The confusing saga of M*A*S*H on television continues today with the news that ION will be returning M*A*S*H to its schedule beginning this Saturday (February 20th). Recall that ION dropped the series in October of 2009:

There has been a schedule change and the program “M*A*S*H” is no longer part of our lineup. This program’s run on the network has ended. Thank you for contacting ION Media Networks.

On January 13th of this year, however, Sitcoms Online reported that the very first episode of M*A*S*H would air on Saturday, March 6th at 3PM. Then, on February 9th, Sitcoms Online revealed that M*A*S*H would run from 3-4PM on Saturdays. Today from Sitcoms Online comes the news that M*A*S*H will also air Monday through Friday from 4-5PM, replacing Texas Justice, starting February 22nd.

According to television listings at TVGuide.com, M*A*S*H will actually return on Saturday, February 20th at 3PM with the pilot, followed by the second episode at 3:30PM. It will also be seen on Sunday, February 21st from 3-5PM with the next four episodes from the first season, followed by the next two episodes on Monday, February 22nd from 4-5PM. Here’s what the regular weekly schedule looks like at the moment:

Saturdays: 3-4PM (Beginning February 20th)
Sundays: 3-5PM (Beginning February 21st)
Mon-Fri: 4-5PM (Beginning February 22nd)

TVGuide.com’s listings only run through Monday, March 1st; for the next two weeks, at least, this schedule holds true. I don’t receive ION so I won’t be able to confirm that the series is airing, however.

Edit: As I was writing this post, Gavin e-mailed me the following:

This past Saturday, my PVR recorded M*A*S*H from ION. Yay! I googled a bit, and it turns out, M*A*S*H is now back on Ion twice a day Monday through Saturday, starting 22 February.

So Gavin’s PVR adds more confirmation to the return of M*A*S*H on ION. But will the return be Saturday, February 20th or Monday, February 22nd?

The Name That Episode game is played Tuesdays and Thursdays. Players can participate as often as they like. An archive of past rounds can be found here. Today’s image can be found below. Can you name the episode it’s from? Feel free to post guesses in the comments section. As always, the winner gets bragging rights.

And the Winner Is: Chuckles, who correctly identified “Ain’t Love Grand“

Name That Episode

The Name That Episode game is played Tuesdays and Thursdays. Players can participate as often as they like. An archive of past rounds can be found here. Today’s image can be found below. Can you name the episode it’s from? Feel free to post guesses in the comments section. As always, the winner gets bragging rights.

And the Winner Is: PinkPagoda, who correctly identified “The Best of Enemies“

Name That Episode

As promised, I’ve updated my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis with new information relating to Super Bowl XLIV, which broke several records that for 27 years were held by M*A*S*H and its series finale. Despite no longer being the most-watched television broadcast in the United States (nor the broadcast seen by the most television households), “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” is still the highest-RATED television broadcast of all time, with a huge 60.2 Nielsen rating.

I’ve rewritten portions of the analysis and added citations rather than just a list of sources.

Super Bowl XLIV, which pitted Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints, was watched by 106,476,000 million viewers, topping the record of 105,970,000 viewers set by the series finale of M*A*S*H 27 years ago on February 28th, 1983. The game is now the most-WATCHED or most-VIEWED single television program in the United States. The game also set a new record for so-called “total viewers” (those who watched all or part of the broadcast) with 153.4 million viewers. The M*A*S*H finale had a total viewership of 121.62; its record was eclipsed in 1986 by Super Bowl XX.

The president of CBS News and Sports, Sean McManus, had this to say about the record-breaking performance of Super Bowl XLIV:

It was going to happen at some point. I loved ‘M*A*S*H’ and watched it all the time. But all of us in the industry are relieved that we don’t have to hear that the Super Bowl was the second- or third-highest-rated broadcast in history, three million behind ‘M*A*S*H.’

I should point out that McManus misspoke; Super Bowl XLIV may be the most-WATCHED broadcast but it isn’t even close to being the highest-RATED. The game averaged a 45.0 Nielsen rating, much lower than the 60.2 rating for the M*A*S*H finale. According to this TVByTheNumbers.com list, Super Bowl XLIV’s 45.0 rating ties for 26th with the 1971 Bob Hope Christmas Show on the list of highest-rated programs. Because there are more television households today than there were in 1983, that 45.0 rating equals 51,728,000 homes, compared to the 50,146,600 who watched the M*A*S*H finale. That was another 27-year-record broken by Super Bowl XLIV.

I’m sure there are a lot of M*A*S*H fans disappointed to see the record for most-watched program broken. But remember that population growth made it inevitable. On the other hand, in today’s fractured media environment, the fact that Super Bowl XLIV managed to draw more than 100 million viewers is quite the achievement. Alan Alda told The New York Times “I’m happy for New Orleans. I want to see that city come out first in every way that it can, even if it means giving up a record that ‘M*A*S*H’ held for a long time.”

To sum up, the M*A*S*H finale now holds just one record. It is still the highest-RATED single television broadcast of all time. As Alan Alda suggested, however, making direct comparison betweens the two broadcasts is unnecessary: “We hit it out of the park, and so did New Orleans. Do I have the sports analogy right?”

I’ll be updating my Goodbye, Farewell and Amen Ratings Analysis later this week.