacement) was hastily recruited during the 1975 summer production hiatus. Actor Pernell Roberts later would assume the role of a middle-aged John "Trapper" McIntyre, in the seven-year run of "Trapper John MD". Rogers later starred in the short-lived hospital sitcom, "House Calls" (1979-1981), that would implode over the rights of its costar, Lynn Redgrave, to breast-feed on the set.
As a result of two of the three leads having departed the series, Season Four was, in many ways, a major turning point for ''M
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Larry Linville noted that his “Frank Burns” character was easier to “dump on” after head comedy writer Larry Gelbart departed after Season Four and "Frank" and "Margaret" parted ways. Throughout Season Five, Linville realized he’d taken Frank Burns as far as he could, and he decided that since he’d signed a five-year contract originally, and his fifth year was coming to an end, he would leave the series. During the first episode of Season Six, Frank Burns had suffered a nervous breakdown due to Margaret’s marriage, was transferred stateside, and was, in turn, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (in a sense, Frank’s parting shot at Hawkeye), all off-camera. Unlike McLean Stevenson and Wayne Rogers, Linville had no regrets about leaving the series, saying “I felt I had done everything possible with the character.”
Major Charles Emerson Winchester, III (David Ogden Stiers) was brought in as an antagonist of sorts to the other surgeons, but his relationship with them was not as acrimonious (although he was a more able foil). Unlike Frank Burns, Winchester did not care for the Army. His resentment stemmed, in part, from the fact that he was transferred from Tokyo General Hospital to the 4077th thanks, in part, to a cribbage debt owed to him by his CO, Colonel Horace Baldwin. What set him apart from Burns as an antagonist for Hawkeye and B.J. was that Winchester was clearly an excellent physician, though his work sometimes suffered from his excessive perfectionism when rapid “meatball surgery” was called for.
Winchester was respected by the others professionally, but at the same time, as a Boston “blueblood,” he was also snobbish, which drove much of his conflict with the other characters. Still, the show’s writers would allow Winchester’s humanity to shine through, such as in his dealings with a young piano player who had partially lost the use of his right hand, the protection of a stuttering soldier from the bullying of other soldiers (it is revealed later that his sister stutters), his keeping a vigil with Hawkeye when Hawkeye’s father went into surgery back in the States, or his continuing of a family tradition of anonymously giving Christmas treats to an orphanage. The episode featuring this tradition is considered by many fans to be the most moving in the series (more so than even the loss of Henry Blake), as Winchester subjects himself to condemnation after realizing that “it is wrong to offer dessert to a child who has had no meal.” Isolating himself, he is saved by Corporal Klinger’s own gift of understanding. For the final moment of the episode, Major and Corporal are simply friends.
Gary Burghoff (Radar O'Reilly) had been growing restless in his role since at least season 4. With each season he appeared in fewer and fewer episodes, and by his final year (season 7), Radar appears in barely half of the shows. Burghoff planned to leave at the end of season 7, but was convinced by producers to hold off until the beginning of season 8, when he filmed a 2-part farewell episode, plus a few short scenes that were inserted into episodes preceding it.
Max Klinger also grew away from the transvestite moniker that overshadowed him. He dropped his Section 8 pursuit when taking over for Radar as Company Clerk. Both Farr and the producers felt that there was more to Klinger than a chiffon dress, and tried to develop the character more fully. But Farr stayed throughout the rest of the series.

"Goodbye, Farewell and Amen"

Main articles: Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

“Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was the final episode of ''M
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Change in tone

As the series progressed, it made a significant shift from pure comedy to become far more dramatically focused. In addition, the episodes became more political, and the show was often accused of “preaching” to its viewers. This often involved visiting authority figures, such as generals or other lower ranking platoon leaders, who were portrayed as incompetent, insensitive glory hounds, thus vilifying the military. This has sometimes been connected with Alan Alda taking a more involved role in production, and many of the episodes in which this change is particularly notable were written and/or directed by Alda. Another significant factor was the change in the cast, as Colonel Henry Blake, Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre, Major Frank Burns, and Corporal “Radar” O’Reilly departed the show. Still another change was a greater focus on the supporting cast (Father Mulcahy, Klinger) as opposed to the top-billed characters.
While the show remained popular through these changes, eventually it began to run out of creative steam. Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Potter, admitted in an interview that he felt "the cracks were starting to show" by season nine, and the cast had agreed to make season ten their last. In the end, they decided to extend the show for an additional year, making for a total of eleven seasons.
In retrospect, the eleven years of ''M
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Awards

M
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★ 1974 - Outstanding Comedy Series - M
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★ 1974 - Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Alan Alda

★ 1974 - Best Directing in Comedy - Jackie Cooper

★ 1974 - Actor of the Year-Series - Alan Alda

★ 1975 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Gene Reynolds

★ 1976 - Outstanding Film Editing for Entertainment Programming - Fred W. Berger and Stanford Tischler

★ 1976 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Gene Reynolds

★ 1977 - Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series - Alan Alda

★ 1977 - Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Gary Burghoff

★ 1979 - Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series - Alan Alda

★ 1980 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series - Loretta Swit

★ 1980 - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series - Harry Morgan

★ 1982 - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series - Alan Alda

★ 1982 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Variety or Music Series - Loretta Swit

Popularity today

Starting on January 1, 2007, TV Land aired M
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★ Goodbye, Farewell and Amen – 1.3 million total viewers

★ Memories of M
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★ 30th Anniversary Reunion Special – 1.4 million total viewers.

Now a part of Malibu Creek State Park, the outdoor set used for the movie, the early years of the series, and then limited times in later seasons, has now returned to its mostly feral state and can hardly be distinguished as what it once was: one of the most recognizable sites in entertainment history. It can be visited with park entry, but after an over four mile hike, across some pretty rugged terrain. The indoor scenes were filmed on sound stages in Century City, Los Angeles, California.
Still airs in Australia on channel 7 at 5:00 pm on weekdays and also aired at least twice a day on fox classics

Spinoffs and specials

''M
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A documentary special titled ''Making M
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Two retrospective specials were produced to commemorate the show's 20th and 30th anniversaries, respectively. ''Memories of M
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Many of the show's cast members appeared in a series of television commercials for IBM personal computers in the late 1980s.

DVD releases

20th Century Fox has released all 11 Seasons of ''M
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DVD Name	Ep #	Region 1	Region 2
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 1	24	January 8 2002	May 19 2003
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 2	24	July 23 2002	October 13 2003
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 3	24	February 18 2003	March 15 2004
'M ★ A ★ S ★ H Seasons 1 - 3'	72	N/A	October 31 2005
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 4	24	July 15 2003	June 14 2004
'M ★ A ★ S ★ H Seasons 1 - 4'	96	December 2 2003	N/A
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 5	24	December 9 2003	January 17 2005
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 6	24	June 8 2004	March 28 2005
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 7	25	December 7 2004	May 30 2005
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 8	25	May 24 2005	August 15 2005
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 9	20	December 6 2005	January 9 2006
'M ★ A ★ S ★ H Seasons 1 - 9'	214	December 6 2005	N/A
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 10	21	May 23 2006	April 17 2006
M ★ A ★ S ★ H Season 11	16	November 7, 2006	May 29 2006
Martinis and Medicine Collection (Complete Series)	251	November 7, 2006	October 30, 2006
Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen Collector's Edition	1	May 15, 2007	TBA

Trivia

★ Robert Altman, director of the ''MASH'' feature film, said in the commentary for the movie DVD that he did not like the series at all, saying that it was the antithesis of his intentions and that it only perpetuated the idea that "the brown-faced" people are the enemy.

★ Author Paulette Bourgeois credits "C
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★ Glen Charles and Les Charles, the creators of ''Cheers'', started their careers in television by writing "The Late Captain Pierce." They wrote no other episodes of the series.

★ Alan Alda is the only person to win Emmy awards for acting, writing, and directing on the same show. He is also the only cast member to be in every one of the series' 251 installments.

★ Two of the cast members, Jamie Farr (Klinger) and Alan Alda (Hawkeye Pierce) served in the U.S. Army in Korea in the 1950s after the Korean War. The dogtags Farr wears on the show are his actual dogtags. Farr served as part of a USO tour with Red Skelton.

★ Although Radar has been frequently seen making announcements on the PA, most other announcements over the PA were made by the unseen Sal Viscuso or Todd Susman. However, both of them did appear in one or more episodes as random patients (Viscuso in "Dear Sigmund", "Post Op" and "Tea and Empathy" and Susman as noselift patient Danny Baker in "Operation Noselift").

★ Antony Alda, Alan Alda's half-brother, appeared in one episode ("Lend a Hand") as Corporal Jarvis, alongside their father, Robert Alda (appearing as Major Borelli).

★ Three actresses portrayed Rosie's Bar proprietor Rosie: Shizuko Hoshi in "Mad Dogs and Servicemen", Frances Fong in "Bug Out", and Eileen Saki every time afterwards.

★ The BBC transmitted MASH with the laughter track removed, because it felt that it would insult the intelligence of the audience.

★ There were three MASH 4077 fatal casualites: Colonel Blake when his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan; an ambulance driver, O'Donnell, in a traffic accident; and a nurse, Millie Carpenter, by a landmine. Among those wounded were Hawkeye Pierce (4.18 "Hawkeye"), Radar O'Reilly (6.3 "Fallen Idol"), B.J. Hunnicutt and Max Klinger (9.10 "Operation Friendship"), Father Mulcahy (the series finale) and Sherman Potter (4.16 "Dear Ma"). At least three personnel suffering nervous breakdowns were Hawkeye Pierce, Frank Burns, and B.J. Hunnicutt.

Unique and unusual episodes

The series had several unique episodes, which differed in tone, structure and style from the rest of the series, and were significant departures from the typical sitcom or dramedy plot. Some of these episodes include:

★ The "letter episodes", which are flashback episodes narrated by a character as if they are writing a letter: Hawkeye writes to his Dad ("Dear Dad", "Dear Dad Again", "Dear Dad...Three", and he tape records a message in "A Full Rich Day"); Potter writes to his wife ("Dear Mildred"); BJ writes home to his wife ("Dear Peggy"); Radar writes to his mother ("Dear Ma"); Sidney writes to Sigmund Freud ("Dear Sigmund"); Winchester "writes" home by recording an audio message ("The Winchester Tapes"); Winchester's houseboy—a North Korean spy—writes to his superiors ("Dear Comrade"); Father Mulcahy writes to his sister, a nun ("Dear Sis"); Klinger writes home to his uncle ("Dear Uncle Abdul"); and the main characters all write to children in Crabapple Cove ("Letters").

★ "O.R." (originally aired October 8 1974), which takes place entirely within the confines of the operating room and preop/postop ward (and was the first episode to omit the laugh track completely).

★ "Hawkeye" (originally aired January 13 1976), in which Hawkeye is taken in by a Korean family (who understand no English) after a jeep accident far from the 4077th, and he carries on what amounts to a 23-minute monologue in an attempt to remain conscious. Alan Alda is the only cast member to appear in the episode.

★ "The Interview" (originally aired February 24 1976), which is a sort of mockumentary about the 4077th. It is shot in black and white and presented as a 1950s television broadcast, with the cast partially improvising their responses to interviewer Clete Roberts' questions. Roberts returned for "Our Finest Hour" (originally aired October 9 1978), which interspersed new black and white interview segments with color clips from previous episodes.

★ "Point of View" (originally aired November 20 1978), which is shot from the point of view of a soldier who is wounded in the throat and taken to the 4077th for treatment.

★ "Life Time" (originally aired November 26 1979), which takes place in real-time as the surgeons perform an operation that must be completed within 22 minutes (as a clock in the corner of the screen counts down the time).

★ "Dreams" (originally aired February 18 1980), in which the dreams of the overworked and sleep-deprived members of the 4077th are visually depicted, revealing their fears, yearnings, and frustrations. This episode was a hybrid that Alan Alda had been wanting to complete for years.

★ "A War for All Seasons" (originally aired December 29 1980), which compresses an entire year in the life of the 4077th into a single episode.

★ "Follies of the Living—Concerns of the Dead" (originally aired January 4 1982), in which a dead soldier's spirit wanders around the compound, and only a feverish Klinger is able to see him or speak with him.

Notes and references

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★ http://imdb.com/title/tt0068098/trivia
2. http://imdb.com/title/tt0213826/trivia "M
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★ H" Goodbye, Farewell and Amen (1983) trivia


★ CNN.com: "Alda's favorite 'M
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External links

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★ H'' at TV.com

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★ H in the Museum of Broadcast Communications

★ Hollywood Stories

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★ H'' on TVLand.com

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★ H'' on HallmarkChannel.com

★ Finest Kind - fan site

★ Best Care Anywhere - fan site

★ The 4077th Home Page - fan site

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★ H Opening Credit Sequences 1972-1983 - compares different versions of the open throughout the show's run

★ Google Maps view of the camp.