On Monday, February 28th, 1983, beginning at 8:30PM ET, CBS broadcast the final episode of M*A*S*H. In the days and weeks leading up to the finale, news coverage of the final episode was virtually non-stop. All manner of media got in on finale blitz: television, print, radio. But on the evening the final episode actually aired, it was the syndicated newsmagazine shows -- like Entertainment Tonight or PM Magazine -- that really benefited.
One of the earliest of the current style of newsmagazine was Entertainment Tonight, which was first broadcast on September 14th, 1981 and is still on the air. Broadcast Monday through Friday with an hour-long edition on weekends, the half-hour program is syndicated, meaning it does not air nationally at the same time although typically it is shown in local markets at either 7:00PM or 7:30PM ET.
Not surprisingly, the Monday, February 28th, 1983 edition of Entertainment Tonight focused heavily on the end of M*A*S*H, although another CBS sitcom, All in the Family, also recieved coverage. One segment devoted to M*A*S*H was the Entertainment Tonight Spotlight, a five-minute look at the "past, present and future" of the series. Hosts Ron Hendren and Mary Hart (who is still with Entertainment Tonight) looked at the M*A*S*H finale parties, including one bash in Cleveland, Ohio where Larry Linville was the guest of honor.
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The telephone poll for the evening also focused on M*A*S*H: "Do you want CBS to do a M*A*S*H sequel?" Sadly, the results are unknown. The spotlight ended with a special tribute to M*A*S*H: a montage of stills from the series interspersed with footage from a press conference about the finale set to the version of "Suicide is Painless" from the MASH feature film.
