In the 1970s and 1980s, the Nielsen ratings ruled the television airwaves because they determined the success, failure, and ad rates for popular shows. Each series fought to be the top rated because that meant more advertising revenue for the networks. M*A*S*H was rarely the highest rated show over the course of a season, but it was regularly in the top ten, and often in the top five. For some, it came as a surprise when the M*A*S*H finale broke all previous Nielsen viewership ratings (and it remains to be one the highest scripted/non-sports event in the history of television)! But there was some indication that M*A*S*H had gained in the Nielsen ratings in its final season. Fox and CBS both were publicizing that the eleventh season would be M*A*S*H‘s last, and there was a lot of interest in how the series would end. This week, we look at an article discussing the top ten rated shows for the first 20 weeks of the 1982 – 1983 season.
M*A*S*H had respectable ratings in each season but its first. Famously, M*A*S*H was near the bottom of the ratings rankings in its debut season, but fans caught the reruns over the summer of 1973, and they tuned in for season two. After that, M*A*S*H had solid ratings, but it was never a dominant show in the ratings (see a great summary of the weekly Nielsen ratings of M*A*S*H on MASH4077TV.com). But the hype of the final season definitely provided a bump. In this draft of a syndicated article by Lee Winfrey dated February 16, 1983, Winfrey reveals the top ten rated shows so far that season. This calculation, released by Nielsen, took an average of the ratings for the first 20 weeks of the season. In that ranking, M*A*S*H placed third behind the popular news program 60 Minutes and the evening drama, Dallas. In fact, the record broken by M*A*S*H for “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was previously set by Dallas for the famous “Who shot J.R.” episode in 1980. M*A*S*H was ahead of all other sitcoms and even the popular Monday Night Football. This was a very respectable showing for M*A*S*H as it was the highest rated 30 minute show of the season to that point, and the next highest in the lineup is Three’s Company in sixth place. The article goes on to point out that the top ten was dominated by CBS, the network on which M*A*S*H aired.
Of course, two weeks after this article was published, M*A*S*H smashed all Nielsen records with its series finale. I would argue that the ratings of M*A*S*H up that point in season eleven was an indicator that the finale was poised to break records. The audience was there as the series neared its end. As I mentioned, M*A*S*H had done well in the ratings, but it was rarely the top half hour sit-com. Season eleven struck fans because they didn’t want to miss out on the end of the series, and this article shows that M*A*S*H ended with strong ratings beyond what it earned for “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” which received mixed reviews. It is easy to look back at the finale and forget that there were 15 other episodes in the season. This article shows that, through January 1983, M*A*S*H was one of the highest rated shows on television, and that didn’t include the final few episodes or the finale. Thanks to Winfrey’s article, we see that M*A*S*H fans tuned in for the final season which allowed the series to truly go out on top, and not only because of “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.”
The M*A*S*H Historian 