“M*A*S*H” 1972
“M*A*S*H” was a show that aired from 1972-1983, the show follows nurses and surgeons in South Korea during the Korean War; a show based on the movie directed by Robert Altman in 1970.
“M*A*S*H” follows Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce (Alan Alda), Capt. John “Trapper” McIntyre (Wayne Rogers) later replaced by Capt. B.J Honeycutt (Mike Farrell), head nurse Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Loretta Swit), surgeon Maj. Frank Burns (Larry Linville), in later seasons, Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester (David Ogden Stiers). The team was originally commanded by Col. Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), in later series replaced by Col. Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan). The outfit mostly being held together by their company clerk Corp. “Radar” O’Reilly (Gary Burghoff), later replaced by Corp. Max Klinger (Jamie Farr). The show also had a medical consultant who was in the Korean War to make sure everything was medically accurate to the time.
The show was mostly a comedy with seasons 1-6 being jokes and seasons 7-11 hitting the real hard-hitting, cold truth of the war. Some of the cast mostly just being Mike Farrell and Alan Alda either writing or being a script consultant. Despite the major cast changes the show still flows the same.
“The staff of an Army hospital in the Korean War find that laughter is the best way to deal with their situation,” Gisselle Medrano (11th grade) said.
“The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean War. With little help from the circumstance in which they find themselves, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable. Nevertheless, the war goes on,” Kayley May (11th grade) said.
The sitcom ran for nearly a decade, the show had both comedic and serious notes, when Alan Alda consulted on the script, he liked to add the more serious and hard-hitting notes. Showing the real hardships of being surgeons and nurses during the Korean War; the show evolved into a style very rarely found in sitcoms.
M*A*S*H – Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
Impressions 