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The following article is from the book Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Tunes Into TV.
The final episode of M*A*S*H aired on February 28, 1983. It wasn’t just a “TV event” …it was the most-watched episode in scripted TV history.
WAR IS SWELL
M*A*S*H was a sitcom based on a cynical movie inspired by a cynical book about an unpopular war. It was also one of the most successful TV shows of all time. Chronicling the doctors and nurses of the 4077TH Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War (1950-1953), the first season in 1972 drew such low ratings that CBS nearly canceled it. But they gave it a chance, and by season two, M*A*S*H was a top 10 show. For the remainder of its 11-year run, it never fell out of the top 20.
Until 1983, M*A*S*H was a fixture on Monday night at 9:00 PM on CBS. But by the time it ended, it had evolved into a much different show than it had been at the start.
FROM SILLY TO SERIOUS
The biggest reason for M*A*S*H‘s change in tone was Alan Alda, who starred as Captain “Hawkeye” Pierce, the unit’s chief surgeon. After series creator Larry Gelbart left the show in 1976, Alda took over as head writer. He, along with executive producer Burt Metcalfe, convinced CBS to phase out the laugh track and focus less on the doctors’ womanizing and pranks and more on character development and honest depictions of the horrors of war.
Result: M*A*S*H was no longer a comedy with occasional drama, but a drama with occasional comedy. “We’re recreating a time of suffering and joy and revelation that happened to real people at a real time,” said Alda. “We know what they went through. We can’t be casual in the face of that.”
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
M*A*S*H remained popular through all the changes, but after 10 seasons, Alda and company were running out of stories to tell about a three-year war. CBS wasn’t willing to call it a day, though, and convinced Metcalfe and Alda to return for a final season that would conclude in February 1983 with a movie-length finale.
That wasn’t Alda’s first choice. He wanted the last M*A*S*H to be a regular 30-minute episode. At the end of his version, the audience would hear the director yell “Cut!” and the camera would move back to reveal the crew. Alda would take off his surgical mask and address the viewers with a short, heartfelt tribute to veterans.
CBS nixed that plan, so Alda and eight other writers began penning “Goodby, Farewell, and Amen.”
more …
Actor Harry Morgan, best known for his roles as officer Bill Gannon in the TV series Dragnet and Colonel Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H, died today at his home in Los Angeles. There are 159 acting credits listed in Morgan’s IMDb entry. He began acting on stage in 1937 and tackled a wide variety of roles over the next half-century.
Mr. Morgan attracted attention almost immediately. In “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943), which starred Henry Fonda, he was praised for his portrayal of a drifter caught up in a lynching in a Western town. Reviewing “A Bell for Adano” (1945), based on John Hersey’s novel about the Army in a liberated Italian town, Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times that Mr. Morgan was “crude and amusing as the captain of M.P.’s.”
He went on to appear in “All My Sons” (1948), based on the Arthur Miller play, with Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster; “The Big Clock” (1948), in which he played a silent, menacing bodyguard to Charles Laughton; “Yellow Sky” (1949), with Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter; and the critically praised western “High Noon” (1952), with Gary Cooper. Among his other notable films were “The Teahouse of the August Moon” (1956), with Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford, and “Inherit the Wind” (1960), with Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, in which he played a small-town Tennessee judge hearing arguments about evolution in the fictionalized version of the Scopes “monkey trial.” In “How the West Was Won” (1962), he played Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
After a personable performance as Glenn Miller’s pianist, Chummy MacGregor, in “The Glenn Miller Story” (1954), starring James Stewart, he often played softer characters as well as his trademark hard-bitten tough guys. There were eventually a number of comedies on his résumé, among them “John Goldfarb, Please Come Home” (1965), with Shirley MacLaine and Peter Ustinov; “The Flim-Flam Man” (1967), with George C. Scott; “Support Your Local Sheriff!” (1969), with James Garner and Walter Brennan; and “The Apple Dumpling Gang” (1975), a Disney movie with Tim Conway and Don Knotts.
Harry Morgan was 96. Link -via Metafilter
HGTV forum user Kraw27 built a replica of the set from the TV show M*A*S*H in his backyard. As you can see from the other pictures, even the interiors are duplicated in stunning detail.
Link and More Pictures via Boing Boing
It’s hard to believe 26 years have passed since the TV series M*A*S*H aired its final episode. Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test how much you remember about the series. I was embarrassed to score only 80%. Some of the questions are hard! Link
You know them and love them (or maybe you hate them) – those T.V. theme songs that are so catchy they get in your head for days and refuse to leave. But how did they come to be in the first place? Here are the stories behind 10 of the most famous T.V. theme songs of all time. I could do 10 more pretty easily – if I missed your favorite, leave it in the comments and I’ll try to include it next time.
The
song was written by Robert Altman's son, Mike Altman, when he was only 14
years old. The tune was written by Johnny Mandel, a musician who worked
with Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee (among others). Mandel sings
the song as well. When Altman wrote the lyrics, he told producer Ingo Preminger
that he just wanted a guitar in return, but Preminger insisted that he be
paid the regular way and set up a contract that would give Altman royalties.
He ended up making more than a million dollars, at least according to his
dad, who directed the movie. Incidentally, Robert only received $75,000
for directing it.
According
to series producer Norman Lear, the reason Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton
sang the theme song themselves was simply to save costs. Although it was
the same thing at the beginning of every episode, there were a few different
versions. In one, Archie hugs Edith at the end. In another, Edith smiles
at Archie and he returns the look with one of irritation. And we shouldn't
be surprised that the lyrics and music were so memorable: songwriting
duo Charles Strouse and Lee Adams were very good at their jobs, having
already won a couple of Tony Awards (Bye Bye Birdie and Applause).
Another interesting tidbit: after the theme song aired for the first few
times, viewers wrote in and complained that they couldn't understand what
the actors were supposed to be saying, especially the line "Gee our old
LaSalle ran great." If you've ever wondered why that line is so clearly
enunciated in the theme song, that's why - Jean Stapleton recorded her
part again and made sure to speak ridiculously clearly during those words.
Composer
Vic Mizzy wrote the theme song, which is pretty well known, but what isn't
as commonly known is that he wrote the theme song for another very popular
sitcom from the same era. "The Munsters?" you might be wondering.
Nope - the other theme song is a true testament to Mizzy's versatility
- it was Green Acres. Mizzy also contributed parts to the Mr.
Ed and Petticoat Junction theme songs. He still receives
royalties every time The Addams Family theme is played, even
when it's on an organ at a baseball game. (Photo from VicMizzy.com)
This
tune joins the elite group of T.V. theme songs that were so popular they
actually ended up on the mainstream music charts. The song was written
and composed by Paul Henning, who was also the series' creator. The man
who sang the song, Jerry Scoggins, was a stockbroker trying to break into
the music business when he landed "The Ballad of Jed Clampett." This luck
break paired him with the legendary Foggy Mountain Boys, who played the
music that backed him. The Foggy Mountain Boys, Lester Flatt and Earl
Scruggs, were already well established in the country and bluegrass world
and had been members of the Grand Ole Opry for years... which probably
helped the theme song reach #44 on the charts in 1962.
What
ended up being one of the most recognizable theme songs of all time started
out as a very amateur recording done in a noisy house. Sherwood Schwartz,
the show's creator, couldn't afford to rent a recording studio to get
the theme down, so he called in a favor from a friend with the necessary
equipment. The only day they could all do it in time for the pilot was
a day that his friends were preparing for a big charity event at their
house, so the song had to be recorded when waiters weren't clattering
silverware and plates and serving trays around. It took forever to adjust
the levels just right; they finally got a usable take just as guests were
arriving for the event. It's not exactly the one we know today - Sherwood
had injected a sort of calypso solo that didn't make the cut - but it's
the general theme. And for the first season, the portion of the lyrics
that served as a roll call completely neglected poor Mary Ann and the
professor, saying, "The movie star and the rest, here on Gilligan's Isle!"
Schwartz said he never had an inkling that the professor and Mary Ann
would become such popular characters and therefore didn't think to name
them in the theme song. Although this changed by the second season, Dawn
Wells and Russell Johnson liked to send each other birthday cards and
presents with the signature "The Rest" as a nod to the first theme song.
For the first two seasons of the show, the theme song was simply an oldie
but goodie - Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock." And it
served the purpose just fine - it was so popular, in fact, that the song
recharted after nearly 20 years. After season two, though, they decided
to use an original song instead of Bill Haley's, and fans were already
familiar with it since it was being used as the closing theme music. "Happy
Days" got bumped up from the end of the show to the front, and the song
has been stuck in our heads ever since. It was written by Charles Fox
and Norman Gimbel, who gave us the lyrics and music to a ton of other
memorable theme songs: Laverne and Shirley, Lifestyles of the Rich
and Famous, Wonder Woman and the score for H.R. Pufnstuf.
"Happy Days" was performed by a roster of studio musicians, including
some of the same guys who sang The Partridge Family theme song.
As popular as the Happy Days theme song was, they decided to
record a new version of it for the show's final season. It didn't go over
as well, and I can see why... check it out for yourself:
The
famous theme song was nearly just a recycled song from a Broadway musical
called Preppies. The producers of Cheers heard it and
thought it would be perfect for their new show if the lyrics were just changed
up a little. Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo, the songwriters, were understandably
thrilled - but the producers of Preppies weren't. They refused
to give up rights to the song. Portnoy and Angelo were devastated, but the
producers of Cheers told them not to worry - they should just take
a shot at writing something totally new. The first version, a pretty blatant
rip-off of their first song, was quickly rejected. After reading a script,
the duo took a third shot, which was closer - the producers loved some of
the lyrics - but still no cigar. Version #3 was rejected. Portnoy and Hart
were getting a little dejected and concerned that they were going to get
fired any second, and to make matters worse, Gary and his girlfriend had
just broken up. This set the mood for version #4, a melancholy little tune
about the Red Sox losing, being too poor to pay the electric bill and needy
girlfriends who wanted to get married. They almost decided it was too depressing
for a sitcom, when they came up with the line "Sometimes you wanna go where
everybody knows your name," and the whole song turned from depressing to
hopeful. The folks at Cheers loved it, but changed the opening
lines from "Singing the blues when the Red Sox lose, it's a crisis in your
life," to the now-famous, "Making your way in the world today takes everything
you've got." The rest is history.
There were three theme
songs composed for the show about a blonde genie and her Master - the first
season featured an instrumental waltz over the opening credits. And no less
than Carole King wrote a theme song for the series, but Sidney Sheldon rejected
it. The winning song that we know as the I Dream of Jeannie theme
song today was composed by Hugo Montenegro. And, believe it or not, there
were lyrics to the song. Written by Buddy Kaye, this gem was never used
for the show:
Jeannie, fresh as a daisy. Just love how she obeys me, Does things that just amaze me so. She smiles, Presto the rain goes. She blinks, up come the rainbows. Cars stop, even the train goes slow. When she goes by, she paints sunshine on every rafter, sprinkles the air with laughter, we're close as a quarter after three. There's no one like Jeannie. I'll introduce her to you, but it's no use sir, cause my Jeannie's in love with me.
Unbeknownst
to me, this song wasn't original to our four happening grannies. It was
first recorded in 1978 by Andrew Gold, who hit #25 on the Billboard charts
the same year. Cynthia Fee sang it for the show, though.
The song was later reworked a third time for the opening credits to The Golden Palace. I hate it. But check it out! Don Cheadle!
If you didn't already know this, prepared to be floored: Alan Thicke, better known as Jason Seaver to legions of kids who grew up in the late '80s and early '90s, co-wrote "The Facts of Life." He also co-wrote and sang the theme song to Diff'rent Strokes. At the time, Thicke was married to his co-writer Gloria Loring, who sang the "Facts" song you probably remember. There was also an earlier version that featured the cast of the show singing the wise lyrics, but it was only used for the first season.
