This slipped past me but Aaron Handy III sent me an e-mail reminding me that it was 35 years ago last week that the feature film version of MASH had its network broadcast premiere. CBS aired the movie from 9-11PM as part of its CBS Friday Night Movie (it followed the series premiere of Planet of the Apes). The third season of M*A*S*H had premiered three days earlier on Tuesday, September 10th.
The broadcast ranked 18th for the week (for the record, M*A*S*H was 11th and Planet of the Apes 37th) [1]. CBS aired the movie again on Friday, March 5th, 1976. Here’s part of a full-page ad CBS ran in The New York Times promoting its Friday line-up:
Anyone remember watching this first network broadcast of the movie that spawned the series?
Sources:
“Rhoda Debut Tops National Nielsens.” Los Angeles Times. 19 Sep. 1974: H22.
Aaron, it looks like I accidentally deleted your comment while clearing out spam. So sorry!
I said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Wow! Your ad for the film looks better than mine! 😀
Thanks for adding the tidbit. 8)
(Good thing I printed this blog entry! 😉 )
Hmm…apparently my hometown’s CBS station, WWL-TV, bumped that night’s broadcast premiere of the 1970 MASH movie in favor of a local airing of Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun (as part of “Hollywood Premiere”). They rescheduled it across the board at 11:30PM. Perhaps they felt it unsuitable for family hour? :/
And of course this year marked the Ruby Anniversary of MASH‘s networkcast premiere on CBS (1974-2014). 🙂