Image:Mash sign.jpg|thumb|The signpost from the M*A*S*H set, as seen in the Smithsonian museum.|right M*A*S*H is a media franchise. Owned in its film and television incarnations by 20th Century Fox, the series concerns a group of fictional characters who served at the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, loosely based on M*A*S*H 8055th. The original incarnations of the series are set during the war and feature Hawkeye Pierce as the main character. Later spin-offs involve characters who appeared in the series, but take place after the end of the war. However, almost all versions of the series fit into the genre of black comedy and involve medicine in a prominent role due to most of the main characters being doctors. The franchise effectively ended with the conclusion of Trapper John, M.D. on September 4, 1986., there has been no attempt to reprise the series since then. However, a fanbase for the series still exists and 20th Century Fox has had notable success selling the film and seasons of the original TV series on DVD. The M*A*S*H franchise began with the novel, MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors written by Richard Hooker based on his own experience serving as a surgeon at M*A*S*H unit 8055. The novel was originally published in 1968 and was followed by several sequels. MASH was a 1970 feature film adaptation of the original novel. The film was directed by Robert Altman and starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye Pierce and Elliott Gould as Trapper John McIntyre.

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