Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
This MASH trivia quiz has 123 free questions with answers and covers all eleven seasons of the CBS classic plus the 1970 Robert Altman film and the novel behind it. You will be asked about the surgeons of the Swamp, Radar's grape Nehi and teddy bear, Klinger's Section 8 campaign, Colonel Potter's horse, Margaret's short marriage, the fight over the laugh track, and the cast changes that turned a sitcom into a comedy-drama. The questions run from easy ones any rerun watcher will get (which war, which network, who is Hot Lips) to genuinely hard production trivia: where the exteriors were shot, why season seven characters share names with baseball players, and how many letters poured in after Henry Blake's plane went down. It suits a family game night, a rerun-marathon break or a pub-quiz TV round. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's M*A*S*H articles and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 123 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01M*A*S*H originally aired on CBS for how many seasons?
11
11 seasons for a three-year war: each episode covered an average of about four and a half days of real time.
Q 02In what country was the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, the setting for M*A*S*H, located?
South Korea
South Korea: the 4077th sits a few miles behind the front lines, close enough for wounded to arrive by helicopter, the image that opens every episode.
Q 03What was Major Margaret Houlihan's famous nickname in M*A*S*H?
Hot Lips
Hot Lips: the nickname stuck after Margaret's tryst with Frank Burns was broadcast over the camp PA in the 1970 film, and the TV series used it from its first season.
Q 04Roughly how many viewers did The New York Times report for the record-setting 1983 M*A*S*H finale?
125 million
125 million was The New York Times' estimate of Americans who saw at least part of 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen'; Nielsen's average audience was about 106 million, a 77 share.
Q 05Which actor played Captain 'Trapper' John McIntyre in the first three seasons of M*A*S*H?
Wayne Rogers
Wayne Rogers portrayed Captain 'Trapper' John McIntyre for the first three seasons of M*A*S*H, before his character was written off the show.
Q 06What was Corporal Klinger's go-to ploy for getting a Section 8 discharge?
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing: Klinger paraded in dresses, hats and heels hoping for a Section 8 psychiatric discharge; the outfits ran from a bridal gown to a Statue of Liberty costume.
Q 07What is the title of the instrumental theme song used for the M*A*S*H TV series?
Suicide is Painless
'Suicide is Painless' was written with lyrics for the 1970 film; the TV series used it as an instrumental.
Q 08How did Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake leave the 4077th MASH?
He was killed when his plane was shot down.
Blake had already been discharged and sent home when the producers added a last scene in which Radar reads out that his plane went down with no survivors.
Q 09From which U.S. state did Captain 'Hawkeye' Pierce hail?
Maine
Maine: Hawkeye's father Daniel Pierce is the doctor in a small coastal Maine town, and Hawkeye's 'Dear Dad' letters are addressed to him there.
Q 10What did Radar O'Reilly do with his teddy bear when he was finally sent home?
Left it on Hawkeye's bunk
Left it on Hawkeye's bunk as a parting gift, a sign Radar had grown up; in the final regular episode it goes into the unit's time capsule.
Q 11Which M*A*S*H cast member directed the most episodes of the series, including the 1983 finale?
Alan Alda
Alan Alda directed 32 episodes, the finale among them, and had a hand in writing nineteen, including that one.
Q 12What was Major Frank Burns' derogatory nickname among the other surgeons?
Ferret Face
Ferret Face was the Swamp's standing insult for Major Frank Burns, the by-the-book surgeon who bunked with Hawkeye and Trapper until his transfer after season five.
Q 13The M*A*S*H television series is set during which historical conflict?
Korean War
Korean War on screen, but the show was as much an allegory about Vietnam, still being fought when it began in 1972.
Q 21Who directed the 1970 M*A*S*H film and later called the series 'the antithesis' of his movie?
Robert Altman
Robert Altman directed the 1970 film, his first major hit after years of television work; he later dismissed the series as the opposite of what his film intended.
Q 22Who played Hawkeye Pierce in the 1970 film version of M*A*S*H?
Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland played Hawkeye in the 1970 film, released the year before his turn in Klute; Robert Duvall played the film's Frank Burns.
Q 23Which cast member played the same character, Radar O'Reilly, in both the 1970 film and the TV series?
Gary Burghoff
Q 14When did the very first episode of M*A*S*H, titled 'Pilot,' originally air?
September 17, 1972
September 17, 1972: the pilot aired on a Sunday night on CBS and introduced Hawkeye, Trapper, Henry Blake, Radar and Frank Burns, with Ho-Jon as the Swamp's houseboy.
Q 15How many episodes of M*A*S*H were made in total?
256
256 episodes were made over 11 seasons from September 1972 to February 1983, with the two-and-a-half-hour finale counted as a single episode.
Q 16What was the name of B.J. Hunnicutt's wife, often mentioned in his letters home?
Peggy
Peggy, or Peg, was B.J.'s wife back home in California with baby daughter Erin; in 'Period of Adjustment' B.J. is crushed to learn Erin called visiting Radar 'Daddy'.
Q 17Who developed the M*A*S*H television series for CBS?
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart developed the series for CBS and wrote the pilot, running the writing through season four before leaving in 1976.
Q 18What was the name of Colonel Sherman T. Potter's beloved horse?
Sophie
Sophie was the mare Colonel Potter rode around camp; the former cavalryman takes one last ride on Sophie in the finale before leaving Korea.
Q 19Whom does Henry Blake appoint chief surgeon of the 4077th in season one?
Hawkeye Pierce
Hawkeye Pierce is named chief surgeon in the season one episode 'Chief Surgeon Who?', Henry Blake choosing him over the higher-ranking Major Frank Burns.
Q 20The M*A*S*H TV series was adapted from a 1970 film that was itself based on a 1968 novel by which author?
Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker was the pen name on the 1968 novel 'MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors', written from its author's own service as a surgeon in Korea.
Gary Burghoff played Radar O'Reilly in both the 1970 film and the series, staying until the season eight episode 'Good-Bye Radar' in 1979.
Q 24The lyrics to the show's theme were written in about five minutes by which unlikely lyricist?
The director's teenage son
The director's teenage son Michael, then 14, wrote the lyrics after his father asked for 'the stupidest song ever written'; the boy later out-earned him in royalties from it.
Q 25Near which city is the fictional 4077th stationed?
Uijeongbu
Uijeongbu, a town north of Seoul, is where the fictional 4077th is stationed, close enough to the front for wounded to arrive by helicopter and ambulance.
Q 26The show's outdoor camp set stood on land that became which California state park?
Malibu Creek
Malibu Creek State Park: the camp exteriors were shot on a studio ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains that the state bought in the 1970s and opened as a park.
Q 27What do Hawkeye and Trapper make in the Swamp's homemade still?
Gin
Gin: the Swamp's still turns out the rough 'gin' Hawkeye and Trapper pour into their nightly martinis, to Frank Burns' disgust.
Q 28Who played B.J. Hunnicutt, the surgeon who replaced Trapper John from season four?
Mike Farrell
Mike Farrell joined as B.J. Hunnicutt in the season four opener 'Welcome to Korea' after Trapper's actor quit abruptly, so Trapper's departure happened off-screen.
Q 29Which character replaced Frank Burns in the Swamp after season five of M*A*S*H?
Charles Winchester
Charles Winchester, a Boston Brahmin surgeon, moved into the Swamp in the season six opener 'Fade Out, Fade In' after Frank Burns was transferred stateside.
Q 30Which M*A*S*H character took over as company clerk after Radar went home on a hardship discharge?
Klinger
Klinger got the job from Colonel Potter, and finally stopped chasing a Section 8 discharge with his dresses.