M*A*S*H - Time Capsule of a Mainstream Fandom

Episode 11 • December 21, 2018 • 00:58:12
M*A*S*H - Time Capsule of a Mainstream Fandom
Fanthropological
M*A*S*H - Time Capsule of a Mainstream Fandom
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Show Notes

Where is the fandom today, and would they even want a M*A*S*H reboot? What would that even look like? We're giving you the best care anywhere* (as far as a podcast goes) on this week's episode! *Please consult with your physician for any actual medical care you may need. We are not doctors. ## Episode Outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** > M*A*S*H is an American war comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from 1972 to 1983. It was developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The series, which was produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53). The show's title sequence features an instrumental-only version of "Suicide Is Painless", the original film's theme song which was popular enough to become the UK's best selling song hitting number 1and staying for 3 weeks in May/June of 1980. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. The television series is the best-known of the M*A*S*H works, and one of the highest-rated shows in US television history. > — [Wikipedia - M*A*S*H (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_(TV_series)) **Search Data:** While it is unclear how popular MASH has been since its initial release in the 1970s, we do have some data from [Google Trends as far back as 2004](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F014gjp). Surprisingly, while interest in the show was on a downturn until December 2014, the show has recently enjoyed a slight upward trend in interest, with some notable spikes in February 2015 (Release on Netflix), January 2017 (Release on Hulu), and March 2018 (More episodes released on Hulu). The top ten countries for MASH, by search volume, are as follows: Albania (By a _large_ margin), Czechia, Slovakia, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Romania, Norway, and Sweeden. [// Could be unrelated: MASH = Ministry of Science and Education]: # **Fan Demographics:** From a very rough self-selecting sample of folks on reddit, we were able to get some data on what today's fans of MASH look like... in terms of age at least. Through some quick javascript math on the thread ["What is the average age of the MASH viewer?](https://www.reddit.com/r/mash/comments/51cvx4/what_is_the_average_age_of_the_mash_viewer_how/), we get the following data of the approximately 100 data points: - Max age: 54 - Mean age: 28.2 - Median age: 27 - Mode age: 30 - Min age: 10 Other than that, data is scarce... other than this tidbit from Mental Floss: > Seventy-seven percent of the people watching television in the United States on the night of Monday, February 28, 1983 were watching the two-and-a-half-hour series finale, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.” That was 121.6 million people. A company only had to pay $30,000 to run a 30-second commercial when M*A*S*H got started in 1972. For the series finale, a 30-second spot cost $450,000. > — [Mental Floss - 17 Things You Might Not Know About M*A*S*H](http://mentalfloss.com/article/68457/17-painless-facts-about-mash) **Fanac Fast Facts:** - On the fan works archive Archive Of Our Own, there are [just over 1000 fan works related to MASH](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/MASH%20(TV)/works): - Top three categories: M/M (528), Gen (352), F/M (208) - ...Almost all, of which, are related to the TV series (i.e. there isn't a prominent overlap with other fandoms, though there is overlap) - Top three characters: Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (793), B. J. Hunnicutt (434), Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (248) - Top three relationships: B. J. Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (233), "Trapper" John McIntyre/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (154), Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce (95) ### [Last Episode's](https://fanthropological.com/wrestling) Famous Last Words What did we have to say before doing the preparation for this week's episode? **T:** Is this another fandom that is going to die out? Is the fandom still alive? **G:** Would fans like to see M.A.S.H. rebooted? **Z:** When the show was running, how did fans get together? ### Main Discussion **Topics covered in this episode:** TBD ## Where can you find us? Pretty much everything we do is `something/thenickscast`, but in specific... - If you're looking for this podcast (Fanthropological), you can find it at [Fanthropological.com](https://fanthropological.com) or on different podcatchers including [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2IVp8MBIUyCqlKyZn79iHn), [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fanthropological/id1163621210?mt=2), [Google Podcasts](https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLnBvZGlhbnQuY28vZmFudGhyb3BvbG9naWNhbC9yc3MueG1s) and many others! - You can join us for the live recording of the podcasts and participate (or catch us when we're playing some games) at [twitch.tv/thenickscast](https://twitch.tv/thenickscast) - Keep up-to-date with our latest goings-on on [Facebook](https://facebook.com/thenickscast), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenickscast), or [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thenickscast), all `@thenickscast` - We also occasionally create extra content about fandom including convention coverage and interviews on [YouTube.com/thenickscast](https://youtube.com/thenickscast) - We have some fine merchandise available at [shop.thenickscast.com](https://shop.thenickscast.com) (and we'd love your support!) - If all else fails, you can email us: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) ## What is "Fanthropological"? Every week, Fanthropological delivers over an hour of fandom-related "fanalysis" covering a different fandom every week and giving you hard data, history, special guests, and, of course, speculation! We cover topics spanning the gamut of anime, manga, comics, video games, comics, movies, books, television, and, in general, geek culture. ## Credits - _Ending_: [ReMix: Chrono Trigger "Way Before the Day Before Yesterday"](https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03410) by [Wiesty](https://ocremix.org/artist/8640/wiesty), [The OC Jazz Collective](https://ocremix.org/artist/14337/the-oc-jazz-collective) from [http://ocremix.org](http://ocremix.org/) used under [ocremix.org content policy](http://ocremix.org/info/Content_Policy#If_you.27re_using_our_content_elsewhere_.28.22Terms_of_Use.22.29...) - All other music and sound for this week's episode were provided by Nick Green!
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