M*A*S*H* 4077th Vintage T-Shirt. M*A*S*H aired weekly in its original CBS run, with most episodes being a half-hour in length. The series is usually categorized as a situation comedy, though it is sometimes also described as a "dark comedy" or a "dramedy" because of the dramatic subject material often presented. Mash ran in our homes from 1972-1983. The show was an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH; the asterisks in the name are meaningless, a contrivance introduced in the novel) in the Korean War (1950A-53). The 4077th MASH was just one of several surgical units in Korea. As the show developed, the writing took on more of a moralistic tone. In America, the series was shown complete with laugh track - but in the UK, it aired on BBC 2, and the laughter track was removed - the BBC insisted on all comedy programmes having a laughter track - but removed it from MASH. One episode was accidentally broadcast with the laugh track left in - the announcer apologized for "the technical problems we had".
