Debuting during the final years of the Vietnam War, "M*A*S*H" (CBS) was based on the 1970 Robert Altman film, itself inspired by Dr. Richard Hooker's 1968 military novel. Although not as darkly comic as Altman's vision, the lighter television incarnation -- set at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War -- still managed to convey the horror and futility of war. Key episodes included one in which the camera takes the perspective of a wounded soldier, and one where a reporter captures the "M*A*S*H" unit in a stark black-and-white documentary. Over the program's 11 seasons and 251 episodes, many of the actors changed, as did their predominant values -- moving from the anti-establishment triumvirate of Hawkeye, Trapper John and Col. Blake to a mellower, less rebellious Hawkeye, B.J. Hunnicut and Col. Potter. The series, ending in 1983, lasted more than three times as long as the Korean War.