It’s that time again. Time to look back at everything that happened relating to our favorite show in 2018. This is my 16th annual Year in Review post; unfortunately, those published prior to 2007 are missing. Here’s a comprehensive overview of the anniversaries, the deaths, and all the M*A*S*H news from 2018.
Goodbye to Charles Emerson Winchester, III
Sadly, we lost another member of the M*A*S*H cast last year. David Ogden Stiers died on March 3rd at the age of 75. Scriptwriter Ken Levine, Alan Alda, and actor Jeff Maxwell paid tribute to their friend and co-star. Also, both MeTV and WGN America aired special episodes of M*A*S*H in honor of Stiers.
The past few years have been rough for the M*A*S*H family and fan community. Wayne Rogers died on December 31st, 2015. William Christopher died exactly a year later on December 31st, 2016. The loss of David Ogden Stiers means there are just five members of the cast still with us: Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Gary Burghoff, Jamie Farr, and Mike Farrell.
Other deaths in 2018: actor Mickey Jones (February 7th), actor Soon-Tek Oh (April 4th), actor Tim O’Connor (April 5th), 20th Century Fox publicist Chuck Panama (May 13th), scriptwriter Thad Mumford (September 6th), and actress Pat Gelbart (December 11th), who was Larry Gelbart’s widow.
Anniversaries
The pivotal Season 1 episode “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet” celebrated its 45th anniversary in January. “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” celebrated its milestone 35th anniversary in February. In September, M*A*S*H marked its 46th anniversary.
M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)
M*A*S*H began streaming on Hulu on June 29th. The newly remastered episodes are in high definition and widescreen. The same episodes became available for purchase on iTunes in November. There’s been no word on whether these new high definition and widescreen episodes will be released on Blu-ray or air on television.
Other News
The Hollywood Reporter published a lengthy oral history of M*A*S*H in February to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the series finale. A follow-up was published a week later, with additional stories from the cast and crew.
In April, Kritzerland Records released a partial M*A*S*H soundtrack on CD, part of a compilation containing music composed and conducted by Johnny Mandel.
Alan Alda revealed he has Parkinson’s Disease on July 31st.
The outdoor M*A*S*H filming location burned down in November when the devastating Woolsey Fire tore through the Malibu Creek State Park.
20th Century Fox re-released M*A*S*H on DVD in October with a new 34-disc complete collection set.
In November, Alan Alda announced plans to reunite the surviving M*A*S*H cast members on his “Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda” podcast. No date has been set. Later that month, a prop painting from the Season 10 episode “Picture This” sold for over $16,000 at auction.
Happy New Year
I’ve been concluding my Year in Review posts with a quote from Season 9’s “A War For All Seasons” for years:
Colonel Potter: “Here’s to the new year. May she be a damn sight better than the old one, and may we may we all be home before she’s over.”
I’ve tried to find a happier reference to New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day on M*A*S*H but there simply weren’t very many. There was this exchange from “Hot Lips and Empty Arms” during Season 2:
Margaret: “Did either of you ever kiss Frank?”
Trapper: “Not me. How about you?”
Hawkeye: “I was hoping maybe this New Year’s Eve.
Margaret: “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but Frank Burns is a lipless wonder.”
Also, there were jokes about New Year’s Eve or Day in “Yankee Doodle Doctor” (Season 1), “The Army-Navy Game” (Season 1), “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” (Season 5), “Your Hit Parade” (Season 6), and “Communications Breakdown” (Season 10).
Happy New Year, everyone. I’m in the early stages of redesigning the layout for MASH4077TV.com but can’t make any promises about when it will be completed. If I can find the time, I’ll be updating the Music of M*A*S*H section as well.
Thanks for keeping this site running RJ. M*A*S*H is such a great show, and having a place to come to that is still active and updated, and has other people who love the show like me is truly something special.
Hoping for a happy and safe new years for everyone.
To all the regulars:
RJ
Lady, You ARE A Piece of Cornbread
Seoul City Sue
BDOR
Chauncey Uppercrust
GM
HannibalMO
buckeyebabe
penguinphysics
converse_craig
Crabapple Cove
futurenurse
restthefuture
Larry P
Ferret Face
Latinogram
Doc Funnypants
and everyone I forgot! Thanks for keeping the site active. Here’s to an even more active 2019!
Thanks 007, and I want to share the in the thanks to RJ for keeping this site running. Having a place to discuss this wonderful show with other fans is truly a delight. Here’s to a wonderful 2019 to the rest of you!!
Thanks, 007! I still love this show and I try to get my students to give it a try. Sadly, about 85% seem to think it’s too boring (no explicit sex/violence) but there are a few who do appreciate it. It’s a weekly pleasure of mine to see RJ’s posts, particularly the episode spotlights.
Thanks, 007! May Jesus bless you and everyone else that uses this site!
Oh, and RJ, thank you for keeping this site up and running! I’m an old-fashioned teen who likes shows like MASH and Charlie’s Angels instead of Big Bang Theory and other comedies of today. I don’t have many friends, and I love the sense of friendship that this site has. Jesus bless you!
Well said, 007. Thanks to RJ and all the commenters.
Happy New Year to all.
Just found out some more sad news. It seems Beeson Carroll left us in March this year. It doesn’t look like it was reported anywhere. .
I found out watching this tribute to Hill Street Blue’s cast and crew who died this year.
https://www.facebook.com/owain.mattocks/videos/10218327804409384/
Wow. That’s a surprise, and so is the delay in learning about this.
A lot of years ago, I managed to eventually get a full cast B/W photo from the “Margaret’s Marriage” photo completely signed by the entire 5th season cast (after waiting for Loretta Swit to come out of a one-woman play she was doing in Des Moines, Iowa). Beeson Carroll is standing dead-center in the back of that photo. I had several people ask me if I was going to try to mail the picture to him to get his signature to truly complete the picture. And my response was always: “Are you crazy? I’m not going to risk losing THIS just to get Beeson Carroll’s autograph!!!”
The actor’s passing now means we just have one person in the world who ever played Lt. Col. Donald Penobscott. And it leaves us with no person in the world named “Beeson.”
Thanks for another great year on this website. I check in several times a week to keep up with the content and comments. I have not watched much M*A*S*H the past 6 months due to a good bit of personal life disruption. Thanks again RJ for keeping this place going and thank you to those who comment and make this site a great place to share memories of the show.
Best wishes for 2019 and beyond!
Thought I’d add my thanks as well to RJ for consistently keeping this site alive and running. I too do not watch many of the sitcoms of today due to the forced humor, crudeness and lack of creativity. I love MASH and always will – it never gets old for me, no matter what episode I watch.
Happy New Year to all of you and looking forward to what’s in store for this site!
Happy New Year to you, too, TWoods! God bless!
Happy New Year to everyone on this site! May we have prosperous year in 2019! God bless!