The M*A*S*H finale made history with 125 million viewers--but the show almost didn't get a Season 2!

The American television series M*A*S*H is one of the highest-rated shows in US television history. The series premiered in the US on September 17, 1972, and followed the lives of a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (hence the name) in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. The series depicted a three-year military conflict. The show has set records with its success--but it didn't start out that way.

The show wasn't very popular in its first season and almost got cancelled. When it came back for season two, though, it was placed in a better time-slot and became one of the top ten programs of the year. It remained in the top twenty programs for the rest of it's eleven-season, 256-episode run.

Many of the stories in the early seasons were based on true stories as told by real MASH surgeons during their interviews with the production team. The series also symbolized the ideas and concepts of the Vietnam War, which was still in progress when the series premiered.

The last episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," aired on February 28, 1983, and was the most watched television episode in US television history at that time. According to 'The New York Times,' the show bid farewell to a record-breaking 125 million viewers.

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