M*A*S*H

When CBS premiered M*A*S*H on September 17, 1972, it arrived as a sitcom adaptation of Robert Altman's 1970 film, itself based on Richard Hooker's novel. Larry Gelbart developed the series, and what started as a half-hour comedy about Army surgeons in the Korean War gradually became something far more layered. The show ran for 11 seasons and 251 episodes, ending on February 28, 1983, with a finale that drew an estimated 105 million viewers. The ensemble included Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce, Mike Farrell as B. J. Hunnicutt, Harry Morgan as Sherman Potter, Loretta Swit as Margaret Houlihan, David Ogden Stiers as Charles Winchester, and Jamie Farr as Maxwell Klinger. The setting is the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, a tent-and-mud compound near the front lines. The doctors patch up wounded soldiers by day and invent elaborate pranks by night. The tone shifts constantly: slapstick one minute, quiet grief the next. That blend of comedy and drama, often called dramedy, became the show's signature. Early seasons lean heavily on jokes and farce, while later years give more weight to the psychological cost of war. Critics and audiences responded strongly. The series earned a 7.9 rating on IMDb from roughly 780 voters, and it collected a stack of Emmy Awards across its run. The show's willingness to tackle serious subjects, from PTSD to racism to the absurdity of military bureaucracy, kept it relevant long after the Korean War setting had faded from memory. It remains a benchmark for how a comedy can grow up without losing its sense of humor.[edit]