The 2010-2011 television starts tonight, making today the first day of “Premiere Week,” when the television networks roll out the bulk of their new and returning programs in the hopes of attracting the most viewers. The first week of the 1972-1973 season began 38 years ago on Monday, September 11th, 1972. Among the new shows making their debut that week was M*A*S*H, which aired its first episode on Sunday, September 17th, 1972 from 7:30-8PM on CBS. You can watch the CBS fall preview for M*A*S*H here and learn more about how CBS promoted the premiere here.

It seems like only yesterday that M*A*S*H was celebrating its 30th anniversary. Just think, in two years we’ll be at the 40th anniversary.

According to the Sitcoms Online News Blog, Ion Television will be expanded its weekend programming in early October by adding the 2PM and 3PM hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Previously, the network had aired paid programming from 2-4PM on weekends followed by movies. Beginning in October, movies will begin at 2PM with the occasional episodes of M*A*S*H and another sitcom, My Name is Earl, as filler when needed. Thus, M*A*S*H will no longer have a regular spot on the Ion Television schedule. In fact, based on the October schedule available here, M*A*S*H will air just once in October, on Sunday, October 24th from 1-1:30PM.

With M*A*S*H “resting” at The Hallmark Channel and more or less removed from Ion Television, that means only TV Land is still airing the series on a regular basis. Beginning later this month, it will be aired from 4-6AM Tuesday through Saturday morning and from 8-10PM on Saturday. The series also airs locally in some parts of the country.

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.

Note: I won’t be chiming in with a hint or confirmation of the correct episode until around 7:00PM Eastern.

And the Winner Is: Chai, who correctly identified “An Eye For a Tooth.”

Name That Episode

I’ve been going through some of my archived M*A*S*H content and came across the following two page excerpt from an unidentified magazine that features photographs of the cast (from later seasons) as children. Someone sold the two pages on eBay in 2004 and I saved the images but failed to write down any information about the magazine itself. The article is about Alan Alda and was written by David S. Reiss, author of M*A*S*H: The Exclusive, Inside Story of TV’s Most Popular Show; only a portion of the article is included here, it continued later in the magazine. I don’t know when it was published; the only legible date is May 1980, connected to a brief paragraph written by Alan Alda.

M*A*S*H Cast as Children

M*A*S*H Cast as Children

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.

Note: Starting today, I won’t be chiming in with a hint or confirmation of the correct episode until around 7:00PM Eastern.

And the Winner Is: PinkPagoda, who correctly identified “Officers Only.”

Name That Episode