More than 106 million people watched the “M*A*S*H” finale — the most of any series finale ever.
After 11 years on the small screen, M*A*S*H aired its series finale on February 28, 1983 — and made history in the process. More than 106 million people tuned in to watch “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” making it the most-viewed series finale ever. Until Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, which saw the post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Saints defeat the Indianapolis Colts, it was the most-watched television broadcast in U.S. history. No episode of a scripted series has come close in the decades since. The series finale of Cheers earned 80.4 million viewers, Seinfeld got 76.3 million, and Game of Thrones — the most talked-about show on television for years — had 19.3 million.
A spinoff of Robert Altman’s 1970 film of the same name, which was itself an adaptation of Richard Hooker’s 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, the TV show used both comedy and tragedy to depict a military medical team working during the Korean War. After a slow start — the first season was ranked 46th in the ratings — the show only rarely dropped out of the top 20 for the rest of its run, and became one of the most memorable cultural products of the 20th century.
Though ostensibly a comedy, M*A*S*H always struck a more serious tone than many 30-minute shows of its era. Series developer Larry Gelbart was strongly opposed to the idea of a laugh track, believing that canned laughter “cheapened the show,” but CBS insisted on it. The network had never produced a comedy without one, and “got their way” because “they were paying for dinner,” according to Gelbart. Gelbart and the other developers did win some concessions, however — there was never canned laughter during scenes in the surgical tent, season 6 onward featured a much quieter laugh track, and the DVD release has the option to watch the show with no fake laughter at all.
