'M*A*S*H' rates as Baby Boomer TV favorite

The cast of "M*A*S*H" -- the favorite among Baby Boomers

"M*A*S*H" -- with memorable characters Pierce, Major Houlihan, Radar, Major Burns and others -- is the favorite television show of all time among Baby Boomers, according to a Harris Interactive poll.

Among all adults polled by Harris Interactive, "CSI" is the most popular TV show all time.

So why even bother doing this kind of research? It's an antidote for bad news.

Harris said that the television shows -- old and new -- offer "a nice distraction from the gloom and doom of the news and the world around us. For every unsolved crime that is reported on the evening news, one can watch 'Law & Order' or 'NCIS' where, in sixty minutes, the bad guy is brought to justice. The little bit of escapism may be what Americans are craving these days."

The poll looked at television shows from a number of views.

Generationally, said Harris, "Baby Boomers (those aged 45-63) say 'M*A*S*H' is their favorite show while Gen Xers (those aged 33-44) and Matures (those aged 64 and older) both say their favorite is 'CSI'. Echo Boomers (those aged 18-32) are different and they say 'House' is their favorite television show."

When people were asked about their all-time favorite TV shows, they responded as follows:

1. CSI
2. M*A*S*H
3. House
4. NCIS
5. 24
6. Seinfeld
7. Friends
8. Two And A Half Men
9. Lost
10. ER
11. Family Guy
12. Law & Order
13. Star Trek
14. The Simpson's
15. Grey's Anatomy

As for their favorite TV genre, Americans polled sharply in favor of sit-comes (62 percent), followed by drama (39 percent), crime/mystery (32 percent), Sci-Fi/Horror (25 percent), and Reality (16 percent). At the low end of the genre totem poll were Food and Animal/Outdoor shows, both at 1 percent.

In the television battle of the sexes, men prefer "M*A*S*H" while women prefer "CSI".

Politically, Democrats, Republicans and Independents share "CSI" as their favorite show.

In the Midwest, residents prefer "M*A*S*H" while residents in the East, South and West prefer "CSI."

As those who polled for "M*A*S*H" probably know, M*A*S*H stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

Some other trivia, courtesy of IMDB.com:

• Hawkeye's home town of Crabapple Cove, Maine, is the only fictional hometown of all of the M*A*S*H characters,
  
  
• It was Mike Farrell who asked to have his character's daughter's name be Erin, after his real-life daughter (the character's name was originally going to be Melissa). When BJ spoke on the telephone on-camera, Erin or his then-wife Judy were on the other end,
  
  
• Gary Burghoff's left hand is slightly deformed, and he took great pains to hide or de-emphasize it during filming. He did this by always holding something (like a clipboard), or keeping that hand in his pocket.