According to an article in The New York Times from early March 1972, the CBS television network had struck upon a novel way to recoup some of the costs of producing pilot episodes for potential fall series: they would air nine half-hour sitcom pilots as three ninety-minute specials. The first such special was set to air on Friday, March 17th, 1972 from 9:00PM to 10:30PM and would consist of the pilots for M*A*S*H, Oh, Nurse! and The Singles.

However, on March 17th, along with Oh, Nurse! and The Singles, CBS aired another sitcom pilot entitled The Living End rather than M*A*S*H, which was soon placed on the CBS fall schedule (none of the other pilots were). Thus, when CBS aired its annual fall preview special in September, M*A*S*H was included. You can watch the original fall preview for the series here. With the series now on the network schedule, CBS began promoting M*A*S*H as part of its advertising blitz throughout September, in print, television and other media outlets.

Some print material included the phrase “The movie fractured you. The series will have you in stitches,” along with pictures of Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers smiling broadly or laughing hysterically. Another phrase, “I’m Alan Alda… I’m Wayne Rogers. Have we got a night for you!” tied into the slogan CBS was using for the new season (“Have we got a show for you!”). You can see an advertisement from TV Guide promoting the premiere episode here.

Here are five rare promotional stills/transparencies promoting the premiere episode. Of the five, only one shows a scene from the episode, the others are purely promotional. Take note of the fact that Lieutenant Dish (Karen Philipp) is shown in several of the stills, despite the fact that she only appeared in two episodes. The aforementioned fall preview for M*A*S*H also focuses heavily on Lieutenant Dish, suggesting that either that early on the character was intended to be featured or the CBS promotional department only had access to footage from the pilot episode.

  

 

Here is another promotional image, featuring Hawkeye and Margaret:

This image was used in the TV Guide fall preview issue. It is, unfortunately, a little blurry:

And, finally, here is a very rare CBS promotional image for the premiere along with the press information that was originally attached to it:

References:

• Gent, George. “C.B.S. Will Televise Its Pilots As Three 90-Minute Specials.” New York Times 3 Mar. 1972: 79.

Last updated September 17th, 2007