Movies - M*A*S*H

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Inspired by the 1970 20th Century-Fox film of the same name, M*A*S*H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) was an American television series about a team of medical professionals and support staff stationed at the 4077th MASH in Korea during the Korean War. The series originally aired on CBS from September 17, 1972 to February 28, 1983, but can still be seen in syndication. The series spanned 251 episodes and lasted four times as long as the war which served as its setting.

Behind the scenes, those most involved with the show were Larry Gelbart, Gene Reynolds, Burt Metcalfe, and star Alan Alda.

Much like the movie, it combined elements of comedy with a darker antiwar message. Many of the stories in the early seasons were based on real-life tales told by hundreds of real-life M*A*S*H surgeons, interviewed by the production team. Some said the series seemed to be more about the Vietnam War (still in progress when the series began), given the attitudes of the characters, than the Korean War. The show's producers have said that it was really about war in general.

Although primarily an ensemble show, M*A*S*H became centered around Alan Alda's character, Hawkeye Pierce, especially as other founding characters left. Alda wrote and directed some episodes; additionally, during the last few seasons, Alda and Metcalfe were listed as the show's "Creative Consultants". The show's tone changed over the years. Initially, it placed most of its emphasis on the "zany" elements, but later focused on more serious topics and character development; however, both the serious and the comedic sides were present throughout. Alda's increasing prominence both inside and outside the series led to a change in focus, with more serious topics.

The cast voted (by a majority) to end the series following the tenth season, but CBS and 20th Century Fox offered the actors a shortened eleventh season, permitting an opportunity for the show to have a grand finale.

The series had three spin-offs, the short-lived AfterMASH
, which featured several of the show's characters reunited in a midwestern hospital after the war, the more successful Trapper John, M.D.
(which a court later ruled was actually a spin-off of the original film), and an unpurchased television pilot, W*A*L*T*E*R
, in which Walter "Radar" O'Reilly (played by Gary Burghoff) joins the police force.

Synopsis

A letter to TV Guide written by a former M*A*S*H 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 M*A*S*H units encouraged this behavior out of a desperate need for something to laugh at. (Another former M*A*S*Her, though, pointed out later that a habitual crossdresser wouldn't last long in such a place; real women were too scarce.)

Gary Burghoff ("Radar" O'Reilly) was one of two M*A*S*H actors to reprise his role from the movie, and the only main character (the other was G. Wood as "General Hammond"). Radar retained his extraordinary ability to detect the arrival of choppers transporting wounded long before anyone else could hear a thing. Radar appeared to have a knack for premonitions, could usually anticipate orders well enough to recite along as they were given, and kept the business end of the 4077th running extraordinarily smoothly. Burghoff left the series in 1979, and rather than adding a new character to replace him, the company clerk role was taken up by Jamie Farr as Corporal (later Sergeant) Klinger, whose antics never got him the discharge he wanted. Radar's departure meant Klinger's (and Farr's) role was expanded, his attempts at being discharged were downplayed, and he almost never wore women's clothing anymore. (Klinger even shaped up well enough to get a promotion, and the camp counted on him as a "scrounger", who could obtain nearly anything.)

The show survived many personnel changes. Of all the starring characters, only Hawkeye, Major Houlihan, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy were in the show for its entire run. (Klinger and Mulcahy, in fact, were listed as guest stars for the first few seasons of the show; George Morgan, cast as Mulcahy in the pilot, appeared briefly in the 10th season episode "That's Show Biz".)

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