M*A*S*H - Season Nine Collector's Edition
In its ninth season (1980-81), M*A*S*H's main
title theme got a new, sparser orchestration, heralding the beginning of
a last creative phase, a final three years of highs and lows, when much
of its cast and crew became anxious to move on to roles that didn't
require khaki slacks and long excursions to the Fox Ranch in Malibu.
Both visually and in its writing, M*A*S*H of the 1980s was
notably weaker than the more fruitful mid- and late-1970s period, and by
season 9 the show had become virtually unrecognizable from its first
year and the Robert Altman feature that had inspired it. M*A*S*H
's Neilsen ratings actually went up slightly in its ninth season (the
show ranking 4th among prime-time series), but creatively it was winding
down.
A television writers strike further emphasized the aesthetic
barrier between the late-'70s shows and the early-'80s ones. The
strike resulted in a...
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M*A*S*H -
Season Nine Collector's Edition
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