M*A*S*H

‘M*A*S*H’ Star Mike Farrell Recalls Filming Final Episode Of Series

During a vintage interview, Actor Mike Farrell recalled the day he said his final “goodbye” to the cast and crew of M*A*S*H.

From 1975 to 1983, Farrell played Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt on the classic TV wartime dramedy. And during that time, he formed lifelong bonds with his award-winning castmates. The actor remembers how he and his friends carved out their own little spot where they’d run lines, talk about like, crack jokes, and pull pranks.

And as his former castmate Loretta Swit once said, not only was everyone “always very connected,” but they all loved each other—and still do. So wrapping up the story was an emotional feat for everyone else involved.

And ascFarrell explained in an archived interview with Studio 10, he still feels the emotions from filming the M*A*S*H finale to this day.

The installment titled Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen aired on February 28th, 1983. And it wasn’t just emotional for Ferrell. It was also a tearjerker for millions of fans. As the video notes, the episode stands as the most-watched in TV history.

While chatting, Ferrell’s eyes welled just talking about filming that episode. And he admitted that he still has a hard time thinking about how everything changed after that day.

“We knew, ‘I’ll never be in this position again with this character. I’ll never be in this spot again,’” he shared. “BJ is saying ‘goodbye’ to people he loves. Mike is saying ‘goodbye’ to someone he loves. Even though we’ll see each other afterward, we know it’s not gonna be the same set of circumstances. It’ll never be this.”

As the star wiped his eyes, he added, “the whole thing. The whole thing, as you can see, just remains.”

The ‘M*A*S*H’ Series Finale Saw Hawkeye Suffering a Nervous Breakdown

In the epic installment, the members of the 4077th take down the mobile surgical hospital that stationed them during the Korean war. And the story shows all of the characters sharing their final words before heading back to the hometowns listed on the iconic signpost.

But the show didn’t just stop with the bittersweet endings. Instead, we saw Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, the ever-enduring comedic relief, head off to a psychiatric hospital. As it turned out, the horrors of war had been too much for him, and he suffered a nervous breakdown.

Hawkeye’s fate served as the perfect ending for the series by showcasing how so many servicemen suffer after war.

Over 121 million people turned in for the two and half-hour M*A*S*H finale. And the network earned $450,000 from commercial breaks, which was more than the Super Bowl made that year.

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