The hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union played on February 22nd, 1980 in Lake Placid, NY as part of the 1980 Winter Olympics is considered one of the most incredible sports stories of all time. The underdog U.S. team beat the Soviets and went on beat Finland to win gold. ESPN put together the following retrospective to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the game. One of those interview is Jamie Farr, who attended the game. Start watching around 0:55 to see Farr in the stands. He talks about his experience again at 1:55 and 6:00 and maybe at other points during the video.

Sports fans may want to watch the entire video. M*A*S*H will probably only be interested in the Jamie Farr segments as something of a curio. Thanks to Shawn for e-mailing me about this video.

The confusing saga of M*A*S*H on television continues today with the news that ION will be returning M*A*S*H to its schedule beginning this Saturday (February 20th). Recall that ION dropped the series in October of 2009:

There has been a schedule change and the program “M*A*S*H” is no longer part of our lineup. This program’s run on the network has ended. Thank you for contacting ION Media Networks.

On January 13th of this year, however, Sitcoms Online reported that the very first episode of M*A*S*H would air on Saturday, March 6th at 3PM. Then, on February 9th, Sitcoms Online revealed that M*A*S*H would run from 3-4PM on Saturdays. Today from Sitcoms Online comes the news that M*A*S*H will also air Monday through Friday from 4-5PM, replacing Texas Justice, starting February 22nd.

According to television listings at TVGuide.com, M*A*S*H will actually return on Saturday, February 20th at 3PM with the pilot, followed by the second episode at 3:30PM. It will also be seen on Sunday, February 21st from 3-5PM with the next four episodes from the first season, followed by the next two episodes on Monday, February 22nd from 4-5PM. Here’s what the regular weekly schedule looks like at the moment:

Saturdays: 3-4PM (Beginning February 20th)
Sundays: 3-5PM (Beginning February 21st)
Mon-Fri: 4-5PM (Beginning February 22nd)

TVGuide.com’s listings only run through Monday, March 1st; for the next two weeks, at least, this schedule holds true. I don’t receive ION so I won’t be able to confirm that the series is airing, however.

Edit: As I was writing this post, Gavin e-mailed me the following:

This past Saturday, my PVR recorded M*A*S*H from ION. Yay! I googled a bit, and it turns out, M*A*S*H is now back on Ion twice a day Monday through Saturday, starting 22 February.

So Gavin’s PVR adds more confirmation to the return of M*A*S*H on ION. But will the return be Saturday, February 20th or Monday, February 22nd?

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.

Shawn sent me an e-mail to let me know that Hallmark Channel has once again removed M*A*S*H from its lineup. According to Shawn, this is the third time in five months that the cable channel has pulled the series. According to the Sitcoms Online Blog, a two-hour weekday block of M*A*S*H from 5-7PM has been replaced by Seventh Heaven. Shawn also found this January 18th MediaPost article that suggests the move might be permanent:

“Certainly, we keep an eye on all demographics,” says Abbott. “But we don’t program to attract 18-49, and we certainly don’t sell our advertising inventory to deliver 18-49.” Abbott says the new programming efforts, starting in the summer, are intended to shift Hallmark to more 25-54 viewers, from 65-plus viewers.

“It takes a while to build some momentum,” he says. “But we really hit our stride in the fourth quarter in December.” Through it all, Hallmark has remained in the top 10 of all cable networks in household and key women 25-54 ratings.

[...]

He says the network is looking to shift away from older off-network fare, like “Touched by an Angel,” “Golden Girls,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “MASH” and other shows the network airs.

Recall that broadcast network ION dropped M*A*S*H in October of 2009. Cable channel TV Land also airs the series; if Hallmark Channel does decide to remove M*A*S*H for good, TV Land will be the only place to see the series on television unless you’re lucky enough to have a local broadcast station that airs the series.

Monday, February 15th, 2010 Update: According to a post at Hallmark Channel’s Facebook page, M*A*S*H will be returning to the cable channel eventually. Here’s the full post, which was in reply to a question from Matthew about why Hallmark continually removes M*A*S*H from its schedule:

Hallmark Channel USA
Matthew,
First of all thanks for letting us know how you feel. We love praise, but its important to know when our fans have something else to say, too. Also, let us apologize. You are right, we need to do a better job of keeping people up to date on schedule changes. We will try to do that on this page and on our twitter feed @hallmarkchannel. MASH will return to Hallmark Channel, but we don’t have a firm date to give you. But when it does we will post it right here. Thanks
February 2 at 10:25pm

Hallmark’s Twitter page can be found here. Perhaps an announcement regarding M*A*S*H will be forthcoming.

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.

Forty years ago today, on January 25th, 1970, Robert Altman’s MASH (or M*A*S*H) premiered in New York City. It opened in Los Angeles roughly a month later on February 18th and in the rest of the country in March. Based on the novel by Richard Hooker, the screenplay for MASH was written by Ring Lardner, Jr. The movie was produced by Ingo Preminger. Johnny Mandel wrote the famous theme song and Mike Altman (son of Robert Altman) provided the lyrics. Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould starred as Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre, respectively, with Tom Skerritt as Duke Forrest (a character not carried over to the television series), Sally Kellerman as Hot Lips, Robert Duvall as Frank Burns, Roger Bowen as Colonel Henry Blake, Rene Auberjonois as Father John Mulcahy and Gary Burghoff as Radar O’Reilly. Other cast members included Jo Ann Pflug as Lieutenant Dish, Fred Williamson as Oliver “Spearchucker” Jones and G. Wood as General Hammond.

Here’s a poster for the movie, courtesy of Aaron Handy III, who also reminded me that this anniversary was coming up:

Poster for MASH

Some two and a half years after MASH hit theaters, the television version we all know and love premiered on CBS. It would run until 1983. Had the movie not succeeded financially and critically, M*A*S*H never would have been made. A two-disc collector’s edition was released on DVD in February of 2006; the movie was also included as an extra in the complete series “Martinis & Medicine Collection” when it was released in November of 2006. You can read more about the movie at AFI.com and IMDb.com.

What are your thoughts on MASH, forty years after it first hit theaters?