MishM*A*S*H 28: M*A*S*H Syndication Kit (1984)

When the M*A*S*H finale aired on CBS on February 28, 1983, that was not the end of the series. 20th Century Fox Television had successfully sold the series to CBS in 1972, but their new challenge was to sell M*A*S*H again, this time in syndication. Keeping the series on the air in reruns on local tv stations by selling syndication packages was profitable for the studio and provided content for the local stations. The syndication deals would also keep M*A*S*H on tv for fans and help the show find new, younger viewers. Fox was very successful keeping the series running in syndication, and when a television station purchased a package of programming they would often get “goodie bag” of information, promo reels, and promotional items for the series. In 1984, Fox created a M*A*S*H a syndication kit that resembled an Army crate. I have one of these kits in the collection, so let’s take a look.

Before we open the syndication kit box, I want to briefly discuss M*A*S*H in syndication and how syndication works. There are a number of rules surrounding the rebroadcast of network television shows that results in additional payment for the network, the actors, and for certain members of the crew. These payments are called residuals, but I am not going into detail on pay structure. Syndication itself also had rules that dictated when and where a series could be shown. The first run syndication of the show was often run on the original network that aired it. However, that is not required. Any television station, regardless of its affiliation, can purchase syndication packages of shows. That is how I watched M*A*S*H on my local ABC affiliate in the 1990s, and not CBS. Fox published ratings in certain markets for M*A*S*H to entice stations to buy the series in syndication for their stations as well. Popular shows in syndication benefitted both the local station and production company because the local station could compete in its local market and the production company profited from the syndication deal. Today, M*A*S*H airs on channels such as TV Land and MeTV thanks to syndication packages.

Box & Pencil

The syndication kit is dated July 1984, and it came in a cardboard box that was made to resemble a crate that the 4077th might have received. The front and back are marked “Urgent: Laugh supplies,” and the sides have both the M*A*S*H and 20th Century Fox logos. The top of the box is labeled “Top entertainment inside.” The box is very eye-catching and does a great job of promoting the show. Inside, there are 14 folders arranged with information about the series and promotional material. I will discuss the materials in each folder, but the kit also included a unique bonus item: a M*A*S*H pencil! I have not seen this design elsewhere, so I believe it was exclusive to this syndication kit. It was a nice addition for whoever would have handled the materials at the station.

Bios & General Information

The goal of the materials inside the box was to give station managers and marketers series information and ideas to help promote the show that they just purchased. For M*A*S*H, the first folder contains general information about the series. There is a booklet, bound like a script, that contains general information about each season including the regular cast members and crew. Then, there is a packet of general information that includes cast biographies, cast contact information, M*A*S*H trivia, series awards and honors, and a list of each actors’ favorite episodes. These lists were included as ideas for theme weeks that the station could assemble. Since the station could air the episodes in any order they chose, they could create theme weeks such as “Loretta Swit’s favorite episodes,” “award winning episodes,” or they could come up with their own. Fox’s own marketing would provide ideas in the kit to help the stations come up with common theme weeks for holidays, special events, etc.

Episode Summaries

The general information folder was then followed by eleven folders, with one for each season. Each folder contained a cover sheet with the season number, each episode number, the production number, and the cover sheet was followed by pages with information about each episode. The episode pages included the name of the writer, the production number, a synopsis of the episode, and a list of cast members (primary and guest cast) in that episode. Strangely, it did not list the episode title, so you would have to flip back to the cover page to see the episode’s title. The pages are presented in production order number. The production numbers on the episodes were very important as they were printed on the 16mm film reel for each episode that would have accompanied the kit. That means that, in addition to this syndication kit, the station received 256+ film reels. (Note: There are two numbers often presented for the number of episodes in the series: 251 and 256. The number of episodes as originally aired was 251, but in syndication, one hour episodes were broken up into two half-hour episodes. That is how that count increased to 256.)

As I have read through the episode descriptions, they are not perfect. I have noticed some inaccuracies in some episodes’ synopsis. I wonder if the person who was tasked with writing this kit was either working from memory or reading copies of scripts because there are some scenes described in episodes that did not make it to air. This was not a big deal since the descriptions were too long for the stations to use in local press or marketing, but I was surprised to see some errors. I noticed that there are some errors with seasons ten and eleven due to the use of production numbers as the dividers. There was a writers’ strike in 1982 that delayed production of some M*A*S*H episodes to the final season. So there are several season eleven episodes with production numbers from season ten. Another interesting observation is that you can tell these pages were produced using a typewriter and not computers. In 1984 desktop publishing was not what it would become even less than a decade later, so the pages had to be typewritten.

Photographs

The kit includes a folder of 23 black and white photos of the cast. These photos feature the cast members individually and includes a number of group photos. All cast members are represented here, including cast members who left before the series ended. These photos could be used by the television station for marketing in the local press or on the station as stills. In the 1980s, the black and white photos would have been preferred by local newspapers since color printing was still fairly expensive.

Color Slides

However, if a local tv station wanted to use color photos on their network or in the local press, Fox also included 36 color slides in the kit. The slides were presented in slide pages with the 20th Century Fox logo and copyright information on each slide. Photos include scenes from the show, group cast photos, and individual actor photos. What I find interesting about the color slides is that there aren’t any photos of Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson. The photos/stills are all taken from the middle to late seasons of the series.

This syndication kit is mostly complete. Of course it is missing the 256+ 16mm film reels and any promotional cassettes and audio cassettes that would have also been included. It is possible that other “extras” besides the pencil were included and were taken by station employees decades ago. Nevertheless, this syndication kit from 1984 tells a very important story in the history of the series. After its initial run came to an end in February 1983, Fox still had to sell M*A*S*H into syndication. The amount of detail that went into making this kit which was provided to the local tv stations making that investment shows just how serious Fox was at keeping the stations happy. Judging by how many fans of the show there are today that weren’t even born when the show originally aired (myself included), I would stay that Fox was very successful at keeping M*A*S*H on the air and remains successful at doing so today.