Sportswriter and author W.C. “Bill” Heinz has died at 93, according to the Associated Press (via this International Herald Tribune article, found at alt.tv.mash). The A.P. obituary states that “Heinz worked with Maine physician H. Richard Hornberger on “MASH,” which was published under the pseudonym Richard Hooker.” Hornberger, who died in 1997, served in Korea during the Korean War based MASH on his experience at the 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

In a 2004 interview with Nathan Ward for American Heritage, Heinz described how he helped Hornberger craft MASH:

“What happened was that a doctor named J. Maxwell Chamberlain helped me write my novel The Surgeon and, previous to that, a Life cover piece about a lung operation. Another doctor, H. Richard Hornberger, had studied under Chamberlain and sent him a letter saying, “That clown who wrote your book might be interested that I have a book I put together from my experiences in Korea.” Betty [Heinz's wife] read it and enjoyed it, which let me know that it was funny – within the realm of decency, once I cleaned it up, since it was full of those jokes that doctors like to make about the body. So that’s the way we got together. Then it took quite a while, maybe a year, back and forth. I eventually tied everything together. As much as it got tied together; there isn’t a hell of a story line in MASH, just a succession of operations and techniques and humor. The only thing that holds it together is the characters and the familiarity that the reader comes to have with them.”

Thus, while not a co-author per se Heinz was responsible for threading together Hornberger’s storylines into a somewhat coherent narrative. Heinz also wrote several novels of his own, including The Surgeon, mentioned above, and Emergency. Oddly enough, included in a 1974 print advertisement in The Chicago Tribune for Emergency is a review quote from Richard Hooker, M.D., “the author of M*A*S*H.”

The Los Angeles Times has a wonderful article (you might need to register) about yesterday’s restoration site unveiling. According to the article, some 300 people showed up at the M*A*S*H site in Malibu Creek State Park. Actors Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, William Christopher and Jeff Maxwell as well as producers Gene Reynolds and Burt Metcalfe, plus director Charles Dubin were on hand to address the crowd.

Brian Rooney deserves much of the credit for getting the M*A*S*H site cleaned up. I hope to have a feature on the restoration site unveiling written up in the next few weeks, hopefully with photographs of the celebration.

According to Brian Rooney, M*A*S*H Restoration Project Manager for California State Parks, M*A*S*H cast members Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit and William Christopher, along with Charles Dubin (who directed more episodes of the series than any other person) will be at the February 23rd, 2008 unveiling of the restored M*A*S*H site at the Malibu Creek State Park.

Also, here is a nice article about the restoration from the Los Angeles Times. And here is a post from Ken Levine’s blog about the restoration. Levine wrote quite a few episodes of M*A*S*H, including “Point of View” and “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.”

ION Media Networks has announced that M*A*S*H will join its ION Television’s prime time schedule this coming fall. ION Television is a broadcast network in the United States that currently airs an assortment of sitcoms including Alice, The Drew Carey Show and Who’s the Boss?, along with movies and paid programming. In March, Baywatch will be added to its schedule. From a press release available here:

“A timeless staple like ‘M*A*S*H’ is a great win for our schedule, as we migrate our network to mainstream audience appeal in the 2008/2009 season,” said Brandon Burgess, Chairman and CEO, ION Media Networks. “We anticipate further announcements in coming months, including some shows that people may not expect from us, as we look to give ION Television a more light-hearted and open-minded programming sensibility that will invite new audiences.”

M*A*S*H is currently seen in the United States on cable channels TV Land and The Hallmark Channel; it is also shown in syndication on individual broadcast television stations. No word on whether those stations will lose the right to air M*A*S*H due to ION Television’s agreement, or when M*A*S*H will premiere, aside from a general Fall 2008 start date.

In light of the ratings for this past Sunday’s Super Bowl (43.1/65, 97.448 million viewers) I have updated my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis with additional numbers, including overnight Arbitron ratings for the final episode. I have also slightly expanded some sections of the article (it is now in sections for easy reading) and fixed some minor mistakes in others.