FYI about CATM popularity

[Luckymama58]

I found this on eBay this morning. I know that some people were wondering what people back in the day thought of CATM. The comment about our show is at the bottom of the description. I thought it was interesting..... (This is a M*A*S*H item BTW)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ADME:B:SS:US:1

Everybody knew that Maclean Stevenson would not return to M*A*S*H when the series inaugurated its fourth season in the fall of 1975; after all, Stevenson's character, Col. Henry Blake, had been abruptly killed off at the end of season three, so any sort of return was out of the question. It did, however, come as something of a surprise to the series' loyal viewers that another of the leading characters, irreverent surgeon Trapper John, was also missing from the fourth season roster. The reason? Actor Wayne Rogers, who'd played Trapper since the series' debut in 1972, had ankled the project in the middle of a contract dispute; he was tired of playing second fiddle to costar Alan Alda (aka Hawkeye Pierce), and wanted to spread his wings with a series of his own. Thus, season four opened with the first of M*A*S*H's one-hour "special" episodes, the better to establish the character of Trapper John's assistant, Capt. B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell. More clean-cut and level-headed that the Rabelaisian Trapper, B.J. nonetheless proved to be every bit as capricious and irreverent as his predecessor, especially when cooking up schemes to embarrass the gimlet-eyed, humorless Frank Burns (Larry Linville and the chronically thin-skinned Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit) As for Col. Blake's replacement, the series' producers decided not to emulate the youngish, laid-back Maclean Stevenson, and instead went with an older, more "Regular Army" character. Harry Morgan, who'd appeared as a guest star during M*A*S*H's third season, was added to the cast as crusty but lovable Colonel Henry Potter, an old Cavalry man who managed to maintain the dignity of the Service and the decorum of the O.R. without ever sacrificing his humanity or sense of humor. Potter also proved to be a "good fit" insofar as company clerk Radar O'Reilly was concerned. Without ever consciously or blatantly doing so, Potter and Radar fell into a warm father-son relationship, which would make Radar's inevitable exit from the series five seasons later all the more poignant. Another development within the M*A*S*H family was the ascention of actor Jamie Farr to full "series regular" status. Introduced as an intended one-shot during season one, Farr's character, cross-dressing Corporal Max Klinger (who of course donned women's clothing in hopes of being discharged from the Army on a Section 8) proved popular enough to warrant additional "guest" appearances, and by the time the 1974-75 season had rolled around, Farr was being billed at the beginning of each episode, rather than merely among the "featured" cast in the closing credits. The "look" of M*A*S*H continued to deepen and mellow during season four, with the "zany" and "serious" aspects achieving a more even balance, thereby lessening the need for that intrusive recorded laughtrack that CBS insisted upon (though the track would not disappear altogether for several seasons to come). This was also the year that the series briefly digressed from its standard format to offer a half-hour "documentary" episode, in which the staff of the 4077th were interviewed by a TV war correspondent (Clete Roberts). Shot in black-and-white, this episode closed out the series' fourth season in the spring of 1976. By that time, M*A*S*H had won the fifth of its Emmy awards, the prize going to Stanford Tischler and Fred W. Berger, who had written the 60-minute opener "Welcome to Korea". Unfortunately, though the series was still popular, it has slipped from fifth to 14th place in the overall ratings, thanks to CBS' misguided decision to move the series from Tuesday to Friday evenings opposite the NBC ratings-grabber Chico and the Man. At least CBS acknowledged its error early on; in December of 1975, M*A*S*H was shifted back to Tuesdays, where it would remain a fixture for the next two years

[catcopy18]

That was a very interesting article as I am probably one of the few Freddie fans who can remember very distinctly how pupular CATM was back then. I watched it EVERY WEEK and you can imagine just how hard it was to have to wait a whole, entire week before I could see Freddie Prinze again. There was no such thing as "recording" shows and a few times I taped the 1/2 hour session on my little cassette tape player just so I could HEAR Freddie's voice. Freddie Prinze was always in the latest teen and movie magazines so I would open up to a picture of him and listen to the cassette recording of CATM. That was as good as it got back then. Freddie Prinze was so HOT and POPULAR that anywhere you went you could see his face on a newspaper or magazine. The show was as successful then as Friends is now.

[hue_mee]

Thank you Luckymamam for that interesting article and thank you Catcopy for that great point of view! I was like you and millions of other heartaching for Freddie every week taping episodes with my trusty cassette recorder

[Cheryl Harrell]

Boy do I remember audio taping tv shows LOL! I have some Monkees on audio & track tapes & had a few WELCOME BACK KOTTERS on audio cassettes that is if I didn't re-use them to tape some other stuff over them LOL! I wish they had vcrs back then...

[FREDDIEFANFOREVER]

I just love it to hear there are so many new Chico fans now and especially those back in the good old days who knew how it felt like eternity before we could see our beloved Chico every Friday night! I thought I was the only casette crazy girl back then taping every show! It's funny how so much had been cut from the original shows when TV Land aired them. Alot of Freddie's material from his comedy album and impersonations were cut out to air more comercials. What a shame! But, I have to say thank you to TV Land anyway because they are the only ones so far to air our very missed show. Doesn't anyone out there with any influence read our boards???? You would think SOMEONE would take notice and put this terrific show back on the air somehow!!!!!!

Anyway, nice knowing us "old timers" thought to tape it ourselves on our little trustee cassette players! Who knew we wouldn't be able to see the show again for so many long years. A little static is better than never hearing our Freddie at all!

SUGARPIE

[Cheryl Harrell]

I'd love to see all the episodes uncut. I'd love to see what was missing from the TVLAND shows. I can't remember what they cut out...

[Danisel331]

Hi!
Well, seeing as I wasn't here the original run, I can only imagine, but it does sound like something I would have done if I had been. Maybe this is just a sign of the times, but I ran across this inThe National Enquirer and just thought y'all might get a kick out of it.

[La Huerita]

LOL thats funny dani, real neat tho. good to see him gettin some exposure

[victorianscribe]

Yeah, but look closely at the mustache on that t-shirt Mandy's wearing, the way the hair is combed, and compare it to the pic of Freddie on the left ... he gets my vote. Paul McCartney never had a handlebar mustache, as far as I remember.

Wouldn't it be cool if Freddie became a fashion trend?

[victorianscribe]

BTW, I meant to add -- I have a treasured audiocassette copy of the CATM episode where Tony Orlando appeared. Yeah, I used to stick my little red Panasonic up next to the TV speaker.

[Luckymama58]

audio taping was something I did for the Partridge Family and Hogan's Heroes. I never thought to do it for Freddie for some reason. I watched the first two seasons of CATM in first run every week, but when I went away to college I missed the third season cause I didn't have a TV.... and then he died and I cried my heart out!

[Cheryl Harrell]

Thanks for sharing that from the ENQUIRER. Is that in the current ENQUIRER? If so then I need to get it today before they get the new issues out. That's a neat shirt. I hope it's Freddie on there. If it is, then I want one...

[Danisel331]

It is a sort of current one. It was out about three weeks ago.

[Cheryl Harrell]

No wonder I didn't see it in the current ENQUIRER when I looked for it at the store yesterday. So much for getting it I guess LOL! Thanks for the info!

[tylersmistress2002]

NICE ARTICLE! I thought I was the only kid who put the cassette player up to the TV speaker and recorded chico....lol
Okay, so I did this with Welcome Back Kotter too..... (I was also a JT fan...lol