‘M*A*S*H’ war comedy-drama television series starring Alan Alda debuts on CBS 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 17 1972)

1970s, Television 1970s


Video: 'M*A*S*H Pilot Episode Intro/Opening'

(Sunday, September 17, 1972, 8:00 p.m. EDT) — M*A*S*H, an American war comedy-drama television series about 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), debuted tonight on CBS.


Video: 'MASH (1972–1983) - Hawkeye Phenomenal Jokes - Season 1&2 (Part 1of3)'

The TV series 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.

The ensemble cast originally featured Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers as surgeons Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce and “Trapper” John McIntyre, 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.


Video: 'MASH (1972–1983) - Hawkeye Phenomenal Jokes - Season 1&2 (Part 2of3)'

Over the run of the show, several members of the main cast were replaced: Wayne Rogers was replaced by Mike Farrell as B. J. Hunnicutt, McLean Stevenson was replaced by Harry Morgan as Sherman Potter, Frank Burns 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.


Video: 'MASH (1972–1983) - Hawkeye Phenomenal Jokes - Season 1&2 (Part 3of3)'

Longtime supporting cast members included Kellye Nakahara, Jeff Maxwell, Allan Arbus, and Edward Winter.

One of the highest-rated shows in U.S. television history, 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.