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 According to the Sitcoms Online Blog, a two-hour weekday block of M*A*S*H from 5-7PM has been replaced by Seventh Heaven.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.

Just when it looked like M*A*S*H was back on the Hallmark Channel schedule for good it seems that Hallmark has decided to pull the bulk of its regular programming in order to air holiday movies through December. Shawn e-mailed me a few days ago to let me know that M*A*S*H was off the Hallmark schedule through December 12th. According to the Hallmark website, although various sitcoms will still be shown from 9:00AM-12:00PM, movies will fill the schedule from 12:00PM to 12:00AM. Once the holiday season has passed I imagine Hallmark will revert to its normal schedule and M*A*S*H will return.

According to Hallmark Channel’s online schedule M*A*S*H will return to the cable channel on Monday, October 19th with a three-hour block running from 5:00PM to 7:00PM featuring the first six episodes of the series. Here’s a static version of the day’s schedule. Last Monday (October 5th) both Hallmark and ION dropped repeats of M*A*S*H from their schedules but it appears Hallmark has either had a change of heart or always planned to bring back M*A*S*H (it will not be back on ION).

Based on Hallmark’s schedule for the rest of October and the first week of November it looks like M*A*S*H will be shown Monday through Friday from 5:00PM to 7:00PM for the foreseeable future. Thanks to Alice for bringing this to my attention.

Due to the fact that I no longer receive Hallmark Channel or ION, I wasn’t aware of this until a few days ago when Shawn contacted me, but both cable channel Hallmark Channel and broadcast network ION have stopped airing repeats of M*A*S*H. Sitcoms Online reported on September 17th that ION would replace the 4-5PM airings of M*A*S*H with extra airings of Reba beginning Monday, October 5th.

I e-mailed ION and received the following reply:

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.

As for Hallmark Channel, Sitcoms Online reported on September 21st that the weekday block of M*A*S*H (from 5-8PM) would be replaced by I Love Lucy, also beginning Monday, October 5th. Well, today is October 5th and M*A*S*H is gone from both Hallmark Channel and ION. It still airs on TV Land from 5-6AM on Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri, 9PM to 12AM on Wednesdays and 8-11PM on Saturdays (at least that’s the schedule for the next two weeks).

I sent Hallmark Channel an e-mail as well but have not received a reply. It is possible M*A*S*H will return in the future. And there’s always the complete series on DVD.