After a first season in which M*A*S*H barely rated among televisionÄ’s top fifty shows, the show received a boost in its second season when CBS switched their time slot to Saturday nights right after Ä“All in the Family.Ä”

Knowing a lot of new people would be tuning in to the second season, creator/writer Larry Gelbart reveals, Ä“We wrote the first episode as a sort of second pilot to introduce all the new viewers to the characters.Ä” Almost immediately after the second season began, the show became a hitÄ—and the actors became household names.

Little did they know the show was going to last longer than the war itself.