<P> M * A * S * H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart and adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH (which was itself based on the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker). It follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the 4077th M * A * S * H (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War . The episodes were produced by 20th Century Fox Television for the CBS network and aired from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983 . The series, which covered a three - year military conflict, spanned 11 seasons and 255 episodes and the 2 - 1 / 2 hour finale . </P> <P> The regular cast originally consisted of Alan Alda as Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and Wayne Rogers as Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre, two surgeons; McLean Stevenson as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, a surgeon and the base commander; Loretta Swit as Major Margaret J. "Hot Lips" Houlihan, the head nurse; Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns, another surgeon; and Gary Burghoff as Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly, the company clerk . Recurring characters in the first season consisted of John Orchard as Captain "Ugly John" Black, Timothy Brown as Captain "Spearchucker" Jones, William Christopher as First Lieutenant' Father' John Patrick Mulcahy, the company chaplain (played by George Morgan in the pilot), and Jamie Farr as Corporal Maxwell Klinger . </P>

How many episodes of the tv series mash were made