What’s New for the M*A*S*H Historian in 2025?

As we begin 2025, I wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year, and share a few changes that I have planned for The M*A*S*H Historian this year. While that may sound ominous, the two changes that I am planning are good things, and I think everyone will enjoy both. I am adding two new post types to join the weekly posts that currently consist of Script Spotlight, Press Pass, From the M*A*S*H Library, MishM*A*S*H, and M*A*S*H-ish. My goal with both of the new posts is to keep the audience engaged, and to keep myself engaged as well. I am in my fourth year of The M*A*S*H Historian, and I have wanted to expand to keep things fresh and exciting.

M*A*S*H Headlines

The first new post in 2025 will be called “M*A*S*H Headlines.” As I mentioned in my third anniversary post, I was concerned about running out of content for the Press Pass posts. There are only so many press materials, and I am running out of ways to explain the purpose of a press release or press photo. A few months ago, I signed up for a membership of newspapers.com to research several M*A*S*H related topics as well as to gather materials on MASH units in Korea. In the process, I got the idea to gather reviews and reactions to major events throughout M*A*S*H‘s original run. For the last three years, with the Press Pass posts, I have been reviewing materials from the point of view of 20th Century Fox and CBS. But journalists, columnists, and fans were also writing in and to their local newspapers about M*A*S*H. I want to see how the press covered various M*A*S*H events in the era.

I have seven “M*A*S*H Headlines” posts planned that will cover topics including:

• Reviews of the M*A*S*H movie in 1970, and reactions to it being banned by the U.S. military
• Reactions to the M*A*S*H pilot episode in 1972
• The mixed reaction to the death of Col Henry Blake in 1975
• How various cast changes were reviewed at the time
• The headlines surrounding the final day of filming in January 1983
• The initial reviews of the M*A*S*H finale
• Reviews and reactions to AfterMASH

The “M*A*S*H Headlines” posts will run alternating months with new Press Pass posts, and there is enough material for 2025 and beyond. I am excited to explore the headlines made by M*A*S*H over the decades, and I view the new “M*A*S*H Headlines” posts to be in conversation with Press Pass posts. The first “M*A*S*H Headlines” post will be published in February!

2025 M*A*S*H Rewatch

I am embarrassed to admit, but it has been years since I have sat down and watched M*A*S*H from start to finish in broadcast order. That is going to change in 2025! Starting today, I am going to rewatch the series, and my goal is to watch all 251 episodes by the end of November 2025. To hold myself accountable to keeping this “New Year’s resolution,” I am posting about it today, and I am also going to post a monthly review of each season of M*A*S*H. On the final day of each month from January through November, I will post a season “wrap-up” for all eleven seasons of the series. In the wrap-up post, I will give my thoughts on the season overall, call out some of my favorite episodes, list the errors I find, and note any new discoveries I make.

While I do watch one episode a month for the Script Spotlight posts, I always watch it while following along with the script. With this rewatch, I am not going to do that. I am going to give my full attention to the episode, then I plan to note some of my thoughts after watching. This will help me make notes for my posts, and I like the idea of journaling my thoughts on each episode. It will give me something to look back on in the years to come to see if my thoughts/feelings about each episode has changed. I also plan to rewatch the series using my original DVDs from the mid-2000s, so now I have to decide whether I watch the show with the laugh track turned on or turned off?

I am excited for 2025 because I feel like I am going to discover M*A*S*H from a new perspective with the “M*A*S*H Headlines” posts, and I am going to reacquaint myself with the series with a full rewatch. I downloaded over 530 newspapers over the last several weeks, and the variety of headlines and comments about M*A*S*H has surprised me. Reading how people reacted to the show when it was new will offer a fresh perspective for me, and I hope it offers some insights to fans of the series today. As for the rewatch, I am doing that for the fun of it! I truly love the show, and while The M*A*S*H Historian is a site where I can discuss the series, I feel like that I have gotten so wrapped up in the “stuff” that I have neglected the most important thing: M*A*S*H itself.

Happy new year, and always, I love engaging with the M*A*S*H community, so feel free to contact me or join me on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Tumblr, and Bluesky!