As promised, I’ve updated my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis with new information relating to Super Bowl XLIV, which broke several records that for 27 years were held by M*A*S*H and its series finale. Despite no longer being the most-watched television broadcast in the United States (nor the broadcast seen by the most television households), “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” is still the highest-RATED television broadcast of all time, with a huge 60.2 Nielsen rating.

I’ve rewritten portions of the analysis and added citations rather than just a list of sources.

Super Bowl XLIV, which pitted Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints, was watched by 106,476,000 million viewers, topping the record of 105,970,000 viewers set by the series finale of M*A*S*H 27 years ago on February 28th, 1983. The game is now the most-WATCHED or most-VIEWED single television program in the United States. The game also set a new record for so-called “total viewers” (those who watched all or part of the broadcast) with 153.4 million viewers. The M*A*S*H finale had a total viewership of 121.62; its record was eclipsed in 1986 by Super Bowl XX.

The president of CBS News and Sports, Sean McManus, had this to say about the record-breaking performance of Super Bowl XLIV:

It was going to happen at some point. I loved ‘M*A*S*H’ and watched it all the time. But all of us in the industry are relieved that we don’t have to hear that the Super Bowl was the second- or third-highest-rated broadcast in history, three million behind ‘M*A*S*H.’

I should point out that McManus misspoke; Super Bowl XLIV may be the most-WATCHED broadcast but it isn’t even close to being the highest-RATED. The game averaged a 45.0 Nielsen rating, much lower than the 60.2 rating for the M*A*S*H finale. According to this TVByTheNumbers.com list, Super Bowl XLIV’s 45.0 rating ties for 26th with the 1971 Bob Hope Christmas Show on the list of highest-rated programs. Because there are more television households today than there were in 1983, that 45.0 rating equals 51,728,000 homes, compared to the 50,146,600 who watched the M*A*S*H finale. That was another 27-year-record broken by Super Bowl XLIV.

I’m sure there are a lot of M*A*S*H fans disappointed to see the record for most-watched program broken. But remember that population growth made it inevitable. On the other hand, in today’s fractured media environment, the fact that Super Bowl XLIV managed to draw more than 100 million viewers is quite the achievement. Alan Alda told The New York Times “I’m happy for New Orleans. I want to see that city come out first in every way that it can, even if it means giving up a record that ‘M*A*S*H’ held for a long time.”

To sum up, the M*A*S*H finale now holds just one record. It is still the highest-RATED single television broadcast of all time. As Alan Alda suggested, however, making direct comparison betweens the two broadcasts is unnecessary: “We hit it out of the park, and so did New Orleans. Do I have the sports analogy right?”

I’ll be updating my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis later this week.

My post about the death of Pernell Roberts earlier this week led to an interesting conversation in the comments. During the first episode of Trapper John, M.D. there is a scene in which a series of black and white photographs are shown on the office wall of Dr. John McIntyre, M.D. One of these photographs appears to depict Wayne Rogers and Alan Alda in front of the Swamp from M*A*S*H. Here’s the photograph in question, taken from a YouTube video (you can find it easily enough):

Photograph Depicting Wayne Rogers and Alan Alda?

PinkPagoda had this to say about the photograph:

The scene with the picture is on you tube – and it is obvious that the two people in the picture are supposed to be the Hawk and the Trap that we all know and love from the television show (check out the hair) – however I don’t see the symbol on the SWAMP door, the sign post seems to be relocated, and the Trapper figure is MUCH taller than the Hawkeye figure. I don’t think Wayne Rogers is notably taller than Alan Alda, is he? It must have been made for the television show – and not an actual shot. Check it out for yourself on you tube, search for “Trapper John MD first episode” and the picture comes up after the guy on the stretcher is loaded into a helicopter at the hospital. What do YOU think?

In my opinion, the man on the left is obviously Wayne Rogers. But is the man on the right Alan Alda or someone else? I don’t know. The image is blurry, due to the fact that it comes from a YouTube video likely taken from a VHS tape that may or may not be a decade old. It sort of looks like the man has a beard. Or maybe just a shadow near his chin. As for the difference in height, the man on the right could be leaning his head against the door. I’m guessing the photograph was taken on the Stage 9 set at the 20th Century Fox Studios in Hollywood rather than the Fox Ranch (now the Malibu Creek State Park). I also don’t see the symbol on the door to the Swamp but it very well could be there.

So is this an actual promotional photograph for M*A*S*H? If so, someone out there might recognize it. There are an awful lot of photographs in The Complete Book of M*A*S*H if anyone has a copy handy. Here’s an actual promotional photograph for comparison:

Promotional Photograph

Notice that Alan Alda is quite a few inches shorter than Wayne Rogers. Hit the comments with your thoughts on this mysterious Trapper John, M.D. photograph.

Pernell Roberts, who starred in Trapper John, M.D. on CBS from 1979 to 1986, passed away last week at the age of 81. I’m sure many people, myself included, know him better as Adam Cartwright from NBC’s Bonanza, which he left in 1965 after six seasons. Back when cable channel FX had the rights to M*A*S*H it also had the rights to Trapper John, M.D., at least for a while, and I recall two episodes airing back-to-back early on Sunday mornings during the late 1990s.

Cast of Trapper John, M.D. – Pernell Roberts At Center

Technically, according to a court ruling, Trapper John, M.D. is a spin-off of the movie MASH and a “sister show” to M*A*S*H. Although never as popular as M*A*S*H, Trapper John, M.D. was a solid performer for CBS and gave Pernell Roberts a career resurgence. An obituary can be found at The New York Times.

The collection of 38 scripts from M*A*S*H and Trapper John, M.D. that I wrote about back in October sold last week for $310.70 (with a buyer’s premium) as part of Heritage Auction Galleries’ 2009 November Signature Music & Entertainment Auction #7011. A separate M*A*S*H script, a revised draft of “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet,” sold for $79 (again, with a buyer’s premium).

I often browse eBay to see if anything interesting related to M*A*S*H is up for auction. In August of 2007 someone was selling what I believe is a press photograph for the series featuring McClean Stevenson and Gary Burghoff. They’re in character but Burghoff appears to be holding a script. If I had to guess I’d say this is from the very first season. Look at McClean Stevenson’s eyes. They’re crazy. And where does the cord on the phone Radar is holding go?

Press Photograph with Henry and Radar

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 Update

In the comments, Big Daddy O’Reilly pointed out that in addition to his crazy eyes McClean Stevenson is sporting some wild hair, which might mean this particular photograph was taken very early on, perhaps before the pilot episode was filmed. Take a look at the black and white promotional photo included in my feature Promoting The Premiere and you’ll see the same bushy hair. And speaking of hair, in that same photo Loretta Swit’s hair is pretty curly while in the pilot episode Margaret had relatively straight hair.

Furthermore, Phil suggests in the comments that the above photograph is flipped incorrectly. Here are Henry and Radar facing the other direction:

Press Photograph with Henry and Radar

I’m no photographer but somehow it does look better this way.