Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    Banner
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • Shows by Decade
        • 1950s Television
        • 1960s Television
        • 1970s Television
        • 1980s Television
        • 1990s Television
      • Shows by Genre
        • Comedy
        • Drama
        • Kids TV
        • Variety
        • News & Sport
        • Advertisements
      • Shows by Country
        • UK TV
        • USA TV
        • Australia & NZ TV
        • Canada TV
        • Europe TV
        • Japan TV
      • Shows A to K
        • Shows A
        • Shows B
        • Shows C
        • Shows D
        • Shows E
        • Shows F
        • Shows G
        • Shows H
        • Shows I
        • Shows J
        • Shows K
      • Shows L to Z
        • Shows L
        • Shows M
        • Shows N
        • Shows O
        • Shows P
        • Shows Q
        • Shows R
        • Shows S
        • Shows T
        • Shows U
        • Shows V
        • Shows W
        • Shows X
        • Shows Y
        • Shows Z
      • Shows 0 to 9
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • 1950s Music
        • 1960s Music
        • 1970s Music
        • 1980s Music
        • 1990s Music
      • Music A to K
        • Music A
        • Music B
        • Music C
        • Music D
        • Music E
        • Music F
        • Music G
        • Music H
        • Music I
        • Music J
        • Music K
      • Music L to Z
        • Music L
        • Music M
        • Music N
        • Music O
        • Music P
        • Music Q
        • Music R
        • Music S
        • Music T
        • Music U
        • Music V
        • Music W
        • Music X
        • Music Y
        • Music Z
      • Music 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • 1950s Movies
          • Movies 1950
          • Movies 1951
          • Movies 1952
          • Movies 1953
          • Movies 1954
          • Movies 1955
          • Movies 1956
          • Movies 1957
          • Movies 1958
          • Movies 1959
        • 1960s Movies
          • Movies 1960
          • Movies 1961
          • Movies 1962
          • Movies 1963
          • Movies 1964
          • Movies 1965
          • Movies 1966
          • Movies 1967
          • Movies 1968
          • Movies 1969
        • 1970s Movies
          • Movies 1970
          • Movies 1971
          • Movies 1972
          • Movies 1973
          • Movies 1974
          • Movies 1975
          • Movies 1976
          • Movies 1977
          • Movies 1978
          • Movies 1979
        • 1980s Movies
          • Movies 1980
          • Movies 1981
          • Movies 1982
          • Movies 1983
          • Movies 1984
          • Movies 1985
          • Movies 1986
          • Movies 1987
          • Movies 1988
          • Movies 1989
        • 1990s Movies
          • Movies 1990
          • Movies 1991
          • Movies 1992
          • Movies 1993
          • Movies 1994
          • Movies 1995
          • Movies 1996
          • Movies 1997
          • Movies 1998
          • Movies 1999
      • Movies A to K
        • Movies A
        • Movies B
        • Movies C
        • Movies D
        • Movies E
        • Movies F
        • Movies G
        • Movies H
        • Movies I
        • Movies J
        • Movies K
      • Movies L to Z
        • Movies L
        • Movies M
        • Movies N
        • Movies O
        • Movies P
        • Movies Q
        • Movies R
        • Movies S
        • Movies T
        • Movies U
        • Movies V
        • Movies W
        • Movies X
        • Movies Y
        • Movies Z
      • Movies 0 to 9
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Radio
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Shows by Decade»1970s Television
    1970s Television 1980s Television Comedy Shows M 6 Mins Read

    M*A*S*H

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 7 2 – 1 9 8 3 (USA)
    251 x 30 minute episodes

    M*A*S*H was a fictional account of Dr Richard Hornberger’s years at the 8055 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War.

    Hornberger’s book (written under his pen name, Richard Hooker) was turned into an award-winning film by Twentieth Century Fox who fortuitously did not destroy their collection of green army tents as Fox president William Self then wanted to try a television series.

    mashhotlipsDespite the certainty of network advisers that the grisly humour of doctors delving into the shrapnel-ridden torsos of wounded soldiers would be quite unsuitable as entertainment, a pilot show was duly made.

    New York stage actor Alan Alda was persuaded to take the lead role of the Martini and nurse-loving doctor Captain Hawkeye Pierce for $10,000. Alda flew home from LA to New Jersey every weekend for seven years, but his salary did rise to $5 million a year.

    Hawkeye was a brilliant surgeon, and although he had some dubious interests – including distilling his own gin and subscribing to Nude Volleyball Monthly – he was one helluva doctor.

    American daytime soap star Wayne Rogers came in as Hawkeye’s equally irreverent yet caring colleague, Trapper John; Larry Linville came in as pompous Major Frank Burns, who was happiest when he spoiled everyone’s fun; Loretta Swit played the bossy busty Major ‘Hotlips’ Houlihan; McLean Stevenson played the none-too-sharp Colonel Blake; and Gary Burghoff returned from the film version to play Radar O’Reilly, the squinting signals clerk with long-range hearing and the ability to appear a split second before being summoned.

    M*A*S*H the series was born, featuring the antics of the 4077th MASH, immediately south of the frontline in Korea and only 6,133 miles from Toledo.

    At first, the show was only a moderate success. Network bosses had insisted on fewer serious stories and more skirt-chasing. They had also censored out such words as ‘breasts’ and ‘virgin’ – though writer Larry Gelbart snuck that in the following week, inventing a soldier from the Virgin Islands.

    A great improvement came after Gelbart interviewed a bunch of real MASH doctors and went to Korea with Gene Reynolds.

    Several true stories couldn’t be included in the show as they were too bizarre – one whole unit dying their hair red for a party, for example, or deliberately getting frostbite to get demobbed.

    The stories of the doctors, nurses, patients and administrators of the 4077th brought both comedy and pathos into the viewing audience’s homes. The sitcom broke many traditions and set many new standards.

    It also was one of those rare occasions when the series was better than the movie it sprang from. Cast transitions were made effectively and a whole new concept to the meaning of television comedy was born – the introduction of “dramedy”.

    The jokes were brilliant . . .

    Frank Burns: “Why do people take an instant dislike to me?”
    Trapper John: “It saves time Frank”.

    “This Man has a chest wound, he should be in surgery”
    “But he’s Chinese”
    “OK, we’ll operate with chopsticks”

    “Anyway, Klinger’s not a pervert”
    “How do you know?”
    “I’m a pervert. We have meetings. He’s never there”

    The series ran for 11 years – 8 years longer than the war it depicted! Similarly, its impact on the television viewing audience may, fortunately or unfortunately, be more significant than the Korean War.

    Eventually, after 251 episodes, M*A*S*H ran out of anecdotes to turn into plots and Alan Alda tired of putting boot polish on his hair to hide the grey.

    The show had collected 14 Emmy Awards, received 99 nominations, and Alda had won awards as one of the show’s writers and directors as well as its leading actor.

    mash_822The extra-long final episode, ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’, aired on 28 February 1983, attracting a record-breaking audience of 125 million people.

    Sadly, Charles Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) had the enjoyment of his beloved classical music marred permanently when a group of Chinese soldiers he’d taught to play Mozart were killed; “For me, music had always been a refuge from this miserable experience,” he observed. “Now, it will always be a reminder.”

    Max Klinger fell in love with a Korean woman named Soon-Lee (Rosalind Chao), married her and later joined Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) and Colonel Potter (Harry Morgan) at a stateside VA facility in the After Mash spin-off.

    The last we saw of Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Loretta Swit), she was off to the 8063rd after loading a jeep with so much luggage there was no room for Winchester, who was supposed to share it with her.

    But she didn’t go without a parting gift – Winchester’s copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets From the Portuguese, which she’d wanted so badly.

    mash_923Hawkeye faced and overcame an emotional breakdown via a stint in a psych facility to return to the 4077th and the ensuing goodbyes.

    He and B.J. (Mike Farrell) managed one of the most touching farewells to ever hit the small screen, as Hawkeye’s chopper lifts off and he sees the word “GOODBYE,” spelt out in stones, which his friend hadn’t been able to speak in person.

    TRIVIA
    Apart from the announcements periodically made over the camp PA system by Radar O’Reilly and Max Klinger, all PA announcements were made by actors Sal Viscuso or Todd Susman, both of whom appeared in an episode or two themselves.

    The controversial laugh-track was removed from all scenes in the operating room. The track was removed completely when the series aired in the UK.

    While After Mash and Trapper John MD both proved to be popular spin-offs from the series, a third, usually forgotten spin-off also made it to the pilot stage.

    W*A*L*T*E*R focused on the post-military police career of Walter O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff), who had now dropped the “Radar” part of his identity. Directed by Bill Bixby, the pilot never made it to series.

    mash10Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce 
    Alan Alda
    Captain John Francis Xavier “Trapper John” McIntyre 

    Wayne Rogers
    Colonel Henry Blake 

    McLean Stevenson
    Major Frank Burns 

    Larry Linville
    Major Margaret “Hotlips” Houlihan 

    Loretta Swit
    Corporal Walter Eugene “Radar” O’Reilly 

    Gary Burghoff
    Colonel Sherman T Potter

    Harry Morgan
    Captain B J Hunnicut 

    Mike Farrell
    Major Charles Emerson Winchester III 

    David Ogden Stiers
    Corporal/Sergeant Maxwell Klinger 

    Jamie Farr
    Lieutenant (Reverend) Francis Mulcahy 

    William Christopher

    Links

    • Monster M*A*S*H Wiki

    Related Posts

    • mcm
      McMillan and Wife
      1 9 7 1 - 1 9 7 7 (USA) 15 x 120 minute episodes 24 x 90 minute episodes…
    • trapperjohn2
      Trapper John MD
      1 9 7 9 - 1 9 8 6 (USA) 151 x 60 minute episodes The huge popularity of M*A*S*H in the 70s…
    • ghostsofmotleyhall
      Ghosts of Motley Hall, The
      1 9 7 6 - 1 9 7 8 (UK) 19 x 30 minute episodes Motley Hall, the ancestral home of…
    • barbarycoast007
      Barbary Coast
      1 9 7 5 - 1 9 7 6 (USA) 13 x 60 minute episodes Captain Kirk in the Wild West!…
    • wbcd00
      Washington: Behind Closed Doors
      1 9 7 7 - 1 9 7 8 (USA) 6 x 120 minute episodes A thinly (very) veiled version of…
    • fox3
      Fox
      1 9 8 0 (UK) 13 x 60 minute episodes Thames Television produced this 13-part story of 70-year-old South London Godfather…
    • aftermash00
      After Mash
      1 9 8 3 - 1 9 8 4 (USA) 30 x 30 minute episodes The Korean War was over and…
    • soldiers00
      Soldiers, The
      1 9 5 5 (USA) 11 x 30 minute episodes This black and white summer series from NBC starred Hal March…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleChicago Hope
    Next Article Trapper John MD

    Comments are closed.

    NC Radio Player
    Search the site
    Follow Us
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    Nostalgia Central has been a labour of love since 1998. The site carries no advertising, and I rely on donations to help with running costs and to keep the site running for your entertainment and education.

    If you find the site informative or enjoyable, please consider a donation – no matter how small.
    Thank you so much. Enjoy your trip in the time machine!
    You may also like

    • aftermash00
      After Mash
      1 9 8 3 - 1 9 8 4 (USA) 30 x 30 minute episodes The Korean War was over and…
    • Love of Mike, The
      Love of Mike, The
      1 9 6 0 (UK) 30 x 30 minute episodes This now-forgotten sitcom about Mike Lane, a dance band trumpeter with a…
    • trapperjohn2
      Trapper John MD
      1 9 7 9 - 1 9 8 6 (USA) 151 x 60 minute episodes The huge popularity of M*A*S*H in the 70s…
    • YoothaJoyceandNigelGreeninConceptionsofMurder
      Conceptions of Murder
      1 9 7 0 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Playwright Clive Exton provided six stories based on sensational murder cases…

    Tag Cloud
    Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games British Invasion Britpop Canada Cold War Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Kraütrock Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave New Zealand NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Politics Power Pop Prog rock Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Please Note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central. Run by volunteers. Funded by donations.
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.