Since 1984, millions of television viewers in the United States tune into Jeopardy! on a daily basis. The half-hour game show, broadcast in syndication, sees three contestants providing questions to answers given by host Alex Trebek, in the unique “answer-and-question” format Jeopardy! is famous for. Categories range from science to literature, religion to history, language to entertainment. Pop culture makes up a good percentage of the clues in the various entertainment categories. And what makes for better pop culture clues than M*A*S*H (and television in general)?

Over the years, dozens of M*A*S*H clues have graced the Jeopardy! game board. As a big fan of Jeopardy! — and M*A*S*H — I always enjoy the occasional M*A*S*H clue. Here are some I have noticed. Contributions are welcome. And Jeopardy! fan site J! Archive lists clues going all the way back to the first season of the show, so be sure to check there to see plenty of other M*A*S*H clues from Jeopardy!.

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

One of the contestants mentioned that she calls her husband “Hot Lips” Houlihan.

Monday, April 9th, 2007

One of the Double Jeopardy categories was M*A*S*H and Alex Trebek clarified that the category was about the television series. Here are the clues:

• $400: “This seemingly clairvoyant company clerk was a big fan of Grape Nehi soda.” One of the contestants correctly answered “Who is Radar?”
• $800: “Harry Morgan earned eight Emmy nominations as this Colonel, scoring a win in 1980.” One of the contestants correctly answered “Who is Colonel Potter?”
• $1200: “After Trapper John was transferred stateside, this California-born surgeon replaced him.” Two contestants answered incorrectly, one guessing Major Winchester and the other answering Hawkeye! The correct answer is, of course, B.J. Hunnicutt.
• $1600: “Played by William Christopher, this chaplin was always raising money for Saint Theresa’s orphanage.” Nobody got it. Father Mulcahy is the chaplin in question.

After running through the first four questions in the category, the players moved on. The final $2000 clue was never asked. Time ran out and the buzzer sounded just as Alex Trebek was about to read out the clue. It would have been the final question of the Double Jeopardy round.

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

During the Jeopardy round, as part of the “TV Initials” category, the $800 clue was, “It’s what the S stands for in M*A*S*H.” The answer is surgical. One of the contestants said “squad” and got it wrong. Nobody else rang in.

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

During the Jeopardy round, in the “Other Doctor McDreamys” category, the $400 clue, introduced by actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, was, “Before starring on Broadway, I spent eight years as Dr. “Jackpot” Jackson on this medical series, a spin-off of M*A*S*H.” The answer is Trapper John, M.D. and nobody got it.

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

During the Double Jeopardy round, in the “Longest Running Sitcom Actors” category, the $2,000 clue was, “‘M*A*S*H’: Gary Burghoff, Larry Linville, Jamie Farr.” The answer is Jamie Farr, who was with the series for all eleven seasons (although he was a supporting cast member for the first few seasons, as all M*A*S*H fans know). One contestant rang in with Gary Burghoff, which was incorrect. A second contestant rang in with Jamie Farr and got the cash.

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

During the first round of play, all of the categories had to do with short-lived television shows. Two related to M*A*S*H: After MASH (given a choice of words, had to give the answer that would come, alphabetically, after the word “mash”) and Hello, Larry (about people named Larry; a television show named Hello, Larry starred former M*A*S*H-star McLean Stevenson).

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

In the Jeopardy round, in the “Emmys” category, the $200 clue was, “‘M*A*S*H’ had already won him Emmys for acting & directing when he won for writing an episode in 1979.” One of the contestants rang in with the name Alan Alda and was correct.

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

During the Jeopardy round, in the “TV” category, the $600 clue was “Fiery nickname of head nurse Margaret Houlihan.” The answer, which a contestant got, was Hot Lips.

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

In the Jeopardy round, in the “Last” category, the $400 clue was “Aired in 1983, the last episode of this sitcom garnered an astounding Nielsen rating of 60.2.” The answer was M*A*S*H and one of the contestants correctly rang in.

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

During the Jeopardy round, in the “Show Biz Oaths & Exclamations,” the $400 clue was “This show’s Colonel Potter knew ‘Horse hockey!’ when he saw it.” One of the contestants rang in correctly with the answer, M*A*S*H.

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “Ode to a Sitcom” category, the $1,200 clue was a poem about M*A*S*H:

War & blood, blood & war/
Hot Lips near cold corpses/
Comedy amidst pathos, thy
name is Hawkeye

One of the contestants answered correctly.

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “Emmy Winning Sitcom Episodes” category, the $400 clue was “Welcome to Korea (1976) Directing” and the answer, of course, was M*A*S*H. One of the contestants rang in and answered correctly.

Monday, May 18th, 2009

During the Jeopardy round in the “Fictional Games” category, the $600 clue was “Hawkeye plays double cranko, which involves poker & chess, on this TV show” and the answer was M*A*S*H. One of the contestants rang in and answered correctly.

Monday, June 15th, 2009

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “Alan” category, the $400 clue was “After playing a doctor on ‘M*A*S*H’, he turned up as Dr. Gabriel Lawrence on ‘ER’” and the answer was Alan Ada. One of the contestants rang in and answered correctly.

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

This was the first quarterfinal match of the 2009-2010 “Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational” with actor Andy Richter, actress Dana Delany and journalist Wolf Blitzer. In “The Situation Comedy Room” category during the Jeopardy! round, the $400 clue was “Hawkeye and Trapper John shared a tent called the swamp on this show.” Dana Delany rang in with the correct answer: M*A*S*H.

Monday, November 16th, 2009

During the Double Jeopardy round, in the “TV Reveille” category, in which contestants had to identify the television program a certain character appeared on, the $400 was “1972 – Loretta Swit as Margaret Houlihan.” One player correctly rang in.

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “Direct TV” category, the $400 clue was “cast members Mike Farrell and David Ogden Stiers both directed episodes of this hit show.” A contestant correctly rang in.

Tuesday, April 1st, 2010

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “Who Played ‘Em On TV?” category, the $600 clue was “Army company clerk Radar O’Reilly.” A contestant correctly rang in with Gary Burghoff.

Monday, May 16th, 2011

During the Jeopardy round in the “Really Big Show” category, the $200 clue was “War alternated between hell & hijinks on this show whose 1983 finale got a 60.2 rating.” A contest correctly rang in.

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “War Stories” category, the $800 clue was “‘M*A*S*H’ &
‘The Bridges at Toko-Ri’.” A contest correctly rang in with the answer, “the Korean War.” NOTE: This clue likely referred to the film rather than the television series.

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

During the Jeopardy round in the “Put on a Suit” category, the $200 clue was “A character on M*A*S*H once ordered a fancy pinstripe suit — alas, when it came, the pinstripes went this way.” A contestant correctly rang in with the answer, horizontal; the character was Trapper, who purchased a pinstripe suit in “Officer of the Day” only to have it arrive with the pinstripes running the wrong way.

Monday, December 12th, 2011

During the Jeopardy round in the “Initial TV” category, the $400 clue was “Hawkeye & Trapper John shared a tent called The Swamp on this sitcom.” A contestant correctly rang in with the answer.

(Thanks to TWoods.)

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

During the Double Jeopardy round in the “Death on a Sitcom” category, the $400 clue was “In 1975, Lt. Col. Henry Blake was discharged from the Army, then from life in a place crash on this show.” A contestant correctly rang in with the answer.

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

During the Jeopardy round in the “20th Century Fox” category, the $200 clue was “Major Houlihan and Corporal Klinger both wore the same wedding dress on this show.” A contestant correctly rang in with the answer.

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

During the Jeopardy round, in the “Long Running TV” category, the $400 question was “As of October 1975 it had run longer than the Korean War, & still had 8 years left.” A contestant correctly rang in with the answer.

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

During the Double Jeopardy Round, in the “That ’80s Show” category, the $1200 clue was “This series starred Pernell Roberts as a character also seen on “M*A*S*H.” A contestant correctly rang in with the answer, which is Trapper John, M.D.

Last updated March 15th, 2013