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) 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 US television history. "M*A*S*H" aired weekly on CBS, with most episodes being a half-hour (25 minutes) in length. The series is usually categorized as a situation comedy, though it has also been described as a "dark comedy" or a "dramedy" because of the often dramatic subject matter. The show is an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" (MASH) in