It is indeed true that "MASH" had a spinoff. What is not true, as established in law, is that it had two.

"MASH," one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, about a group of doctors and nurses running a mobile army surgical hospital (hence the acronym) during the Korean War, ran on CBS from 1972 to 1983.

The same year it left the air, the obviously named spinoff "After MASH" debuted on CBS, but only lasted a year. It featured Harry Morgan (as Dr. Sherman Potter), Jamie Farr (Max Klinger) and William Christopher (Father Francis Mulcahy) reprising the roles they played on the original series, while Gary Burghoff (Walter O'Reilly, better known as Radar) put in a few guest appearances as well.

However, four years before that, while the original "MASH" was still on the air, CBS premiered a show called "Trapper John, M.D.," based on the "MASH" character of the same name, but with a different actor in the role (Pernell Roberts instead of Wayne Rogers). Producers of the original series sued for royalties, but while it was without doubt the same character, a court ruled that it was not actually a spinoff of the show. Rather, "Trapper John, M.D." was a continuation of the film, which predates all of them.

The original 1970 film had yet another actor in the Trapper role (Elliott Gould). And to make things more confusing, even it was based on a book from 1968, "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker.

The third doctor referred to in the book's title was Duke Forrest, who appeared in the film (played by Tom Skerritt), but not in the series -- let alone any spinoffs.

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