ANNOUNCER: Bringing you the world for 20 years, this is CNN.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER (voice-over): For the men and women of "M*A*S*H," the Korean War was drawing to a close. And when all the shots were finished on Stage 9 at 20th Century Fox, there was nothing left to say except goodbye.</s>BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "M*A*S*H"'s final episode is still the most-watched television program ever.</s>ALAN ALDA, ACTOR: I think one of the reasons it was popular is that it was clear that we were telling stories about real people. I think the writers got to a position where they understood the lives of those people so well that when they imagined this story, very often we found out and later researched that it had actually, or something like it had actually happened.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: From the beginning, the characters on "M*A*S*H" managed to find humor in what was an essentially tragic situation. This mixture of the bitter with the sweet accounted for much of the show's appeal.</s>JAMIE FARR, ACTOR: We had the scene, and if you got what we were saying and it was funny and you laughed, that was fine. If you didn't, you'll catch it in a rerun and a rerun and a rerun and a rerun.</s>LORETTA SWIT, ACTRESS: That half hour, those 22 minutes, made you laugh so hard and made you cry so hard.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But after 251 installments, those involved with "M*A*S*H" found it difficult to be fresh and original. And when it came time to part company, the pain of leaving was great.</s>SWIT: And this is a particularly sad ending.
CNN 20: Final Episode of 'M*A*S*H'