M*A*S*H

The ensemble cast originally featured Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers as surgeons Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce and "Trapper" John McIntyre, respectively, as the protagonists of the show. They were joined by Larry Linville as surgeon Frank Burns, Loretta Swit as head nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, McLean Stevenson as company commander Henry Blake, Gary Burghoff as company clerk Walter "Radar" O'Reilly, Jamie Farr as orderly Maxwell Klinger, and William Christopher as the chaplain, Father John Mulcahy. Over the run of the show, several members of the main cast were replaced: Wayne Rogers was replaced by Mike Farrell as B. J. Hunnicutt, McLean Stevenson was replaced by Harry Morgan as Sherman Potter, Larry Linville was replaced by David Ogden Stiers as Charles Emerson Winchester III, and, when Gary Burghoff left the show, the Maxwell Klinger character moved into the company clerk role. Longtime supporting cast members included Kellye Nakahara, Jeff Maxwell, Johnny Haymer, Allan Arbus, Edward Winter and G. W. Bailey.

The series varied in style and tone—including broad comedy and tragedy—which can be attributed to fluctuating writing staff over the life of the show and the variety of sources contributing to the stories, such as actor Alan Alda and surgeons who served in the Korean War. The show's title sequence features an instrumental version of "Suicide Is Painless", the original film's theme song.

The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. The television series is the best known of the M*A*S*H works and one of the highest-rated shows in U.S. television history and is regarded by many as one of the greatest television shows of all time. Its final episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", was the most-watched television broadcast in the United States from 1983 to 2010, and it remains both the most-watched finale of any television series and the most-watched episode of a scripted series.