M*A*S*H M*A*S*H M*A*S*H is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, owned by 20th Century Fox and based on the semi-autobiographic fiction of Richard Hooker. The franchise depicts a group of fictional characters who served at the fictional "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M*A*S*H)" during the Korean War, loosely based on the historic 8055th MASH unit. Hawkeye Pierce is featured as the main character, played by Donald Sutherland in the film and by Alan Alda on television. Later spin-offs involve characters who appeared in the series, but were set
M*A*S*H (TV series) days of real time. Many of the stories in the early seasons are based on 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 show began) as it was about the Korean War. The episodes "Abyssinia, Henry" and "The Interview" were ranked number 20 and number 80, respectively, on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time in 1997. In 2002, "M*A*S*H" was ranked number 25 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In