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More than 100 million Americans tuned in to bid “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” to the medical doctors, nurses and employees of the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital on this day in historical past, Feb. 28, 1983.
The ultimate episode of the hit TV sitcom “M*A*S*H” remained the most-watched tv program in American historical past for 27 years.
It was lastly surpassed by Super Bowl XLIV (the Saints over the Colts) in Feb. 2010.
Its finale continues to be probably the most watched scripted TV present in American historical past, greater than 40 years later.
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“M*A*S*H” debuted in 1972, whereas the United States was nonetheless combating the Vietnam War, sharing the darkish, comedic antics inside a area hospital set through the earlier Korean War.
“‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’ received a gargantuan 60.3 rating and 77 share … a whopping 105.9 million people watched on average over the two-and-a-half hours, with that number peaking at 121.6 million in the final six minutes,” wrote MeTV.com in a 2022 retrospective of the landmark second in American broadcast tv.
“M*A*S*H” sitcom actors, from left, Jamie Farr, Loretta Swit, David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, Alan Alda and William Christopher in publicity portrait, circa 1978. (twentieth Century-Fox TV/Getty Images)
The 77 share meant that greater than three-quarters of all of the folks watching TV that night time have been watching this one episode of “M*A*S*H.”
It drew a excessive share of 82 in San Francisco, in keeping with a report on the time from Variety.
“While the numbers are impressive, what makes ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’ endure are the emotions.” — MeTV.com
“Advertisers, who spent up to $450,000 per 30-second commercial spot, apparently got their money’s worth,” Variety famous.
“M*A*S*H” was so standard throughout its 11-season run that King Charles (then Prince Charles) visited a taping of the present whereas on a two-week tour of the United States in 1977.
He then joined a luncheon with the solid, nonetheless in costume, in keeping with an Associated Press report on the time.
Added MeTV, “While the numbers are impressive, what makes ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’ endure are the emotions. Simply put, the long ending stuck the landing.”
King Charles, left, previously Prince Charles, talks with American actor Alan Alda, who performed Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce on “M*A*S*H” throughout a go to to the set of the present, Oct. 27, 1977. This “M*A*S*H” episode, entitled “Comrades In Arms (part 1),” aired on Dec. 6, 1977. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
The episode closed with Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) leaving the unit by helicopter, when he seems down and sees the phrase “Goodbye” in big letters spelled out with rocks — the message left behind by fellow Army area surgeon B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell).
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It was in actuality a “goodbye” to the nation from one of probably the most beloved casts in tv historical past.
“Viewers laughed at the characters’ antics in Rosie’s bar or The Swamp with Hawkeye, nestled in his purple robe, the color of royalty,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote whereas celebrating the thirty fifth anniversary of the finale in 2018.
“M*A*S*H” was at numerous occasions darkish, deep, considerate, scathing or cynical — but at all times riotously humorous.
“They mourned losses in the operating room, sensed how tightly Radar (Gary Burghoff) clung to his Teddy bear at night, and felt Maxwell Klinger’s (Jamie Farr) pride in his Statue of Liberty outfit and B.J. Hunnicutt’s broken heart as he missed his daughter’s childhood.”
Pictured is Jamie Farr (as Cpl. Maxwell Q. Klinger) on the CBS tv sitcom, “M*A*S*H” in 1977, in Los Angeles. (CBS through Getty Images)
The audience that was glued to the tube for the ultimate minutes was so large it disrupted the plumbing infrastructure of New York City when the curtain closed.
“So many people rushed to the restroom after the ending, the subsequent pressure drop from flushing toilets caused a surge in the tunnels that bring water from the Catskills to New York,” wrote MeTV.
The sitcom was based mostly on the hit 1970 film “M*A*S*H,” which in flip was impressed by the 1968 e book “M*A*S*H: A Novel of Three Army Doctors” by Richard Hooker, the pen title of a former army surgeon.
“M*A*S*H” the TV present was at numerous occasions darkish, deep, considerate, scathing or cynical — but at all times riotously humorous.
CBS Television commercial because it appeared in the Feb. 26, 1983 subject of TV Guide journal for the ultimate episode of “M*A*S*H,” which was broadcast on Feb. 28, 1983. Featuring William Christopher, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, Alan Alda, David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan and Jamie Farr. (CBS through Getty Images)
Americans greater than 40 years in the past, tens of millions of them veterans of World War II, Korea or Vietnam, associated deeply to the struggles of the women and men of the 4077th.
Alda, who not solely starred in “M*A*S*H” however helped script the ultimate episode, was a U.S. Army veteran who truly served in South Korea shortly after the warfare there ended.
All of them have been certain collectively by responsibility and customary humanity, whereas lamenting the state of a species so fast to kill each other.
Farr, too, served in the Army in Korea across the similar time.
“M*A*S*H” paired quick-witted medical doctors pulled from civilian life to patch up badly wounded and dying American boys, and typically the enemy, whereas skewering army regulation, thrown along with profession Army regulars making an attempt to keep up order.
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All of them have been certain collectively by responsibility and customary humanity, whereas lamenting the state of a species so fast to kill each other.
“M*A*S*H” was, in its essence, divine anti-war comedy in the custom of “Catch-22,” fed to a nation nonetheless patching up the bodily and societal wounds of the Vietnam War.
Press convention earlier than ultimate episode of “M*A*S*H” in Feb. 1983. From left, Loretta Swit, Mike Farrell, David Odgen, Jaime Farr, Alan Alda, Harry Morgan, William Christopher and solid. (Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection through Getty Images)
Its success was created by a novel confluence of circumstances: a cutting-edge, brilliantly written, well-acted emotionally charming comedy that aired on the proper second in historical past.
The proof of its connection was discovered in the historic dimension of the audience greater than 40 years in the past at present.
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“In building the landmark series, its cast and crew forged a bond of love and respect that lives to this day: a love for truth in storytelling, a love for the audience they were entertaining and a love for each other,” mentioned the Hollywood Reporter.
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