You’d think a simple question like how many episodes of MAS*H there are would have a straightforward answer. It doesn't. Not really. If you Google it, you’ll see 256. Or maybe 251. Sometimes even 213 depending on if someone is confusing the show with the original novels or the movie.
It’s messy.
The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital lived on screen for eleven years, which is wild considering the actual Korean War only lasted three. Most people know the finale broke records. They know Hawkeye Pierce liked martinis and hated authority. But the actual architecture of the series—the literal count of stories told—is where things get interesting for collectors and casual streamers alike.
Breaking Down the Real Count
Let’s get the hard numbers out of the way first. Officially, there are 251 produced episodes of MAS*H.
Wait. Why do some sites say 256?
Syndication. That's the short answer. When a show goes into reruns, local stations want thirty-minute blocks. Because MAS*H had several hour-long specials, including the pilot and the massive series finale, those longer episodes were chopped in half for daily afternoon broadcasts. If you count those halves as individual units, you get the 256 figure. But if you’re looking at the creative intent—the actual "stories" filmed—the number is 251.
The show ran from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983. Think about that for a second. It outlasted the conflict it portrayed by nearly eight years.
Early on, the show was a sitcom. Pure and simple. Larry Gelbart, the creative force behind the first few seasons, leaned into the frantic, Marx Brothers-style energy of the 1970 movie. You had the laugh track (which the creators famously hated and fought to remove during surgery scenes). You had the goofy hijinks. But as the seasons progressed and Alan Alda took more creative control, the episode structure changed. The tone shifted from "wacky doctors" to "traumatized humans."
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This shift is why the episode count matters. You aren't just looking at 251 chunks of television; you're looking at a slow-motion evolution of an entire medium.
The Finale Factor
You can't talk about how many episodes of MAS*H were made without focusing on "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen." It isn't just an episode. It’s a movie.
Clocking in at two-and-a-half hours (well, 121 minutes without commercials), it remains the most-watched scripted television episode in history. Over 105 million people tuned in. For context, that’s more than the population of most countries.
Because of its length, this single episode often skews the math. When you buy a DVD set or look at a streaming list on Hulu or Disney+, you might see it listed as one entry or split into several parts. If you're a purist, it's one episode. One long, heartbreaking, chicken-bus-filled episode.
Honestly, the finale almost feels like a different show compared to the pilot. In the pilot, they're raffling off a weekend in Tokyo with a nurse. In the finale, Hawkeye is in a mental institution dealing with the repressed memory of a mother smothering a baby to keep a patrol from hearing them.
The contrast is jarring.
Season by Season: A Quick Look at the Volume
The workload on these actors was brutal by today's standards. Modern shows like The Bear or Succession give you 8 to 10 episodes a year. MAS*H was a factory.
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- Season 1 (1972-1973): 24 episodes. This is the "Henry Blake" era. It's raw.
- Season 2 (1973-1974): 24 episodes.
- Season 3 (1974-1975): 24 episodes. This season ends with "Abyssinia, Henry," the episode that changed TV forever by killing off a main character.
- Season 4 (1975-1976): 24 episodes. Enter B.J. Hunnicutt and Sherman Potter.
- Season 5-10: Mostly hovered around 24 or 25 episodes per year.
- Season 11 (1982-1983): 16 episodes, culminating in the massive finale.
If you’re trying to binge-watch the whole thing, you’re looking at roughly 125 hours of content. That’s five full days of your life if you don't sleep. Most people who grew up with the show saw these in random order because of local syndication. You'd see a Season 9 episode on Tuesday and a Season 2 episode on Wednesday. This non-linear consumption is probably why the exact episode count feels so fuzzy to the general public. We remember the moments, not the sequence.
Why the Number Matters for Streaming
If you’re looking for how many episodes of MAS*H are available on streaming right now, you might notice something weird. Sometimes "Our Finest Hour" (Season 7, Episode 4) is missing or presented differently. Why? It’s a clip show.
Back in the day, clip shows were a way to save money and give the actors a break. They’d frame a story around characters remembering past events, allowing the producers to reuse old footage. For modern viewers, these are often the "skipped" episodes. They feel like filler. But in the 251-episode count, they are vital pillars that kept the show on the air.
Also, pay attention to the aspect ratio. The show was filmed in 4:3 (a square). Modern streaming versions sometimes crop it to 16:9 to fill your widescreen TV. This actually cuts out some of the visual information. To truly see all 251 episodes as they were intended, you almost have to hunt down the old "Martinis and Medicine" DVD collection.
The "Missing" Episodes and Spin-offs
There aren't really "lost" episodes of MAS*H, but there is AfterMASH.
People often get confused and think AfterMASH is just more seasons of the original show. It’s not. It’s a sequel series featuring Colonel Potter, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy working at a Veterans Administration hospital in Missouri. It ran for two seasons (about 30 episodes).
Then there was WALTER*, a pilot for a Radar O'Reilly spin-off that never went to series. It only aired once. If you're a completionist trying to count every bit of MAS*H celluloid, these exist in the periphery, but they don't count toward the 251 total.
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And don't even get me started on Trapper John, M.D. It ran for seven seasons, but due to a legal battle, it was technically considered a spin-off of the movie, not the TV show. Lawsuits are fun like that.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception about the MAS*H episode count is that it stayed consistent in quality. It didn't.
Some fans swear by the first three seasons. The "Gelbart years." They argue that once the show became the "Alan Alda Hour," it lost its edge. Others argue the later seasons, specifically seasons 4 through 7, are the peak of television writing.
Regardless of where you stand, the sheer volume of 251 episodes allowed for experimentation that you just don't see anymore. They did an episode from the perspective of a wounded soldier's "point of view" camera. They did an episode that was a "real-time" clock in the corner of the screen during a surgery. They did a "black and white" documentary episode where a news correspondent interviewed the staff.
You can only do that when you have a massive episode order. If you only have 10 episodes a season, you can't "waste" one on a weird POV experiment.
Actionable Steps for MAS*H Fans
If you're planning to dive into the series or introduce it to someone else, don't just start at episode one and hope for the best.
- Toggle the Laugh Track: If you’re watching on a platform or DVD that allows it, turn the laugh track off. The show was never meant to have it. The creators wanted the silence of the OR to speak for itself. It changes the entire experience.
- Watch "The Interview" (Season 4, Episode 24): If you want to see why the show is legendary but don't want to commit to 251 episodes, watch this one. It's the black-and-white documentary style. It's essentially a masterclass in acting.
- Check the Credits: Notice how the names change. When Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart leave, the show’s DNA shifts. Tracking the writers across those 251 episodes is like watching a relay race where the baton is passed between different eras of Hollywood.
- Mind the Finale: Don't watch the finale until you've seen at least a few dozen episodes from the middle and late seasons. The emotional payoff of "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" only works if you’ve spent enough time with the characters to feel the weight of them leaving.
MAS*H isn't just a number on a Wikipedia page. It's 251 chapters of a story about how people stay sane when the world goes crazy. Whether you count them as 251 or 256, the impact remains the same.
The best way to experience the count is to start with the pilot and see how long it takes before you stop counting and start feeling like you're part of the unit. Just remember: it’s a long road from the "Pilot" to "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," and every one of those 251 stops is worth the trip.