Through changes of personnel M*A*S*H maintained a relatively constant ensemble cast, with four characters – Hawkeye, Father Mulcahy, Margaret Houlihan, and Maxwell Klinger – on the show for all 11 seasons. The cast of M*A*S*H from season 8 onward (clockwise from left): Mike Farrell, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, David Ogden Stiers, Loretta Swit, Alan Alda, and Harry Morgan Klinger, help demonstrate various American civilian attitudes toward Army life, while guest characters played by such actors as Eldon Quick, Herb Voland, Mary Wickes, and Tim O'Connor also help further the show's discussion of America's place as Cold War participant and peace maker. Hunnicutt, for example – and the "regular Army" characters, such as Margaret Houlihan and Colonel Potter, who enlisted voluntarily. The show's tone could move from silly to sobering from one episode to the next, with dramatic tension often occurring between the unwilling civilian draftees of 4077th – Hawkeye, Trapper John, and B.J. The show's discourse, under the cover of comedy, often questioned, mocked, and grappled with America's role in the Cold War.Įpisodes were both plot- and character-driven, with several narrated by one of the show's characters as the contents of a letter home. The asterisks in the name are not part of military nomenclature and were creatively introduced in the novel and used in only the posters for the movie version, not the actual movie.Įarly seasons aired on network prime time while the Vietnam War was still ongoing the show was forced to walk the fine line of commenting on that war while at the same time not seeming to protest against it. The "4077th MASH" was one of several surgical units in Korea. The show is an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in the Korean War (1950–53). The series is usually categorized as a situation comedy, though it has also been described as a " dark comedy" or a " dramedy" because of the often dramatic subject matter. M*A*S*H aired weekly on CBS, with most episodes being a half-hour in length. Its final episode, " Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", was the most-watched television broadcast in American history from 1983 until 2010, and remains both the most-watched finale of any television series and the most-watched episode of a scripted series. ![]() The television series is the best-known of the M*A*S*H works, and one of the highest-rated shows in U.S. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. The show's title sequence features an instrumental version of " Suicide Is Painless", the original film's theme song. The series varied in style and tone – including broad comedy and tragic drama – which can be attributed to fluctuating writing staff over the life of the show, and the variety of sources contributing to the stories, such as actor Alan Alda and surgeons who served in the Korean War. Longtime supporting cast members included Kellye Nakahara, Jeff Maxwell, Allan Arbus, and Edward Winter. ![]() Hunnicutt, McLean Stevenson was replaced by Harry Morgan as Sherman Potter, Larry Linville was replaced by David Ogden Stiers as Charles Emerson Winchester III, and when Gary Burghoff left the show, the Maxwell Klinger character moved into the company clerk role. Over the run of the show, several members of the main cast were replaced: Wayne Rogers was replaced by Mike Farrell as B. The ensemble cast originally featured Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers as surgeons Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Trapper" John McIntyre, respectively, as the protagonists of the show joined by Larry Linville as surgeon Frank Burns, Loretta Swit as head nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, McLean Stevenson as company commander Henry Blake, Gary Burghoff as company clerk Walter "Radar" O'Reilly, Jamie Farr as orderly Maxwell Klinger, and William Christopher as the chaplain, Father John Mulcahy. The series, which was produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53). It was developed by Larry Gelbart as the first original spin-off series adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. Do not duplicate in any form without permission of the Dallas Cowboys.M*A*S*H (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American war comedy drama television series that aired on CBS from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983.
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