MASH TV Show
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This MASH trivia quiz has 171 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 171 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which M*A*S*H character appears in all 11 seasons?
Father Mulcahy
Father Mulcahy lasted all 11 seasons, one of only four characters to do so; the show ran more than three times as long as the three-year war it depicts.
Q 02Why is the 4077th's company clerk, Corporal O'Reilly, nicknamed Radar?
He hears choppers before anyone else
He hears choppers before anyone else: Radar announces incoming wounded while the sky still sounds empty, and he tends to finish his colonel's sentences before they are spoken.
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 04Henry Blake left a medical practice in which Illinois city to command the 4077th?
Bloomington
Bloomington, Illinois: the series made Blake a reservist called up from his private practice there, where the 1970 film had him a career Army doctor.
Q 05Which actor played Captain 'Trapper' John McIntyre in the first three seasons of M*A*S*H?
Wayne Rogers
Wayne Rogers left after season three, weary of Trapper playing second banana to Hawkeye when the two surgeons had been pitched to him as equals.
Q 06What was Corporal Klinger's go-to ploy for getting a Section 8 discharge?
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing: the show's developer said Klinger's ploy was inspired by stories of comedian Lenny Bruce trying to get out of military service by dressing as a Navy WAVE.
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 for the 1970 film's mock funeral of a camp dentist nicknamed Painless, who has decided to end it all; the TV series kept the tune and dropped the words.
Q 08What happens to Henry Blake after he is discharged and leaves the 4077th for home?
His plane is shot down
His plane is shot down: Blake had taken his leave of the camp when the producers added a final scene in which Radar walks into surgery and reads out that there were no survivors.
Q 09From which U.S. state did Captain 'Hawkeye' Pierce hail?
Maine
Maine: Hawkeye's father practises medicine in a small coastal Maine town; a few early episodes placed the family in Vermont before the writers settled on Maine.
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 M*A*S*H finale and more episodes than any other actor?
Alan Alda
Alan Alda directed 32 episodes and had a hand in writing 19, the finale among both, while commuting between the Los Angeles set and his family home in New Jersey.
Q 12What was Major Frank Burns' derogatory nickname among the other surgeons?
Ferret Face
Ferret Face was first his own brother's name for Frank Burns when they were boys; at the 4077th his tentmates took it up with glee.
Q 13Colonel Potter spends his off-duty hours at the 4077th on which hobby, with the staff as his subjects?
Painting
Painting: Potter sets up his easel around camp from season four on; for a self-portrait on horseback he makes Klinger sit in the saddle as his body double, planning to add his own face later.
Q 21Who directed the 1970 M*A*S*H film and went on to despise the TV series it inspired?
Robert Altman
Robert Altman called the series 'the antithesis of what we were trying to do' on the film's DVD commentary, and claimed not to know or like anyone who worked on it.
Q 22Who played Hawkeye Pierce in the 1970 M*A*S*H film?
Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland played Hawkeye in the 1970 film; when the story moved to television two years later, only one of the film's actors became a series regular, the one who played Radar.
Q 23Which cast member played Radar O'Reilly in both the 1970 M*A*S*H film and the TV series?
Gary Burghoff
Q 14In the M*A*S*H pilot, Hawkeye and Trapper raffle a Tokyo weekend to pay for what?
Their houseboy's tuition
Their houseboy's tuition: Ho-Jon has won a place at Hawkeye's old college, and the raffle raises $1,800 before the top brass walks in on the party.
Q 15Major Frank Burns comes from which Indiana city?
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Indiana: when Frank finally cracks, the Army does not punish him but promotes him and posts him to a hospital back in his home state, as he gloats down the phone to his old tentmates.
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 wrote the pilot, earning the 'developed for television by' credit, and fought CBS over the laugh track he never wanted, a fight he mostly lost.
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 1970 film M*A*S*H was 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 was the only film actor kept on as a series regular; he left after the seventh season, citing burnout and a wish for more time with his family.
Q 24The lyrics to the theme of the 1970 film M*A*S*H came from which unlikely lyricist?
The director's teenage son
The director's teenage son Michael wrote the words after his father asked for 'the stupidest song ever written'; by the director's own account the song earned the boy over $1 million, against his $70,000 for directing.
Q 25Near which city is the fictional 4077th stationed?
Uijeongbu
Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, is the 4077th's nearest town; the real city claims to be the birthplace of budae-jjigae, 'army base stew', built on the Spam and hot dogs that came off American bases.
Q 26The outdoor camp set of M*A*S*H stood on land that became which California state park?
Malibu Creek
Malibu Creek State Park, opened in 1976, took in the studio ranch where the camp exteriors were shot; the old set site is now a hiking destination, marked by Army vehicles left over from filming.
Q 27What do Hawkeye and Trapper make in the Swamp's homemade still?
Gin
Gin: the still drips out a rough homemade gin for the surgeons' martinis; it is wrecked more than once over the years, and rebuilt every time.
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 exists because Frank Burns's actor declined to renew his contract: rather than recast the part, the producers wrote in a new surgeon to share the Swamp.
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, with real responsibility at last, gave up his long campaign for a Section 8 discharge.