40 Years of M*A*S*H – M*A*S*H Monday

This Monday (September 17) is the 40th Anniversary of the CBS TV show M*A*S*H.  The wacky characters of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital attempted to handle the casualties of the Korean War of the 1950s in anyway they could, and often with hilarious results for the pleasure of the audience.

M*A*S*H ran for 11 seasons, back when a season was 23 episodes long, not just 10. There were a total of 255 episodes filmed, and no actor was in all of them. Alan Alda was included in 251 of them, being in the largest number of shows.

The TV show was an adaptation on the 1970 movie of the same name starting Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould in the staring roles of "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Trapper" John McIntyre.  The movie was based on the novel: MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors written by Richard Hooker. Donald Sutherland is know by younger audiences now as President Snow from the popular "Hunger Games" movie franchise.

Only four actors were seen in all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H. They are Alan Alda in the lead role of Hawkeye, Loretta Swit as Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan,  William Christopher as Father Mulcahy and Jamie Farr as Maxwell Q. Klinger. The first three characters were also in the movie, but Klinger was a TV show addition, originally as a bit character. However, Klinger's popularity as a women's clothes wearing soldier looking for a section 8 discharge, Klinger soon became a regular main character. The final two hour long finale of the show that aired in 1983 was, at the time, the most watched television event in history with over 125 million people tuning in or about 50.15 million households that day.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary, MeTV network, seen on digital channel 11.2 in Grand Junction and on local cable, will be airing the first two network episodes back to back Monday night starting at 6 p.m. TVLAND Network is also getting M*A*S*H fever and is airing the pilot episodes and the finale on both Sunday, starting at 3 p.m.  and Monday at 2:30 p.m.

So take yourself back to 1972, and enjoy the beginning of one of the most popular and longest running shows in television history. M*A*S*H.