SYNOPSIS
In
1972, America was still involved in a was in Vietnam - a war that had captivated
the country. The climate created by an unpopular war was the perfect setting
for an anti-war comedy/drama like M*A*S*H. The setting was a little
different than Vietnam - Korea in early 1950's, but the stories and situations
could have easily been from Vietnam in the 70's.
M*A*S*H
was based on the hit motion picture, which was in turn taken from the novel.
The novel was written by a doctor who had actually been in one of the Korean
Wars' M*A*S*H units, but who used a pseudonym - Richard Hooker - in writing
so as not to compromise his medical standing by his war-time revelations.
The
characters of M*A*S*H were all members of the 4077th Mobile Army
Surgical Hospital stationed behind enemy lines during the Korean War. Their
job was to treat the wounded being sent to them from the front lines and,
of course, to save as many lives as possible. The environment was depressing
and there was an overwhelming sense of futility and insanity of war that
permeated their daily lives. Many of the doctors (who had been drafted)
found it hard to believe they were living under the conditions to which
they were being subjected.
Although
most of the members of M*A*S*H had wives and families back home,
that never stopped them from propositioning every good-looking nurse they
could find. Two of the surgeons were Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre.
Like everyone else, they were constantly breaking the rules and regulations.
Hawkeye was probably the most intellectual of the doctors and was sometimes
seen musing on the dehumanizing nature of war and questioning its moral
validity.
Other
cast members who were featured included: Frank Burns, who was perhaps
the worst doctor in the unit and the constant butt of practical jokes laid
on him by Hawkeye and Trapper John because of his arrogance; Hot Lips Houlihan,
the head nurse who, despite her admonitions to her nurses about fooling
around with doctors, had been having an affair with Frank Burns for an
long period of time; Henry Blake, the commanding officer whose prime concern
was the work of the doctors in the operating room and who couldn't care
less about what they did on their free time and, Radar O'Reilly, who was
the extremely shy and bumbling young aide to Colonel Blake. There were
also numerous nurses who came and went, with the same actress being referred
to in defferent episodes by different names. Dr. Sidney Freedman, an army
psychiatrist, made several sporadic trips to the 4077th to check on the
mental condition of the staff.
There
were several cast changes over the years. The first major addition was
that of Corporal Maxwell Klinger, an aide to the doctors. There was nothing
wrong with him - it was just that he always dressed in women's clothing
in a desperate, but futile, attempt to get himself discharged as mentally
unfit. McLean Stevenson left the show in the spring of 1975 to sign a long-term
contract with NBC. His character, Colonel Blake, was written out of the
show in the last episode of the 1974-1975 season with the viewing audience
being told that he was discharged and on his way home, only to have the
plane in which he was flying go down in the Sea of Japan. He was replaced
by Colonel Potter, who was somewhat more stern. In the summer of 1975,
Wayne Rogers also left the show in a contract dispute. His character, Trapper
John, was discharged and returned home at the beginning of the 1975-1976
season. B.J. Hunnicut replaced him as Hawkeye's tentmate and co-conspirator.
In
1977, Larry Linville left and so Major Burns was written out of the series.
His character had seen his love affair with Hot Lips Houlihan come to an
abrupt end when she married Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott, who was
not stationed with the 4077th and was hardly ever seen with his wife after
the honeymoon. He immediately went AWOL and was permanently transferred.
Replacing him was an aristocratic Bostonian, Major Charles Winchester.
Hot Lips's marriage to L.C. Penobscott, ended with divorce during the 1978-1979
season. Gary Burghoff, the only memeber of the cast who had played the
same role in the movie version of M*A*S*H, left in the fall of 1979.
His character, clairvoyant company clerk, Radar, received his discharge
and returned to the United States. Corporal Klinger took over as the new
company clerk.
On
February 28, 1983, the last episode of M*A*S*H aired as a 2 1/2
hour national event and was seen by the largest audience ever to watch
a single television show. The finale brought a dramatic ending to the series
regarded by many as one of the best in television history: The war
finally ended, but not before the long years of pressure pushed Hawkeye
over the edge and into a chillingly portrayed nervous breakdown. He recovered,
but Major Winchester never would recover from his experience with a group
of P.O.W. muscians who had brought a bit of cherished civility to the front
- before they were suddenly and senselesssly killed. Klinger, on the eve
of his long awaited departure from Korea, met and married a beautiful Korean
woman named Soon-Lee. As the show neared its close, the men and women of
the 4077th departed, one-by-one, for civillian life. Some of them - Colonel
Potter, Klinger and Father Mulcahy - would meet again in a sequel the following
year called Aftermash.
