M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, inspired by the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker (penname for H. Richard Hornberger) and its sequels, but primarily by the 1970 film MASH, and influenced by the 1961 novel Catch-22.

The series was a medical drama/black comedy produced by 20th Television Fox for CBS. The show followed a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. M*A*S*H ' s title sequence featured an instrumental version of the song “Suicide Is Painless,” which also appears in the original film. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, "M*A*S*H Goes To Maine", failed. It is the most well-known version of the M*A*S*H works.

The series premiered on September 17, 1972, and ended February 28, 1983, with the finale becoming the most-watched television episode in U.S. television history with over 105 million viewersblank">http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-superbowl-ratings&prov=ap&type=lgns. It is widely considered one of the greatest shows in television history. The show is still broadcast in _syndication on various television stations (mostly during the late night/early morning hours). The series spanned 251 episodes and lasted eleven seasons covering a three-year war.

Many of the stories in the early seasons are based on real-life tales told by real MASH surgeons who were interviewed by the production team. Like the movie, the series was as much an allegory about the Vietnam War (still in progress when the series began) as about the Korean War.http://www.hollywoodstories.com/c25.htm The show's producers have said that it was about war in general.

The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, 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, Written by Murray Chapman

From June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, America waged war with Korea. To tend to the wounded, the government sent the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital to the front lines to nurse the soldiers. In the camp called the 4077th, Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce witnesses this ferocious yet pointless fight go on while trying to keep the mood light with wise-cracking and practical jokes. He meets many illustrious people, such as the near-psychic company clerk Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly, the short-tempered Head Nurse Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Maxwell Q. Klinger who will do anything to be sent home, stern Colonel Henry Blake, the neurotic Major Frank Burns (Hawkeye's roommate), likeable Father Francis Mulcahy, countless other doctors and nurses, and Hawkeye's best friend, fellow fun-loving prankster Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre. During the war, Hawkeye sees many changes occur around him: Trapper, Frank and Radar are sent home, Klinger takes over as company clerk, B.J. Hunnicutt becomes Hawkeye's new best friend and plays around with him instead, arrogant but educated Charles Emerson Winchester III becomes Hawkeye's new roommate, and Blake's plane is shot down over the Sea of Japan, spinning in and killing him. He is replaced by Colonel Sherman Potter, an experienced man who becomes a father figure, albeit a strict one, to the group. Countless doctors and nurses appear throughout, and you can always count on the insane Colonel Samuel Flagg to try to screw everything up. Written by Mash 'Em All