By the premiere of season nine, M*A*S*H had moved to Monday nights on CBS. It was a tentpole series for the network, and the start of a new season was a major event. In a press release, CBS announced the season nine premiere episode would air on Monday, November 17, 1980. The episode, “The Best of Enemies” (09×01), would kick off the season. In the days before social media and the internet, these press releases were vital to the success of television series. National and local news outlets would report the fall lineups for each of the major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC). With only three networks, competition was fierce for the American audience. Let’s take a brief look at this document.
Dated October 29, 1980, this press release from CBS announced the season nine premiere episode of M*A*S*H. The release outlined the primary cast, the guest stars (this would mark the fourth, and final, guest appearance by Mako), and the primary crew members. What is interesting about this release, however, is what it did not include. The title of the episode isn’t listed. While that may not be important to most, the episode titles were listed on other press releases. But what is really missing is a synopsis of the episode. It was nice to know that M*A*S*H was returning in a few weeks, but I am surprised they didn’t at least tease what the episode would be about. I am sure this information was sent out prior to the episode airing, but if they were announcing the premiere episode, why not include the synopsis?
This is an interesting insight into how CBS would provide information to the press and it affiliates. While it is possible that this document is part of a larger set of documents announcing season nine, it is more likely that the actual information about the episode came from 20th Century Fox Television instead of CBS. We have seen examples of season press kits from Fox before (season 10 and season 11), and they include far more details than this sheet. As the production studio, Fox would tout the series far more the network as they had a full, seven night lineup to worry about. Nevertheless, this one sheet provided a fair amount of information about the series and the start of season nine.
The M*A*S*H Historian 