Season One

1 M*A*S*H Pilot First Aired: September 17, 1972
Writer: Larry Gelbart Director: Gene Reynolds Guest Stars: Karen Philipp, Patrick Adiarte, G. Wood, Timothy Brown, Linda Meiklejohn, Laura Miller, George Morgan
Iconoclastic Army surgeons Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre throw a drunken bash to raise money to send their Korean houseboy to a U.S. college. A remarkable episode that established the show's major characters in a black comedy of absurd proportions. In one fell blow, the barracks buffoonery of Sergeant Bilko and Gomer Pyle was rendered hopelessly and shamefully irrelevant. Karen Philipp appeared--briefly--as Lieutenant Dish, one of the characters from the film who failed to survive the transition to the small screen. Timothy Brown's Spearchucker Jones, the 4077th's black surgeon, was another prominent movie hold-over in early episodes; he even bunked with Hawkeye and Trapper John before he was quietly shipped out midway through the season. Writer Larry Gelbart maintains that the black doctor was dropped after research revealed that there simplyweren't any black surgeons in Korea. But whatever the reason for Spearchucker's demise, it's clear that the show's writers had no idea where to go with the blandly written character from the very start.

2 To Market, To Market First Aired: September 24, 1972
Writer: Burt Styler Director: Michael O'Herlihy Guest Stars: G. Wood, Robert Ito, Jack Soo, John C. Johnson
Hawkeye hopes to replenish dwindling medical supplies when by trading Henry's antique desk for a shipment of black-market hydrocortisone. Jack Soo plays a Korean black-marketeer here, though the late character actor would be better remembered as Japanese detective Nick Yemena on Barney Miller.

3 Requiem for a Lightweight First Aired: October 1, 1972
Writer: Bob Klane Director: Hy Averback Guest Stars: Marcia Strassman, Sorrell Booke, Mike McGirr
Trapper John is sorely mismatched when he faces a massive opponent in an intercamp boxing tournament. Hawkeye and Trapper John both vie for the attention of Nurse Margie Cutler, whose tour of duty at the 4077th barely outlasts the first season.

4 Chief Surgeon Who? First Aired: October 8, 1972
Writer: Larry Gelbart Director: E.W. Swackhamer Guest Stars: Linda Meiklejohn, Jack Riley, Sorrell Booke, Timothy Brown, Odessa Cleveland, Jamie Farr
Jealous when Hawkeye is appointed chief surgeon, Frank summons a flabbergasted general to look in on the unorthodox leisure activities of the new head doctor. There's a gag in this episode about a GI so desperate for a psychiatric discharge that he wears women's clothes--inspired, according to Larry Gelbart, by Lenny Bruce, who attempted a similar gambit to get thrown out of the Navy. The sight gag would eventually blossom into financial security for bit player Jamie Farr, but it very nearly got left on the cutting-room floor. In director E.W. Swackhamer's first cut, he had Farr play the transvestite as an effeminate swish--a cliché that sent the producers scrambling for a retake. Reynolds did reshoot it. The second time the actors played it straight, the bit was much funnier, and in no time at all, Corporal Max Klinger was a fixture on the series.

5 The Moose First Aired: October 15, 1972
Writer: Laurence Marks Director: Hy Averback Guest Stars: Paul Jenkins, Virginia Lee, Craig Jue, Barbara Brownell, Patrick Adiarte, Tim Brown
Incensed when a GI arrives with a Korean teenager he bought as a slave, Hawkeye conspires to emancipate the girl and restore her self-respect.

6 Yankee Doodle Doctor First Aired: October 22, 1972
Writer: Laurence Marks Director: Lee Philips Guest Stars: Ed Flanders, Bert Kramer, Herb Voland
The doctors rebel when they discover that the Army plans to make a propaganda film glorifying the depressing conditions of war.

7 Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts First Aired: November 5, 1972
Writer: Burt Styler Director: Bruce Bilson Guest Star: Stuart Margolin
Hawkeye acts even crazier than usual after he's denied a weekend pass to Tokyo.

8 Cowboy First Aired: November 12, 1972
Writer: Bob Klane Director: Don Weis Guest Stars: Billy Green Bush, Alicia Bond, Rick Moses, Joe Corey
The 4077th copes with a shell-shocked helicopter pilot who turns to violence after Henry denies his discharge back to the States.

9 Henry, Please Come Home First Aired: November 19, 1972
Writer: Laurence Marks Director: William Wiard Guest Star: G. Wood
When Colonel Blake's transfer to Tokyo leaves Frank Burns in command, Hawkeye and Trapper wage a campaign to get their beloved--and tolerant--commanding officer back in the fold.

10 I Hate a Mystery First Aired: November 26, 1972
Writer: Hal Dresner Director: Hy Averback Guest Stars: Bonnie Jones, Linda Meiklejohn
Hawkeye decides to play detective when he becomes the chief suspect in a rash of petty thefts.

11 Germ Warfare First Aired: December 10, 1972
Writer: Larry Gelbart Director: Terry Becker Guest Stars: Robert Gooden, Karen Philipp, Byron Chung
Frank is the unwitting donor in an emergency blood transfusion when Hawkeye extracts a pint from the major while he sleeps.

12 Dear Dad First Aired: December 17, 1972
Writer: Larry Gelbart Director: Gene Reynolds Guest Stars: Bonnie Jones, Lizabeth Deen, Gary Van Orman
During a lull in surgery, Hawkeye composes a Christmas letter to his dad describing the simple joys and endless dread of daily life in a war zone. The script was more influential than anyone guessed at the time; it established Hawkeye as the show's empathetic voice, just as Gelbart was discovering his own voice in the character.

13 Edwina First Aired: December 24, 1972
Writer: Hal Dresner Director: James Sheldon Guest Stars: Arlene Golonka, Linda Meiklejohn, Marcia Strassman
The nurses band together to find a date for an accident-prone nurse.

14 Love Story First Aired: January 7, 1973
Writer: Laurence Marks Director: Earl Bellamy Guest Stars: Kelly Jean Peters, Indira Danks, Barbara Brownell, Jerry Harper
Trapper and Hawkeye offer Radar a crash course in music and literature when they fix him up with a nurse who's culturally inclined. Though few were aware of it at the time, four years earlier guest star Kelly Jean Peters had originated the role of Gloria in the earliest pilot for the series that would become All in the Family.

15 Tuttle First Aired: January 14, 1973
Writers: Bruce Shelly, David Ketchum Director: William Wiard Guest Stars: Herb Voland, Mary-Robin Redd, James Sikking
The medics create a fictitious captain so that they can donate his Army salary to an orphanage.

16 The Ringbanger First Aired: January 21, 1973
Writer: Jerry Mayer Director: Jackie Cooper Guest Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Linda Meiklejohn
Trapper and Hawkeye conspire to have an overzealous commander shipped back home to protect the troops from his military enthusiasm. Director Jackie Cooper was a former child actor who had grown up to star in two successful sitcoms of the 1950s, The People's Choice and Hennesey, which he also produced. It was on the latter series that the actor gave Gene Reynolds--himself a retired child actor--an opportunity to direct. Reynolds returned the favor on M*A*S*H, where Cooper would eventually direct the majority of episodes in the series's second year.

17 Sometimes You Hear the Bullet First Aired: January 28, 1973
Writer: Carl Kleinschmitt Director: William Waird Guest Stars: James Callahan, Ronny Howard, Lynnette Mettey
Hawkeye mourns the sudden death of an old friend on his operating table. Alan Alda cited this episode as the series's first real groundbreaker. "It was the first time on our show that a sympathetic and charming character had died," the actor wrote in TV Guide. It was a breakthrough that was largely lost on the confused executives at CBS, most of whom were unaccustomed to having death sprung on them between the toothpaste commercials of a half-hour situation comedy. The producers held their ground by insisting that a soldier's sudden and unexpected death was an entirely appropriate subject for a comedy set in war. When the episode finally aired, it drove yet another nail into the coffin of the superfluous situation comedy of the 1960s. A decade earlier, writer Carl Kleinschmitt had been a prolific contributor to the original Dick Van Dyke Show.

18 Dear Dad . . . Again First Aired: February 4, 1973
Writer: Sheldon Keller, Larry Gelbart Director: Jackie Cooper Guest Stars: Alex Henteloff, Gail Bowman, Odessa Cleveland
In another letter home, Hawkeye explains how he survives the perverse insanity of war by staying just one step ahead of the butterfly net.

19 The Long-John Flap First Aired: February 18, 1973
Writer: Alan Alda Director: William Wiard Guest Stars: Kathleen King, Joseph Perry
A coveted pair of long-johns arrive during a Korean cold spell and find their way into more than one M*A*S*H footlocker before day's end. A handful of TV actors had directed episodes of their own series before, and a few had even written scripts that could actually be filmed; but Alan Alda is probably the only actor ever to simultaneously direct, write, and star in a long-running television series. Not surprisingly, his early scripts reflect Gelbart's strong influence, though Alda would quickly develop his own voice, both as a writer and as a director.

20 The Army-Navy Game First Aired: February 25, 1973
Writer: Sid Dorfman Story: McLean Stevenson Director: Gene Reynolds Guest Stars: Alan Manson, David Doyle, Tom Richards
The medics' enjoyment of the radio broadcast of the Army-Navy game is seriously compromised when an undetonated bomb lands in the middle of camp.

21 Sticky Wicket First Aired: March 4, 1973
Writers: Laurence Marks, Larry Gelbart Story: Richard Baer Director: Don Weis Guest Stars: Wayne Bryan, Lynnette Mettey, Bonnie Jones
Hawkeye accuses Frank of incompetent surgery, only to discover that one of his own patients has suffered a mysterious relapse.

22 Major Fred C. Dobbs First Aired: March 11, 1973
Writer: Sid Dorfman Director: Don Weis Guest Stars: Harvey J. Goldenberg
Frank is about to ship out of the 4077th, but Hawkeye and Trapper John trick him into staying on after they discover that his transfer doubles their workload. The producers hadn't yet quite got their bearings, as this uncharacteristic episode proves. The script violates the basic premise of the characters in an inconsequential plot that veers dangerously into stock sitcom territory. Larry Gelbart would be so embarrassed by this episode that in later years he would remember it as simply "the worst."

23 Ceasefire First Aired: March 18, 1973
Writers: Laurence Marks, Larry Gelbart Story: Larry Gelbart Director: Earl Bellamy Guest Star: Herb Voland
The 4077th makes premature plans to dismantle the camp when they hear rumors of a ceasefire. The producers always kept an eye on the headlines as they fashioned their Vietnam allegory, so it's not entirely coincidental that this episode aired the same week that the United States began withdrawing troops from Vietnam. Surprisingly, the end of the fighting in Southeast Asia had very little effect on the show. The ceasefire might have dulled the show's urgency, but it didn't blunt its message. As Hawkeye observed in a Gelbart script aired two years later, "Wars don't last forever, only war does."

24 Showtime First Aired: March 25, 1973
Writer: Robert Klane, Larry Gelbart Story: Larry Gelbart Director: Jackie Cooper Guest Stars: Joey Forman, Harvey Goldenberg, Stanley Clay, Sheila Lauritsen, Oksum Kim
A song-and-dance man performs a USO comedy show in stark counterpoint to the bleak goings on in the operating room.