It seems that Hallmark Channel has pulled M*A*S*H from its schedule once again. According to the cable channel’s online schedule, M*A*S*H is nowhere to be seen through Saturday, August 14th. Hallmark started airing the series in September of 2003 and showed it consistently until October 2009, I believe, when it was pulled for the first time. It returned later that month only to be pulled again in November, not returning until January of 2010. It was pulled in February and didn’t return until May.

How Hallmark hopes to build its audience when it constantly changes its schedule is beyond me? And M*A*S*H isn’t the only show to suffer from abrupt removals and surprise returns. On the other hand, Hallmark must be doing something right because it was the 23rd most-watched ad-supported cable channel in prime time for the week ending July 18th, according to Media Life Magazine.

Thanks to arlo, who left a comment on my February post about M*A*S*H and Hallmark Channel, I can report that as of this Monday (May 10th) M*A*S*H has once again returned to Hallmark Channel, with four episodes airing Monday through Friday from 5-7PM. There’s no way of knowing how long the show will stay on the air this time around; the Hallmark Channel online schedule has it scheduled at least through Friday, June 4th. According to this post at the Hallmark Channel forums, M*A*S*H can now be seen in high definition on Hallmark Channel HD.

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?

Shawn sent me an e-mail to let me know that Hallmark Channel has once again removed M*A*S*H from its lineup. According to Shawn, this is the third time in five months that the cable channel has pulled the series. According to the Sitcoms Online Blog, a two-hour weekday block of M*A*S*H from 5-7PM has been replaced by Seventh Heaven. Shawn also found this January 18th MediaPost article that suggests the move might be permanent:

“Certainly, we keep an eye on all demographics,” says Abbott. “But we don’t program to attract 18-49, and we certainly don’t sell our advertising inventory to deliver 18-49.” Abbott says the new programming efforts, starting in the summer, are intended to shift Hallmark to more 25-54 viewers, from 65-plus viewers.

“It takes a while to build some momentum,” he says. “But we really hit our stride in the fourth quarter in December.” Through it all, Hallmark has remained in the top 10 of all cable networks in household and key women 25-54 ratings.

[...]

He says the network is looking to shift away from older off-network fare, like “Touched by an Angel,” “Golden Girls,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “MASH” and other shows the network airs.

Recall that broadcast network ION dropped M*A*S*H in October of 2009. Cable channel TV Land also airs the series; if Hallmark Channel does decide to remove M*A*S*H for good, TV Land will be the only place to see the series on television unless you’re lucky enough to have a local broadcast station that airs the series.

Monday, February 15th, 2010 Update: According to a post at Hallmark Channel’s Facebook page, M*A*S*H will be returning to the cable channel eventually. Here’s the full post, which was in reply to a question from Matthew about why Hallmark continually removes M*A*S*H from its schedule:

Hallmark Channel USA
Matthew,
First of all thanks for letting us know how you feel. We love praise, but its important to know when our fans have something else to say, too. Also, let us apologize. You are right, we need to do a better job of keeping people up to date on schedule changes. We will try to do that on this page and on our twitter feed @hallmarkchannel. MASH will return to Hallmark Channel, but we don’t have a firm date to give you. But when it does we will post it right here. Thanks
February 2 at 10:25pm

Hallmark’s Twitter page can be found here. Perhaps an announcement regarding M*A*S*H will be forthcoming.

Just when it looked like M*A*S*H was back on the Hallmark Channel schedule for good it seems that Hallmark has decided to pull the bulk of its regular programming in order to air holiday movies through December. Shawn e-mailed me a few days ago to let me know that M*A*S*H was off the Hallmark schedule through December 12th. According to the Hallmark website, although various sitcoms will still be shown from 9:00AM-12:00PM, movies will fill the schedule from 12:00PM to 12:00AM. Once the holiday season has passed I imagine Hallmark will revert to its normal schedule and M*A*S*H will return.