By the show’s third year ratings were high enough to give the writers and creators more leverage with the network and thus a bit less trouble with the censors. In addition, the show’s writers were more experienced with the TV format and had more in-depth knowledge of the characters. By this time they could also gauge how much serious material the audience would accept mixed in with their comedy.

But most importantly, between the second and third seasons Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds visited Korea, a trip that they say affected the stories in the third season.

In honoring M*A*S*H's third season with the prestigious Peabody Award, the judges praised this series "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." Contained on three discs, season three comprises several benchmark episodes illustrative of what the Peabody judges called "television of high purpose." In "Rainbow Bridge," Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper (Wayne Rogers), Radar (Gary Burghoff), Klinger (Jamie Farr), and an opportunistic Frank Burns (Larry Linville) participate in a swap with the North Koreans of wounded POWs. In "The Consultant," Robert Alda (Alan's dad) guest stars as a visiting doctor who cracks under the pressure of operating so close to the front. And the shocking season finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," took a page from Mister Roberts and killed off commanding officer Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), who was en route home.

M*A*S*H's sense of humor did not go AWOL. The season opener, "The General Flipped at Dawn," earned guest star Harry Morgan an Emmy nomination for his performance as a certifiable general and paved the way for Morgan to join the cast in season four. "Adam's Ribs" is a classic episode in which Hawkeye orders out to Chicago for a very special delivery of spare ribs. In "Iron Guts Kelly," the war's "greatest fighting general" gets a little too gung-ho and perishes in Margaret's (Loretta Swit) tent. Because of its wartime setting and life-and-death struggles, this is that rare sitcom that may actually play better without a laugh track, an option this set offers. To paraphrase the title of one episode, this was a full, rich season that offered each member of one of television's finest ensembles the opportunity to shine. But Alda, who was honored that year with a Golden Globe award, fully emerges as the series' star. --Donald Liebenson