43 Years Ago, Over 100 Million People Watched This TV Goodbye

More than 100 million Americans dropped everything 43 years ago tonight to watch one TV finale — a record-breaking moment that still stands today.

The final episode of M*A*S*H — a two-and-a-half-hour made-for-TV movie called "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" — drew nearly 106 million viewers. The hit CBS series about army surgeons during the Korean War aired for 11 seasons from 1972 to 1983, racking up 251 episodes. The epic finale episode saw the MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) shutting down as the Korean War came to a close, with characters who had spent more than a decade together —like Hawkeye played by Alan Alda, Trapper played by Wayne Rogers, and Hot Lips played by Loretta Swit — saying their tearful, heartfelt goodbyes.

“There were certain moments—like my last words to Harry [Morgan] in the script—that were very emotional," Swit told Woman's World about filming the finale. "The big difference was that the story was about the end of the war, about peace about going home. That gave it a special feeling.”

Only Super Bowls Have Gotten More Viewers

The M*A*S*H finale was the most watched thing on TV ever until 2010. That year, Super Bowl XLIV — when the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts — just barely surpassed it, drawing 106.5 million viewers compared to M*A*S*H's 105.97 million, according to USA Today. 2025's Super Bowl LIX holds the current record with 127.7 million viewers. Still, the M*A*S*H finale remains the most-watched TV series episode of all time.

Given the way we consume media now, it's unlikely M*A*S*H's record will ever be broken. In 1983, cable was its infancy and VCRs were still pricey. For most Americans, there were only three channels, and if you wanted to watch anything, you had to revolve your plans around it.

Now, with the seemingly infinite amount of cable channels and streaming services, we have way more programming that we can watch whenever it's convenient. This fragmentation has led to many conversations and thinkpieces about the death of monoculture, like this recent one from The Wall Street Journal.