M*A*S*H

Robert Altman’s movie adaptation of Richard Hooker’s novel about combat surgeons in the Korean War was one of the surprise hits of 1970, and led to one of the longest-running, most-acclaimed sitcoms ever. Though M*A*S*H the series was set in Korea, it was clearly about the Vietnam War, which was in its waning days when the show debuted in 1972. In depicting the anti-establishment shenanigans of Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), B.J. (Mike Farrell), and others, original showrunner Larry Gelbart was arguing that the only way to stay sane in the midst of the carnage of war is to wage as many small rebellions as possible. 

M*A*S*H ran 11 seasons, vastly longer than the real Korean War. Over the course of those years, the show creatively evolved multiple times, and by the end (when Alda had become a powerful executive producer) was essentially a half-hour drama with occasional jokes. But it was beloved even in that mode, and its series finale remains the single most-watched episode of a television show ever, with its 105.9 million average viewers a record that will almost certainly never be surpassed in our more fragmented viewing era. —Alan Sepinwall