Courtney L.
O’Dell
COM 290
Popular Culture: Television “MASH”
“MASH”, one of the most critically
and audience acclaimed series in television
history actually
began as a film released in theaters in 1970.
It was the great success of
this film that
led to its debut as a series on September 17, 1972. Set during the Korean
War (1950-53),
“M*A*SH” was a black comedy about life in a Mobile Army Surgical
Hospital unit
located only three miles from the front lines.
The primary mission of the
MASH unit to
provide immediate medical treatment to Americans wounded in combat.
But when they’re
off duty, the MASH unit personnel becomes involved in crazy hijinks
and hilarious
adventures. The show starred Alan Alda
as Capt. Benjamin Franklin
“Hawkeye”
Pierce, Wayne Rogers as Capt. John Francis Xavier “Trapper John”
McIntyre and
Loretta Swit as Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan. Many cast members
came and went
during the eleven season run of the series.
The three that I have
mentioned
previously were among the few who stayed on the series until its finale.
through its
duration, “MASH” received 8 Director’s Guild Awards, 7 Emmys, 7 Golden
Globe Awards and
6 People’s Choice Awards. This program
became a cultural
phenomenon and
further proved this standing when an estimated 125 million people
watched the
final episode in 1983, the largest audience ever for a television program at
that time.
Source: www.imdb.com (imdb – Internet Movie Database)