Tomorrow will mark 25 years when the final episode of M*A*S*H aired. Does anyone have any memories about this one? It was a Monday night on February 28, 1983 when my mom and dad were watching the final episode of M*A*S*H. 10 days later, my mom passed away of breast cancer. She was only 33 years old. Talk about a sad irony here. You can share your memories on this post.
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THE FINAL EPISODE OF M*A*S*H
- Thread starter JonathanGabel
- Start date
To think that the peak viewership during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLII nearly matched this shows numbers. WOW! 25 years have passed and the number still stands! If I'm not mistaken, I watched the finale as a 12-year-old. I was never a fan of that show, whether it was on CBS or in syndication.
It's funny, while I didn't really watch MASH all that much during it's original run, I find that I watch it more than most anything now on TV. Hallmark Channel begins a 2 hour run of shows weekday evenings at 5. I'm usually getting home about then, and my wife doesn't get home until 730 or so. So while I am home, MASH is almost always on. If TV Land isn't off on some goofy movie or "original run" tangent, MASH is usually on for an hour at 8pm. I don't watch all the shows all the time, but with the crap that passes for most TV now, I find the show and the people comfortable, and pleasant to watch. I do remember the final night it was on. We did watch the show. I remember the local CBS affil was running MASH parties all over the area. I was 27 then. To quote Willie Nelson..."Funny how time slips away".
I also have an emotional connection to "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen." You see, the morning of the broadcast, my grandmother passed away.
We had previously made plans for a mutual friend to come over and watch the episode with my then (long since ex) wife and I. The friend happened to call to double-check plans and, when told about my grandmother's demise, she said she would understand if we wanted to cancel the plans and be alone. I assured her that what I most needed was to get my mind off reality, and that having an extra friend around would help, too, so she came over and the three of us watched.
I was a bit uncertain about how the final episode would turn out. After all, even the most die-hard fan has to admit that the last 2 or 3 seasons had been rather haphazard and hit or miss, with more "misses" than "hits" as time went on. (To be fair, and most people don't realize this, a big chunk of those so-so episodes came in a season when they had a long writers' strike, and a large part of that season's shows were filmed on an accelerated schedule, in 3 days instead of the customary week. The haste showed.)
Overall, both at the time and on several repeat viewings, I gave the episode about a B-minus. Much of it was very well done, and I wish they had put as much care into some of the last few years of regular episodes as they did into the finale.
Two main things brought that grade down. The first was, it was just too gosh-darn LONG. 2 1/2 hours is a big chunk of time to be filled -- even most movies don't run that long. I think it would have worked better as either a 2-hour special, or a two-parter (one hour apiece). They could have easily cut out the (to me) totally extraneous sub-plot of "Father Mulcahy goes deaf" -- while I understand they wanted to give each character his or her own little vignette, this one just didn't work for me.
The other problem was Hawkeye's breakdown. Now, the breakdown itself was entirely believable -- one wonders how he (or any of them) held on so long dealing with what they did on a daily basis without going ga-ga. But, for me, it was marred by Alan Alda's acting when he finally breaks through and recovers the repressed memory of the woman smothering her baby. See, Alda is a great actor whose talents go way beyond "M*A*S*H" but for some reason, his one weakness is highly emotional sob scenes. There is just something too histrionic and over the top about them. And I'm not just basing this on that one scene alone -- recall, if you will, a previous episode with a similar emotional outburst in Dr. Friedman's presence -- the one where he recalls that his brother pushed him into the water as a child when he almost drowned. I cannot watch that scene anymore -- there is just something so patently "fake" about his big "Wah-hah-hah-hah!! HE PUSHED ME!! Wah-hah-hah-hah!!" scene. His breakthrough in the final episode is not quite as bad, but I'm still uncomfortable watching it.
The most personally touching subplot was that of Charles and the Chinese musicians. So much of the character of Charles was reprehensible and smarmy (although he did show a little humanity from time to time over the years). But the one quality he and I shared was a love of classical music. And therefore I could totally identify with him -- to find enthusiastic, if primitive, musicians willing to learn Mozart in the midst of squalor and death, to develop a fondness for them, and then to be utterly devastated upon finding that they had been killed. The line at the final banquet about how he always viewed music as an escape, but now feared that it would always remind him instead of the horrors of his Korean experience....well, that really (no pun intended) struck a chord with me.
The ending scene, with Hawkeye glimpsing B.J.'s "GOODBYE" in stones as the helicopter rose was beautiful as well -- the perfect ending.
So, while it wasn't perfect, on the whole is was a fitting close to the series. And every time I see the finale (or, for that matter, listen to Mozart's Clarinet Quintet), I think of my grandmother.
We had previously made plans for a mutual friend to come over and watch the episode with my then (long since ex) wife and I. The friend happened to call to double-check plans and, when told about my grandmother's demise, she said she would understand if we wanted to cancel the plans and be alone. I assured her that what I most needed was to get my mind off reality, and that having an extra friend around would help, too, so she came over and the three of us watched.
I was a bit uncertain about how the final episode would turn out. After all, even the most die-hard fan has to admit that the last 2 or 3 seasons had been rather haphazard and hit or miss, with more "misses" than "hits" as time went on. (To be fair, and most people don't realize this, a big chunk of those so-so episodes came in a season when they had a long writers' strike, and a large part of that season's shows were filmed on an accelerated schedule, in 3 days instead of the customary week. The haste showed.)
Overall, both at the time and on several repeat viewings, I gave the episode about a B-minus. Much of it was very well done, and I wish they had put as much care into some of the last few years of regular episodes as they did into the finale.
Two main things brought that grade down. The first was, it was just too gosh-darn LONG. 2 1/2 hours is a big chunk of time to be filled -- even most movies don't run that long. I think it would have worked better as either a 2-hour special, or a two-parter (one hour apiece). They could have easily cut out the (to me) totally extraneous sub-plot of "Father Mulcahy goes deaf" -- while I understand they wanted to give each character his or her own little vignette, this one just didn't work for me.
The other problem was Hawkeye's breakdown. Now, the breakdown itself was entirely believable -- one wonders how he (or any of them) held on so long dealing with what they did on a daily basis without going ga-ga. But, for me, it was marred by Alan Alda's acting when he finally breaks through and recovers the repressed memory of the woman smothering her baby. See, Alda is a great actor whose talents go way beyond "M*A*S*H" but for some reason, his one weakness is highly emotional sob scenes. There is just something too histrionic and over the top about them. And I'm not just basing this on that one scene alone -- recall, if you will, a previous episode with a similar emotional outburst in Dr. Friedman's presence -- the one where he recalls that his brother pushed him into the water as a child when he almost drowned. I cannot watch that scene anymore -- there is just something so patently "fake" about his big "Wah-hah-hah-hah!! HE PUSHED ME!! Wah-hah-hah-hah!!" scene. His breakthrough in the final episode is not quite as bad, but I'm still uncomfortable watching it.
The most personally touching subplot was that of Charles and the Chinese musicians. So much of the character of Charles was reprehensible and smarmy (although he did show a little humanity from time to time over the years). But the one quality he and I shared was a love of classical music. And therefore I could totally identify with him -- to find enthusiastic, if primitive, musicians willing to learn Mozart in the midst of squalor and death, to develop a fondness for them, and then to be utterly devastated upon finding that they had been killed. The line at the final banquet about how he always viewed music as an escape, but now feared that it would always remind him instead of the horrors of his Korean experience....well, that really (no pun intended) struck a chord with me.
The ending scene, with Hawkeye glimpsing B.J.'s "GOODBYE" in stones as the helicopter rose was beautiful as well -- the perfect ending.
So, while it wasn't perfect, on the whole is was a fitting close to the series. And every time I see the finale (or, for that matter, listen to Mozart's Clarinet Quintet), I think of my grandmother.
Stanislav I know what previous episode you were talking about. That episode was called "Bless You Hawkeye". It featured Hawkeye having those sneezing fits. That scene on which he breaks down and cries was about when his older cousin Billy (not his brother) pushed Hawkeye into the water. His breakdown seemed overreacting in that episode. But his breakdown in that final episode was not. I will agree that the reality of the Winchester was the best. Don't ever forget that long kiss goodbye between Hawkeye and Houlihan. That was certainly historical.
Stanislav, very belatedly I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm also sorry that you have to associate the last episode with your loss.
One fellow who didn't think much of the last episode or any episode of M*A*S*H was Dr. Richard Halbeisen (not 100% sure of the last name's correctness), who was also known as Richard Hooker, the author of all the M*A*S*H books (there were at least six). He served in a M*A*S*H unit during the Korean war, and for all intents and purposes, he was the real Hawkeye. He died about 10 years ago. He HATED the TV show. He said that they had turned it into leftist propaganda and feminist agenda, and put 70s values into the early 1950s. In real life, he was a conservative Republican. He was very happy with the 1970 movie version that starred Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, and stated that it was much closer to what it was really like.
The first book sequel, M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, was hilarious, IMHO much funnier than the first book, and would have made a great film. Recommended reading.
One fellow who didn't think much of the last episode or any episode of M*A*S*H was Dr. Richard Halbeisen (not 100% sure of the last name's correctness), who was also known as Richard Hooker, the author of all the M*A*S*H books (there were at least six). He served in a M*A*S*H unit during the Korean war, and for all intents and purposes, he was the real Hawkeye. He died about 10 years ago. He HATED the TV show. He said that they had turned it into leftist propaganda and feminist agenda, and put 70s values into the early 1950s. In real life, he was a conservative Republican. He was very happy with the 1970 movie version that starred Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, and stated that it was much closer to what it was really like.
The first book sequel, M*A*S*H Goes To Maine, was hilarious, IMHO much funnier than the first book, and would have made a great film. Recommended reading.
M*A*S*H has always been my favorite TV show since it came out, and I believe that showing it and The Andy Griffith Show in the evening is one thing that TV Land is actually doing right (Although I wish they would show ALL the episodes), except for weeks like this when they're showing movies instead.
A couple items on Major Winchester. Yes, I know it's a story, so putting him into the plot makes good sense.
But...back in those days, as there were in the Vietnam war, you could get draft deferments. If Major Charles' family was as important as is portrayed, the closest the good major would have gotten to the war had he not wanted to go, would have been a V.A. hospital in Philadelphia. While for the most part he is a reprehensible primma donna, I liked the episode where he threatened a loud mouthed captain with serious disipline for making fun of a soldier who stuttered. Of course we learn that his sister has the same difficulty by the end of the show.
But...back in those days, as there were in the Vietnam war, you could get draft deferments. If Major Charles' family was as important as is portrayed, the closest the good major would have gotten to the war had he not wanted to go, would have been a V.A. hospital in Philadelphia. While for the most part he is a reprehensible primma donna, I liked the episode where he threatened a loud mouthed captain with serious disipline for making fun of a soldier who stuttered. Of course we learn that his sister has the same difficulty by the end of the show.
H
harrisburgpatv
Guest
We got our very first VCR a few weeks before the episode aired; it was neat to tape anything and everything at first. As a result, the last episode of M*A*S*H is in my collection (I was 8 when it aired and didn't really care for the show then).
I do enjoy the show now (and have the first 2 seasons on DVD), but that last scene with "GOODBYE" in rocks...Leaves a lump in my throat the size of a baseball every time.
I do enjoy the show now (and have the first 2 seasons on DVD), but that last scene with "GOODBYE" in rocks...Leaves a lump in my throat the size of a baseball every time.
Dr. Richard Halbeisen (not 100% sure of the last name's correctness), who was also known as Richard Hooker
I think Richard Hooker's real last name was Hornberger. It's also been said that "M*A*S*H Goes To Maine" would have been a much better series than "AfterM*A*S*H", but then again what wouldn't have?
I think Richard Hooker's real last name was Hornberger. It's also been said that "M*A*S*H Goes To Maine" would have been a much better series than "AfterM*A*S*H", but then again what wouldn't have?
Wow.....25 years?!?
We all (maybe 5-6 of us students) gathered to watch it in our off-campus apartment. MASH was HUGE to college students in the late 70s/early 80s.
Then ch. 3 re-ran the farewell episode on a Saturday night, blocking out all NBC prime time, exactly 10 years later. Saw that, too.
When the show went into syndication -- fall of 1980 -- On Mondays, you could watch it 5 times a day -- twice at 5PM on WTVH in Syracuse, then first-runs Mondays at 9PM, then twice at 11PM on WNEW from NYC.
And we DID watch it 5 times a day.
You learned to tell the seasons by the characters -- the first 3 seasons are obvious; then Frank stuck around for a couple more; you know the drill by now. Plus, the first 4-5 seasons were lit differently, or they used different film stock; they had a different "look" and even a more compressed sound to them.
We all (maybe 5-6 of us students) gathered to watch it in our off-campus apartment. MASH was HUGE to college students in the late 70s/early 80s.
Then ch. 3 re-ran the farewell episode on a Saturday night, blocking out all NBC prime time, exactly 10 years later. Saw that, too.
When the show went into syndication -- fall of 1980 -- On Mondays, you could watch it 5 times a day -- twice at 5PM on WTVH in Syracuse, then first-runs Mondays at 9PM, then twice at 11PM on WNEW from NYC.
And we DID watch it 5 times a day.
You learned to tell the seasons by the characters -- the first 3 seasons are obvious; then Frank stuck around for a couple more; you know the drill by now. Plus, the first 4-5 seasons were lit differently, or they used different film stock; they had a different "look" and even a more compressed sound to them.
H
harrisburgpatv
Guest
Actually, if I may nitpick (ever so slightly!), it went into syndication in the fall of '79....WHTM (then WTPA)-27 in Harrisburg had the M*A*S*H reruns up until the early '90s......The year before that, it aired in daytime reruns on CBS's schedule.
One of the fascinating aspects to me was the cast turnover....And how when a character got replaced, the new character was usually a complete departure (in personality) from the one they replaced.
One of the fascinating aspects to me was the cast turnover....And how when a character got replaced, the new character was usually a complete departure (in personality) from the one they replaced.
Corky Marlowe said:
Corky Marlowe is correct. Richard Hooker's real name was Dr. H. Richard Hornberger. His M*A*S*H co-author, W.C. Heinz, died this past Wednesday at the age of 93.
We learned what would become of the TV characters after the last episode. I loved how they told us about Margaret Houlihan's future: "I'm going to a stateside hospital." Gee, could you be a little more vague?
In the M*A*S*H books, most of the original characters turned up again. If you're not familiar with the books, they're much different than the TV show. Here's what happened to the 4077th people:
The four Swampmen (Hawkeye, Trapper John, Duke Forrest, and Spearchucker Jones) went into practice together in Hawkeye's Maine hometown, which was not called Crabapple Cove like the TV show. I forget it's name. They would often travel the world together and run into other MASH-ers.
Radar became a billionaire tycoon from marketing the stew recipe he got from a black cook at the 4077th. He married a Russian opera singer, who referred to his first name as Robespierre, not Walter.
Hot Lips Houlihan was twice-widowed, the last time after about 6 hours when her husband died from falling debris while they consummated their marriage (don't ask). As a result, she inherited his personal fortune, quite considerable, and his church, called the God is Love in All Forms Church, all church assets including a private plane, several mansions, and a gay men's chorus, and was given the title of Reverend Mother Emeritus.
Father Mulcahy, after serving for a time at the Vatican, which included letting the Pope raid his room's refrigerator for beer, relocated to Las Vegas. Through a back room dice game, he acquired a large hotel-casino, and he changed it into the Francis Mulcahy Home For Wayward Girls.
I didn't read all the MASH books, but in the sequels I did read, Henry Blake was only referred to, and not brought into play. Unlike the TV show, Henry Blake was a strong, assertive commander who loved fishing, and stood up to the back-stabbing of Franks Burns and Hot Lips. He often called Hot Lips a nincompoop or moron to her face.
Col. Blake and Frank Burns did not turn up again in any of the sequels that I read.
BJ, Klinger, and Major Winchester were not original characters and were created by the TV people.
RicoGregg said:
...another person who "hated" (his word) the TV series was Robert Altman, director of the movie M*A*S*H. Not that he had any ill feeling for anyone actually involved in the series (I recall his even going out of his way in one interview to heap praise on Alan Alda's movie THE FOUR SEASONS), but Altman was extremely dismayed that there was a post-Vietnam television series in which an entire nation of darker-skinned people was still identified as "the enemy" in millions of White households every week...plus, 20th Century-Fox had promised him a piece of whatever action the TV series would generate, but then Altman shot his mouth off in a magazine article (perhaps a Playboy interview?) about someone in the Fox brass, and Fox told him to forget that piece of the action. So Altman was pretty much predisposed to dislike the TV series from that angle alone. On the other hand, considering the royalties Altman's (then-14-year-old) son Mike made from applying his lyrics to Johnny Mandel's theme tune, the TV series has made possible the fact that Mike Altman hasn't had to actually work a single day of his adult life!...
I think most any writer is unhappy with whatever gets done to his work when it is turned into a TV, movie or play script. Since the writer's vision is likely to be changed for any number of reasons by the producers, it's rarely going to reflect their thoughts and vision when they were writing it. Can't say that I blame them for feeling that way, but it is now out of their hands. So it's not surprising that the doctor wasn't happy with the transition from MASH the book to MASH the movie and then MASH the TV show. But if you decide to sell your rights to other producers, you've traded cash for your vision. Maybe it was an equitable trade and maybe it wasn't.
I actually like the TV series better than the movie, probably because I saw it first. There have been several of the differences between the two covered in the thread on poor continuity.
I was in Nashville over the weekend and found a copy of the final episode on VHS from the Columbia House series of videos at a used book/CD/video store. I know it's available on DVD now, but this was a great deal at $2.95.
I was in Nashville over the weekend and found a copy of the final episode on VHS from the Columbia House series of videos at a used book/CD/video store. I know it's available on DVD now, but this was a great deal at $2.95.
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