40 years ago, we said, 'Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen'

As an undergraduate, I lived in an 11-floor dormitory that housed hundreds of college men. An identical dorm sat next door. The twin structures were connected by a large recreational center.

The center contained televisions, foosball, bumper pool, ping-pong, and pool tables. Students hung out there watching TV and playing games in their spare time. Social events for the two dorms were also held in the center.

I worked in the dormitories as a resident assistant (RA), and was one of the people in charge of planning and hosting those social events.

We held several significant events in the rec center during my tenure. However, there was one event that stood out in my memory. It occurred on Feb. 28, 1983. The event was the most well-attended ever held between the two dorms.

Every seat in the rec center was full that night. Additional seating was brought in, but students still sat on the floor and lined the walls around the room. It appeared that most of the dorms' residents, and almost as many guests, were in attendance. Despite the tendency of college students to be loud and energetic, the room was quiet as everyone waited for the event to begin.

The event everyone was there for was the final episode of the television series "M*A*S*H."

If you are reading this and aren't familiar with the series, it is centered around the doctors, nurses and staff serving in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea during the Korean War.

The show first appeared on CBS on Sept. 17, 1972. It was a spinoff of a 1970 movie of the same name. The origin of the movie and the television series can be traced back to "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors," a book by Richard Hooker, published in 1968.

CBS aired 256 episodes of the series over 11 seasons.

The large turnout in the rec center that night in February 1983 is directly related to the timing of the show's 11-year run. Everyone in the room had grown up with the show. Using myself as an example, the show appeared when I was in third grade and ended my sophomore year of college.

"M*A*S*H" was a part of our formative years, and we gathered that night to say "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen," which is the final episode's title. We were all a short time away from leaving school for good. Careers, marriage, children, and other "adult" responsibilities were on the horizon.

Looking back, our gathering to say goodbye was like a test launch into adulthood. A significant part of our youth was ending.

"M*A*S*H" had and still has a special place in the hearts and minds of my generation. It also had a special place in the hearts and minds of earlier generations.

The show's appeal to multiple generations can be noted from the statistics related to the final episode. It appeared on three out of every four televisions in America. Well over 100 million people tuned in. The finale set the record for the most-watched television event in history, a record that still stands.

Reruns of "M*A*S*H" are easy to find on cable and streaming services. Collectors' sets of the series are readily available. These circumstances make binge-watching easy and are helping new generations fall in love with the series.

I had not thought about the farewell event for years. I was reminded of it when I noticed an article this morning about the 40th anniversary of the show's end. I was surprised to realize 40 years had passed, and the bittersweet emotions from 1983 returned.

I watched every episode during the show's run and have watched a lot of reruns. But considering the anniversary and being moved enough to write about it, I feel binge-watching "M*A*S*H" is in my near future. I'll space it over the coming year and leave the final episode unwatched until Feb. 28, 2024.

We'll have another gathering then, but it probably won't match the dorm gathering. Like the television viewing record, I'd bet our rec center record still stands. Join me.

Dr. Jeff Miller is a doctor of chiropractic at the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute and the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: 40 years ago, we said, 'Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen'