Why M*A*S*H Seemed To Come To A Screeching Halt
The popularity of "M*A*S*H" is well-documented: Its record-setting finale telecast, which captivated 125 million people in total, is cited in media studies lessons, bar trivia games, and world record books alike. But when we talk about how "M*A*S*H" went out on a high note with the most-watched non-Super Bowl telecast of all time, we don't often talk about what those viewership numbers make clear: The show ended while plenty of fans were still clamoring for more.
"M*A*S*H" ran for 11 seasons before bowing out with the feature-length finale, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen." But unlike most shows that fizzle out after a long run or are canceled after a short one, "M*A*S*H" didn't have trouble getting audiences' attention. According to classic TV ratings databases, nine of the show's seasons were among the top 10 most-watched shows on TV, and millions of fans tuned in regularly even before its big finish. By all indications, the later seasons didn't dip in ratings, so why did "M*A*S*H" end when it did?
Apparently, the decision to end "M*A*S*H" came down to star, writer, and director Alan Alda. In an interview shared by the National Museum of American History, Alda said, "I felt that we were running out of steam, and repeating ourselves. And I personally wanted to go out on a high note, artistically." Other actors were apparently on board as well. In Suzy Kalter's "The Complete Book of M*A*S*H," which was published in 1984, Colonel Potter actor Harry Morgan said that "'M*A*S*H' would still be going on today if Alan [Alda] and Mike [Farrell] and Loretta [Swit] and David [Ogden Stiers] hadn't said they'd had enough." The major castmates not mentioned by name here — Morgan, Jamie Farr, and William Christopher — later infamously attempted to recapture the magic of "M*A*S*H" in the failed sitcom "AfterMASH."
'We wanted to go out while we were still proud'
Executive producer and latter-season showrunner Burt Metcalfe echoes Alan Alda's sentiments almost exactly in Suzy Kalter's book, saying, "We wanted to go out while we were still proud and still a ratings success. We didn't ever want to seem like a punch-drunk fighter who has been in the ring too long and sees a once-memorable career beginning to deteriorate." According to Metcalfe, the decision to end the show was made during the 10th season when CBS "kept asking" if the cast and crew of "M*A*S*H" wanted to continue. "Alan pretty much spearheaded the situation," Metcalfe said, and "it was decided that [season 11] would be the last year."
Unlike other long-running series, "M*A*S*H" has relatively few cracks in its later seasons, which actually include some of its most memorable and experimental moments. Sure, some episodes feel like retreads, but others dig deeper into the characters than ever before, and the show was perhaps never better than in its pitch-perfect finale. According to supervising producer John Rappaport, the latter seasons' success may have had something to do with the way the show's writing style shifted in later years to rely less on firsthand accounts from real military doctors.
Writers had to get creative in the later seasons
"In the early years, there were a whole lot of ideas from the research to draw upon," John Rappaport said in "The Complete Book of M*A*S*H." As he explained, "Later on, as our story sources started to dry up, as the doctors we talked to repeated stories we had already heard or used, we would get a germ of an idea as a starting point and then work to develop it into an actual flowing storyline." Rappaport said that the final four seasons focused a lot more on characterization, on trying to "deal with the personalities of the characters, dream up things that would happen to them." That character work shines through in great latter-run episodes like the real-time half-hour "Life Time," the heartbreaking Christmas-set chapter "Death Takes a Holiday," and a two-part farewell to Radar (Gary Burghoff).
It was smart of Alan Alda, Burt Metcalfe, and others involved in the decision to end "M*A*S*H" on a high note. From "Scrubs" to "Supernatural" to "The Walking Dead," countless once-acclaimed shows have limped their way to the finish line with a few too many seasons. It's rare for the people involved in a TV show — especially a super-popular and lucrative one — to put their egos aside and think about what's best for the story being told. In this case, it paid off big-time, as "M*A*S*H" ended on the highest of high notes, becoming an unforgettable part of TV history in the process.