M*A*S*H (TV series) the parent show's Monday night time slot and featured several of its characters reunited in a Midwestern hospital after the war. The more successful "Trapper John, M.D." (1979–86) took place nearly three decades after the events of "M*A*S*H" and depicted Trapper John McIntyre as chief of surgery at a San Francisco hospital; its producers argued successfully in court that it was based on the earlier movie rather than the TV series. In an unpurchased television pilot, "W*A*L*T*E*R" (1984), Walter "Radar" O'Reilly joins the St. Louis police force after his farm fails following his return to the US. "Making M*A*S*H", a
M*A*S*H (TV series) was at risk of being cancelled. In season two, "M*A*S*H" was placed in a better time slot by CBS (airing after the popular "All in the Family"); the show then became one of the top 10 programs of the year and stayed in the top 20 programs for the rest of its run. It is still broadcast in syndication on various television stations. The series, which depicted events occurring during a three-year war, spanned 256 episodes and lasted 11 seasons. The Korean War lasted 1,128 days, meaning each episode of the series would have averaged almost four and a half