
M*A*S*H: Season 1
1972 · 24 episodes · ★ 7.0
What Season 1 of M*A*S*H
Season one takes viewers to Mobile Army Surgical Hospital 4077, set up in Uijeongbu, just behind the front line of the Korean War. Surgeons Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper McIntyre face the daily pressure of treating wounded soldiers, leaning on a strong camaraderie to cope. To blow off steam, the team scrounges up cigarettes, liquor or chocolate, sets up dates with the nurses and plays football games against other camps. Clashes with Frank Burns, Margaret and Colonel Henry Blake add comic tension. The series mixes these jokes with the horror of war and the toll it takes on those living through it up close.
Season 1 Episodes

1x01 Pilot
At the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H) unit in Korea, two army doctors by the names of Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre receive some exciting news in the mail. Their Korean house boy, Ho-John got accepted into Hawkeye's old college. Hawkeye and Trapper decide to hold a party filled with music, dancing, and alcohol to raise money for Ho-John's plane trip to the U.S. They achieve this by raffling off a weekend pass with a nurse, Lieutenant Dish for R&R in Tokyo.
Directed by Gene Reynolds · Written by Larry Gelbart · Starring Bruno Kirby, Odessa Cleveland, Timothy Brown, Karen Philipp

1x02 To Market, to Market
"To Market, to Market" is the second episode of M*A*S*H. It was first aired on September 24, 1972 and repeated on April 29, 1973. Like many other M*A*S*H episodes, this one parodies army bureaucracy.Thieves hold up a truck load of medical supplies for the 4077, thus rendering them in desperate need of Hydrocortisone. In retaliation, Hawkeye and Trapper meet with a notorious black marketer, hoping to get some replacements. When they realize they have nothing reasonable to trade with him, they go to drastic measures to get what they need.
Directed by Michael O'Herlihy · Written by Burt Styler · Starring Odessa Cleveland, Jack Soo, Robert Ito, G. Wood

1x03 Requiem for a Lightweight
Trapper and Hawkeye seek to keep a new nurse from being transferred by Hot Lips, and they vie for her affection. Henry Blake, challenged by another commander to a boxing tournament, makes Trapper fight a big, intimidating soldier in exchange for keeping the nurse at the 4077th. Hawkeye and Ugly John employ the use of a glove soaked with ether to insure Trapper's victory, which impresses the nurse. Margaret and Frank's attempts to unfix the match collapses, as they are flattened by the unconscious boxer!
Directed by Hy Averback · Written by Robert Klane · Starring William Christopher, Sorrell Booke, Marcia Strassman, John Orchard

1x04 Chief Surgeon Who?
Frank Burns complains about Hawkeye Pierce's disrespect...and Henry appoints Hawkeye chief surgeon, to Burns's shock. The rest of the 4077th "coronates" Hawk while Frank and Hot Lips complain to General Barker. The General's visit provides him with a view of life at the 4077th M*A*S*H unit: camp hijinks, a poker game, and a surgery session. This shows him M*A*S*H has fun but gets the job done.
Directed by: E.W. Swackhamer · Written by: Larry Gelbart · Starring: Jamie Farr, Jack Riley, Sorrell Booke, Odessa Cleveland

1x05 The Moose
Sergeant Baker arrives at the camp with his Moose. Hawkeye decides to find a way of getting her away from Baker. He tries ordering him to release her, tries buying her, and then resorts to cheating at cards. He releases her but she won't go, so he tries to teach her how to be independent.
Directed by: Hy Averback · Written by: Laurence Marks · Starring: Timothy Brown, John Orchard, Patrick Adiarte, Paul Jenkins

1x06 Yankee Doodle Doctor
The 4077th is designated as the setting for the making of an army film on Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units. Hawkeye is chosen as the star while Margaret and Frank compose a screenplay. The Eye Of The Hawk objects to the piece of propaganda that filmmaker Lt. Bricker is producing and, having exposed the original film, reshoots a new one his way, starring himself as Groucho Marx-ish Yankee Doodle Doctor, and poking fun at glorifying doctors while concluding with a rather serious speech about the hell of war.
Directed by Lee Philips · Written by Laurence Marks · Starring Ed Flanders, Bert Kramer, Marcia Strassman, Herb Voland

1x07 Bananas, Crackers and Nuts
When Henry goes for some R&R, Hawkeye pretends to crack up so that Frank will let him and Trapper go on some R&R.
Directed by Bruce Bilson · Written by Burt Styler · Starring Odessa Cleveland, Marcia Strassman, Stuart Margolin

1x08 Cowboy
John Hodges, a chopper pilot referred to as The Cowboy because of his gun holster belt and cowboy hat, has been hit in the shoulder, and arrives at the 4077th. He is expecting a letter--he's worried his wife Jean at home is leaving him for another man ("She's probably off with some rodeo rider; she's a sucker for a 10-gallon hat!"). He wants to go home, but Henry refuses, stating Cowboy's wound isn't serious enough to merit a stateside ticket. Bad luck then follows Henry Blake like the seat of his pants: he gets shot at while golfing, his tent gets flattened by a driverless jeep, and the latrine explodes while he's inside. The Cowboy offers to fly Henry to Seoul and then threatens to shove him out! The letter finally arives for Cowboy, assuring he is loved. Hawkeye and Trapper uses the radio to convince The Cowboy to spare Henry's life and come down, at which they succeed.
Directing: Don Weis · Writing: Robert Klane · Starring: William Christopher, Billy Green Bush, John Orchard, Patrick Adiarte

1x09 Henry Please Come Home
Henry receives a citation for the camp achieving the best efficiency rating, and then General Hammond reassigns him to Tokyo. Frank then changes the camp to be more military, and he confiscates Hawkeye's and Trapper's still. They use forged passes to go to Tokyo to convince Henry to come back and end up pretending Radar is sick.
Directed by William Wiard · Written by Laurence Marks · Starring William Christopher, Odessa Cleveland, Timothy Brown, John Orchard

1x10 I Hate a Mystery
A rash of thefts breaks out in the camp. Missing pieces include Frank's silver picture frame, Margaret's hair brush, and Trapper's watch. The camp is searched and everything is found in Hawkeye's locker. Everyone thinks he did it. Hawkeye manages to announce to the camp that the items will be dusted for prints to identify the real thief, and catches Ho-Jon. He needed money to bring his family from the North, and to bribe border guards.
Directing: Hy Averback · Writing: Hal Dressner · Starring: William Christopher, Odessa Cleveland, Timothy Brown, John Orchard

1x11 Germ Warfare
Hawkeye moves a wounded North Korean soldier into The Swamp, rather than let him be shipped out before he's stable. During the night he and Trapper play Dracula, and siphon off a pint of Frank's blood. The soldier then contracts hepatitis, so they have to test Frank without him knowing, and have to keep him away from Margaret and the patients.
Directed by Terry Becker · Written by Larry Gelbart · Starring Odessa Cleveland, Timothy Brown, Karen Philipp, Patrick Adiarte

1x12 Dear Dad
Hawkeye writes home, describing Christmas in Korea: Radar ships a jeep home, a piece at a time; Henry gives the monthly lecture on sex, with the aid of figure A and figure B; Trapper helps deliver a calf; Klinger and Frank get into a fight, but Father Mulcahy smoothes things over; Hawkeye and Trapper sabotage Margaret's tent; Hawkeye flies to the front line dressed as Santa, to help a wounded soldier.
Directed by: Gene Reynolds · Written by: Larry Gelbart · Starring: Jamie Farr, William Christopher, Buck Young, Odessa Cleveland

1x13 Edwina
The nurses go to extremes lengths to find a date for Nurse Eddie - they won't go out with anyone until Eddie gets a date. The men draw straws, and Hawkeye is the big loser, especially after Eddie nearly kills him in a scene resembling teenage "mating" rituals.
Directed by James Sheldon · Written by Hal Dresner · Starring Arlene Golonka, Marcia Strassman, Linda Meiklejohn

1x14 Love Story
Radar gets a Dear John recording from home. Hawkeye and Trapper try to set him up with a date, but fail. Radar is taken by a new nurse at the camp and she is into poetry and music, so they coach him. Margaret wants to stop the relationship, so Hawkeye and Trapper get between her and Frank until she relents. Radar's "Ahhhh, Bach!" and "That's highly significant," quotes win him the girl.
Directed by Earl Bellamy · Written by Larry Gelbart, Laurence Marks · Starring Indira Stefanianna, Marcia Strassman, Barbara Brownell, Kelly Jean Peters

1x15 Tuttle
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...!
Directed by William Wiard · Written by Bruce Shelley, David Ketchum · Starring William Christopher, James B. Sikking, Dennis Fimple, Herb Voland

1x16 The Ringbanger
Hawkeye and Trapper operate on a famous Colonel - after discovering that he is particularly ruthless about sacrificing his men, they come up with a scheme to get him sent back to the states with a little unwitting help from Frank, Margaret, and a drunk Henry.
Directed by: Jackie Cooper · Written by: Jerry Mayer · Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Linda Meiklejohn

1x17 Sometimes You Hear the Bullet
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.
Directed by: William Wiard · Written by: Carl Kleinschmitt · Starring: William Christopher, Ron Howard, James T. Callahan, John Orchard

1x18 Dear Dad...Again
Once again, Hawkeye writes home to his father, telling him of the latest gossip: the camp gets a new surgeon, who turns out to be a fake; Hawkeye bets he can walk into the mess tent naked for lunch, and no one will notice; Radar cheats on his final exam from the High School diploma company; Margaret rejects Franks advances and he gets drunk late into the night; the camp have a no talent night.
Directed by: Jackie Cooper · Written by: Larry Gelbart, Sheldon Keller · Starring: Jamie Farr, William Christopher, Alex Henteloff, Odessa Cleveland

1x19 The Longjohn Flap
The camp suffers from the severe cold, except for Hawkeye who has received some long john's from his father. They get passed around from person to person, as a gift, a gambling stake, a trade, a bribe, stolen, given up to Father Mulcahy, who gives them to Henry, who returns them to Hawkeye as thanks for taking out his appendix.
Directing: William Wiard · Writing: Alan Alda · Starring: Jamie Farr, William Christopher, Joseph V. Perry, Kathleen King

1x20 The Army-Navy Game
The camp tunes into the Army/Navy football game, only to be shelled and have an unexploded bomb land in the middle of the compound. They ring around trying to identify the bomb, and the camp prepares for the worst. Hawkeye and Trapper are left the task of following instructions to disarm the bomb, which turns out to be full of propaganda leaflets from the CIA.
Directed by: Gene Reynolds · Written by: Sid Dorfman, McLean Stevenson · Starring: Jamie Farr, William Christopher, John Orchard, John A. Zee

1x21 Sticky Wicket
Hawkeye and Frank argue over Frank's surgical ability. Hawkeye performs a difficult operation and the patient does not recover, as he should. Hawkeye begins to doubt his ability and moves out of The Swamp. He decides to open up his patients again, and discovers a nick in the colon that even Frank admits anyone could have missed.
Directed by Don Weis · Written by Richard Baer, Larry Gelbart, Richard Baer · Starring John Orchard, Lynnette Mettey, Wayne Bryan

1x22 Major Fred C. Dobbs
As usual Frank's normal drone of verbal abuse upsets Ginger, so Hawkeye puts his arm in a cast while he is asleep. Frank puts in for a transfer, and after a broadcast goes out of Frank telling Margaret he's leaving, she decides to leave as well. As a result, Col. Blake puts both Hawk and Trap on double post-op duty until he finds replacements for Majs. Burns and Houlihan.Unwilling to lose their two favorite patsies, and to be worn to a frazzle from doing 2 shifts in O/R, Hawkeye and Trapper hatch a scheme to prevent Frank and Hot Lips from leaving. That night, Hawkeye and Trapper pretend they have found gold, letting Frank overhear them. Frank then withdraws his request when he thinks he's found gold himself, although the joke is on him when he finds, amongst other things, a gilded jeep!
Directed by: Don Weis · Written by: Sid Dorfman · Starring: Harvey J. Goldenberg, Odessa Cleveland

1x23 Ceasefire
General Clayton calls to say that a ceasefire is to be declared. The camp celebrates, Klinger gives away his dresses and locals start to take pieces of the camp. But Trapper does not believe it. Hawkeye claims he is married to avoid promises he made to several nurses. The party to celebrate the cease-fire, which never really took place, is interrupted by incoming wounded.
Directed by: Earl Bellamy · Written by: Robert Klane, Larry Gelbart, Laurence Marks · Starring: Jamie Farr, William Christopher, Odessa Cleveland, Marcia Strassman

1x24 Showtime Season Finale
Captain Kaplan is to be shipped home, but becomes paranoid that something will happen to him before he leaves. He takes the wheel of the jeep to drive to Kimpo himself, but crashes and ends up in plaster. Henry's wife is in labor and gives birth while he has Radar calling the hospital every 5 mins.An entertainer, Jackie Flash, visits the camp to entertain the troops.
Directed by Jackie Cooper · Written by Larry Gelbart, Robert Klane · Starring William Christopher, Joey Forman, Harvey J. Goldenberg, John Orchard
Season 1 Cast
Wayne RogersTrapper24 episodes
McLean StevensonHenry Blake24 episodes
Larry LinvilleFrank Burns24 episodes
William ChristopherFather Mulcahy12 episodes
John OrchardUgly John11 episodes
Patrick AdiarteHo-Jon8 episodes
Linda MeiklejohnLeslie Scorch7 episodes
Jamie FarrMaxwell Klinger6 episodes
Marcia StrassmanNurse Margie Cutler6 episodes
Timothy BrownSpearchucker6 episodes
Herb VolandCrandell Clayton3 episodes
G. WoodBrig. Gen. Charlie Hammond (voice)3 episodes
Bonnie JonesLt. Barbara Bannerman3 episodes
Sorrell BookeGeneral Wilson Spaulding Barker2 episodes
Karen PhilippLt. Maria 'Dish' Schneider2 episodes
Barbara BrownellLt. Jones2 episodesAll Seasons
Season 21973 · 24 ep. · ★ 6.7
Season 31974 · 24 ep. · ★ 6.5
Season 41975 · 24 ep. · ★ 7.7
Season 51976 · 24 ep. · ★ 7.6
Season 61977 · 24 ep. · ★ 7.5
Season 71978 · 25 ep. · ★ 7.7
Season 81979 · 25 ep. · ★ 7.6
Season 91980 · 20 ep. · ★ 7.5
Season 101981 · 21 ep. · ★ 7.3
Season 111982 · 16 ep. · ★ 7.1Where to Watch Season 1 of M*A*S*H
It is currently not available on the major streaming platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes are in Season 1 of M*A*S*H?
Season 1 of M*A*S*H has 24 episodes.
When did M*A*S*H season 1 premiere?
Premiered on September 17, 1972.
Where to watch M*A*S*H Season 1?
Currently not available on the major subscription platforms (availability may vary by country).
What is the best episode of Season 1?
According to the TMDB audience score, episode 1x15, "Tuttle," has a 7.8.

























