What war was "M*A*S*H" set during?
Last updated: December 28, 2024
Few TV shows managed to blend comedy and commentary quite like "MAS*H" during its 1972-1983 run. The series followed a team of army medical personnel stationed at a mobile surgical hospital, treating wounded soldiers amid the chaos of conflict. But which 20th-century war provided the backdrop for this groundbreaking series?
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The answer is: Korean War
"M*A*S*H" might have taken place during the Korean War, but the show aired during the height of the Vietnam War, and that was no accident. The show's creators used Korea as a clever stand-in to comment on Vietnam without running afoul of network censors.
The series followed the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Alan Alda's Hawkeye Pierce and his fellow surgeons cracked jokes between saving lives, but the real comedy gold came from how the show treated military absurdity like an art form. In one episode, Hawkeye and Trapper try desperately to requisition an incubator for laboratory testing, only to be told it's considered a "luxury item." Meanwhile, the general's office had no trouble getting a pizza oven and jukebox approved for their personal use. Priorities!
The Korean War setting came from Richard Hooker's novel that inspired the series. He based it on his actual experiences as a military surgeon in Korea. But the show's writers loaded episodes with Vietnam references that 1970s audiences immediately recognized. They even dressed the extras in Vietnam era helmets and gear because actual Korean War props were hard to find.
When the series finale aired in 1983, more people watched it than had watched the actual Korean War armistice signing announcement (Again, priorities!). The final episode pulled in 125 million viewers, which stood as the most-watched TV episode ever until Super Bowl XLIV finally topped it in 2010.