Forty years ago at this time, roughly a quarter of the country were sitting in front of their televisions at this very minute to watch the final episode of one of the most popular shows in American history, M*A*S*H:  the episode, “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” would become most-watched episode of a scripted show in the history of the country.  Only the Apollo moon landing, a number of Super Bowls, and Richard Nixon’s resignation speech would pull in more viewers.  By the end of the night, more than 105 million Americans–nearly 50% of the population of the country at the time–would watch the broadcast.

Monday, February 28th, 1983 will be the last time half of the country will be united in a single event that won’t involve a ball or a news event, where the audience is prepared to get their heartstrings pulled as–spoiler alert–the Korean War ends and the fictitious 4077th breaks up.  Undoubtedly, M*A*S*H was a landmark television series and a cultural touchstone.  The finale of the series after twelve years brought together viewers from the show’s history unified in their fandom.  No other series in American history did that.

With a 60.2 share–meaning 60.2% of televisions on at the time were watching the show–it topped Dallas‘s legendary reveal of who shot J.R. broadcast three years earlier.  By comparison:  Seinfeld’s 1998 finale drew an audience of 76 million viewers (a 40 share), about 25% of the American population at the time.  And no Super Bowl to date has topped a “50” share.

There was buzz about it.  Students discussed it in class.  It was literally water cooler fodder.  If you missed it–honestly, as I did because of a prior commitment–you were completely left out.  There were no internet recaps or spoiler clips.  You either saw the broadcast, or you wished you had.  The next time you could see it–in the following September–was the next opportunity to catch it.  After an encore broadcast in September 1984, the film was kept away from the public for a decade.

Today’s media is too fragmented for such a large audience to gather for a single program like that night.  Not only is there a plethora of entertainment options, the audience cannot even unite around what’s worthy of viewing.  Hell, as the Dominion depositions show, even executives within a cable network cannot agree on the reality which needs to be reported.  Although M*A*S*H was known to have a definite liberal, anti-war bias and its lead actor, Alan Alda (who also directed and co-wrote the finale) was an outspoken liberal, the public united around the program.