The Best Episodes of M*A*S*H

Everyone is happy when Henry finds out that he is being discharged and sent home, and Hawkeye and Trapper decide to literally send him off in style...

Director: Larry Gelbart

Writer: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

Hawkeye creates a fake doctor, Captain Jonathan S. Tuttle, to give supplies to the local orphans. Henry wants Tuttle to be officer of the day, so Hawkeye creates a fake personnel file, and all his back pay is given to the orphanage. When General Clayton wants to reward his generosity, Hawkeye is forced to invent a story about Tuttle jumping from a chopper without his parachute! Of course, Trapper's new friend, Captain Murdoch, obtained the fake dog tags and parachute...!

Director: William Wiard

Writer: David Ketchum, Bruce Shelley

Hawkeye is sent to a mental hospital; a freak accident causes Father Mulcahy to lose his hearing; Margaret worries about her post-war plans; Charles run across a band of Chinese musicians; BJ is sent home, much to Hawkeye's dismay; Klinger decides to stay in Korea to marry Soon-Lee; a ceasefire is declared, ending the war.

Director: Alan Alda

Writer: Burt Metcalfe, Karen Hall, Alan Alda, John Rappaport, Elias Davis, David Pollock, Thad Mumford, Dan Wilcox

Hawkeye and BJ race against the clock to save a soldier from paralysis. BJ harvesting an aorta from a dead soldier doesn't sit well with the soldier's friend.

Director: Alan Alda

Writer: Alan Alda, Walter D. Dishell, M.D.

Frank throws his back out whilst spending the evening with Margaret, and ends up in traction. He promptly applies for the Purple Heart, having been 'technically' wounded at a frontline unit. Tommy Gillis, an old friend of Hawkeye's, is writing a book about the war, and pays him a visit. Later, Tommy is brought into the camp, seriously wounded, and Hawkeye can't save him. A 15-year-old kid is in the hospital to have his appendix out. He joined up to be a hero back home, but Hawkeye has him sent home, giving him Frank's purple heart.

Director: William Wiard

Writer: Carl Kleinschmitt

Trapper is shipped home while Hawkeye is on R&R. Hawkeye speeds to Kimpo with Radar to catch Trapper's plane, but they just miss him. While they are there, they pick up BJ Hunnicut and take him back to camp. On the way back, BJ is introduced to the Korean War.

Director: Gene Reynolds

Writer: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum, Larry Gelbart

Psychiatrist Sidney Freedman composes a letter to Sigmund Freud during a visit to the 4077, while the rest of the camp endures the hijinks of a mystery prankster.

Director: Alan Alda

Writer: Alan Alda

In this unique episode, the camera becomes the eyes of a young wounded soldier. It records his sensory responses to being wounded, flown by helicopter to the 4077th, examined, operated on, and treated in post-operation.

Director: Charles S. Dubin

Writer: David Isaacs, Ken Levine

Talk of a post-war reunion gives BJ an idea- planning a present-day stateside gathering of 4077th families. He continues to obsess with the idea even under the duress of bug-out instigated by a Chinese breakthrough. Also, Klinger fears that the party will blow his cover, as his mother doesn't know he's stationed in Korea.

Director: Burt Metcalfe

Writer: Alan Alda, Burt Metcalfe

As company clerk Radar O'Reilly reluctantly prepares to depart the 4077th, the unit is still without electricity due to a broken generator, and the operating room continues to fill up with war wounded as night falls. The responsibility for procuring a new generator falls on Klinger, who lacks Radar's masterful knack of cutting through red tape in search of much-needed supplies.

Director: Charles S. Dubin

Writer: David Isaacs, Ken Levine

Hawkeye, B.J., and Margaret try to save the life of a critically injured solider so that his family won't think of Christmas as the day that their father died. Meanwhile, Winchester fulfills a family Christmas tradition but has trouble maintaining the anonymity required to keep it a truly charitable act. Even Klinger lends a hand.

Director: Mike Farrell

Writer: N/A

The 4077th and friends convene for their weekly “Medical Conference,” A.K.A. Poker while Radar runs over a civilian and Frank is held hostage in the showers by an enlisted man.

Director: Gene Reynolds

Writer: Larry Gelbart, Laurence Marks

Sick and tired of having liver and fish for an 11-day stretch, Hawkeye, driven near to insanity, starts a riot in the mess tent. He and Trapper then orders spare ribs and sauce from the best place he ever had them, in Chicago. Trapper calls a woman he spent a weekend with to pick up the ribs, and then they get choppered in. Unfortunately, right as they're sitting down to eat, wounded arrive, and Hawkeye is forced to postpone sinking his teeth into his beloved ribs.

Director: Gene Reynolds

Writer: Laurence Marks

Clete Roberts introduces this segment as his show; he's arrived at Korea to interview the staff of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital because of its high 97% efficiency rating. In Roberts' interviews with Hawkeye, BJ, Frank, Radar, Klinger, Mulcahy and Potter, they talk about how they cope with their situation, what they miss about home, how they feel about who they work with, and whether they see any good in coming from war.

Director: Larry Gelbart

Writer: Larry Gelbart

A no-nonsense Colonel, who is notorious as a hard-nosed disciplinarian, visits the 4077th during an outbreak of April Fools' Day pranksterism. Colonel Potter tries in vain to halt the mayhem before Colonel Tucker arrives in camp.

Director: Charles S. Dubin

Writer: N/A

An inept, if punctual, bomber pilot provides comic relief for Hawkeye and Trapper, but inspires Frank to call out the heavy artillery.

Director: Norman Tokar

Writer: Larry Gelbart, Laurence Marks, Keith Walker

Henry's fitness for command is called into question when he's put on trial for charges stemming from the tomfoolery at the 4077th.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: McLean Stevenson

The MASH 4077 is visted by General Steele. He wishes to move the camp 5 miles down the road. Hawkeye and Henry are charged with mutiny. And Hawkeye is also charged with impersonating a reporter.

Director: Larry Gelbart

Writer: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

Hawkeye, Houlihan, and Klinger go to an aid station at the front. Working closely together under heavy fire and unsanitary medical conditions, the three return to camp with new found respect for one another.

Director: William B. Jurgensen

Writer: Larry Gelbart, Simon Muntner

Frank settles in as commanding officer, only to have a new one appointed over his head, one that, to his chagrin, fits in very well.

Director: Gene Reynolds

Writer: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum

Colonel Potter hopes a Western will be the cure for the 4077th's morale problem. But during the show, the staff of the camp is forced to make its own entertainment during the frequent film breakages.

Director: Burt Metcalfe

Writer: Don Reo

A flu epidemic leaves yet-to-be infected Hawkeye and Margaret more overworked than ever.

Director: Jackie Cooper

Writer: Larry Gelbart, Bernard Dilbert, Laurence Marks

A wave of conservation hits the 4077th after a vital supply line is cut, creating a variety of shortages.

Director: Don Weis

Writer: Larry Gelbart, Laurence Marks

When a rumor for a camp relocation turns out to be real, Hawkeye, Margaret and Radar volunteer to stay behind for a patient who cannot be moved.

Director: Gene Reynolds

Writer: Everett Greenbaum, Jim Fritzell

Frank Burns cracks up over Margaret's marriage while on R&R in Tokyo, and Major Charles Emerson Winchester III is sent to the 4077th as a replacement by a vindictive superior officer.

Director: Hy Averback

Writer: James Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum