I have written about M*A*S*H press kits for season ten and season eleven in the past, and those kits were released as previews before those seasons aired on CBS. I was really surprised to find out that Twentieth Century Fox Television sent out a kit celebrating M*A*S*H‘s 15th anniversary in 1987. This isn’t your typical press kit, however. M*A*S*H had been in syndication for over a decade by the time this kit was released, and the show ended four years prior. This kit of documents was likely sent to television stations that had purchased syndication packages of M*A*S*H. It included details that they could use in their local media to promote the reruns of M*A*S*H on their station, and it also provided theme week ideas for stations. This week, we dig deeper into this M*A*S*H 15th anniversary kit from 1987.
Presented in a unique folder with new M*A*S*H branding for the 15th anniversary, this kit contained a number of items to be used by television stations to help promote M*A*S*H in their local markets. In a cover letter dated July 31, 1987, Chuck Panama provided a description of the series, boasted about the high ratings of the series finale, listed prominent guest stars who made an appearance in the series (including Joan Van Ark, Ned Beatty, Ed Begley Jr., Shelly Long, Pat Morita, Leslie Nielsen, John Ritter, Susan St. James, etc.), reviewed the world wide reach of M*A*S*H (airing in over 54 countries), and discussed the lasting legacy of the series four years after the finale aired. It includes language that the local stations could use to advertise M*A*S*H on their newscasts or in local newspaper advertisements. The kit included a mix of materials that could be used to create themed weeks of episodes with topics such as holidays and the favorite episodes of each of the main cast members. The full contents of this kit included:
- 15th Anniversary Folder
- “M*A*S*H Celebrates its 15th Anniversary and Still Going Strong”
- “M*A*S*H General Information: Chronology of Awards and Nominations”
- “M*A*S*H Trivia Time”
- “M*A*S*H Theme Week Suggestions”
- “Stars of M*A*S*H Pick their Favorite Episodes”
- 11 Cast Biographies (one for each of the main cast members from all eleven seasons)
- 9 – 8″ x 10″ Black and White Cast Photos
- 4 – Color Slides (Cast Photos)
I have previously written about two M*A*S*H syndication kits from 1984 and 1990 , and this kit falls neatly in the middle. These materials supplement the kit from 1984 well, and I believe this was a great way to drum up renewed interest in M*A*S*H on its 15th anniversary. Despite ending four years prior, M*A*S*H continued to be a ratings success for local markets in syndication. Twentieth Century Fox Television provided a lot of data in the 1990 syndication kit demonstrating how local markets benefited from airing M*A*S*H in syndication. The show often rated higher than some of the new shows that were in production in 1987. The impact of M*A*S*H reached beyond its eleven year run, and this kit shows how Fox wanted to help its syndication customers capitalize on the opportunity.
This kit is an important part of the M*A*S*H story. The series ended in 1983, but it did not go off the air. In fact, it has never been off the air since it debuted in 1972. Syndication was how fans of the show continued to watch the show after ended in 1983, and syndication introduced new generations of fans to the series. I would argue that M*A*S*H‘s popularity in syndication led to the DVD releases in the early 2000s and its current streaming status on Hulu. There are several shows from M*A*S*H‘s era that have never been released on DVD and aren’t available to stream, but many of them were also never available in syndication. Syndication kept a series in the cultural zeitgeist. I started watching M*A*S*H in the 1990s when it aired several times a day on my local ABC affiliate. A very common story that I hear from Millennial and Gen Z M*A*S*H fans is that they watched the show with a parent or grandparent. Without syndication, and now streaming, that would not be possible. Milestone anniversaries of M*A*S*H have been celebrated with the most recent being the 50th anniversary in 2022. I hope that we continue to celebrate this groundbreaking series as more people are introduced to it through changing media landscapes.
The M*A*S*H Historian 