Forty years ago tonight, M*A*S*H ended with “the most-watched episode of any scripted series ever”: 100 million were tuned in, forty years ago, at the moment I am writing. This record may never be broken.
Seasons 1-3 were my favorites and favorite cast, including Alan Alda as surgeon Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Wayne Rogers as surgeon Captain Trapper John McIntyre, McLean Stevenson as company commander Lt. Colonel Henry Blake, Loretta Swit as head nurse Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Larry Linville as surgeon Major Frank Burns, Gary Burghoff as company clerk Corporal Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly, Toledo’s own Jamie Farr as combat medic Corporal Maxwell Klinger, William Christopher as chaplain 1st Lieutenant Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy, Allan Arbus as psychiatrist Major Sidney Freedman and Edward Winter as intelligence officer Colonel Flagg.
M*A*S*H is an American classic:
