For many, television on New Year’s Day is generally a festival of college football and the Tournament of Roses Parade.
But programming executives at Hallmark Channel and TV Land will provide viewers with a 4077th option on the first day of 2007, as both networks will help to ring in the new year with M*A*S*H marathons.
Hallmark will present 12 hours worth of episodes from the vintage series, beginning at 8 a.m. (EST/PST). The network’s presentation will be hosted by Wayne Rogers, who played Trapper John McIntyre during the show’s first three seasons. Rogers will reflect on the mixture of comedic and tragic elements that gave the show its edge.
TV Land will take M*A*S*H matters several steps further with a week-long marathon that will showcase major episodes, including the series finale; its 20th- and 30th- anniversary reunion shows; special-guest installments; and the Robert Altman film of the same name that spawned the series. TV Land’s marathon begins with nine installments at 8 p.m. Jan. 1.
All of this is a prelude to M*A*S*H assuming its regularly scheduled 10:30 p.m. time slots Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as Tuesdays-Sundays at 10 p.m., on the vintage network, beginning Jan. 8.
As part of a shared window deal, TV Land can air the show from 8 p.m.-8 a.m., while Hallmark retains the 8 a.m.-8 p.m. rights to M*A*S*H. Hallmark, which has been running the series since September 2003, typically airs it weekdays from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
