The series finale of “M*A*S*H” has gone down as one of the greatest finales of all time, but it was also one of the most ambitious. After 11 seasons, there were seemingly endless plot lines to tie up and the task of delivering a satisfying ending to fans. So, when a fire burned down the set during filming, it could have led to chaos. Instead, the writers wrote it into the show and kept moving forward. As cast and crew were attempting to pull together for one last production, a forest fire broke out and headed straight for the “M*A*S*H” set in Malibu.
Kellye Nakahara, who played Nurse Kellye on the show, told The Hollywood Reporter that they only had minutes to get out in time. “When we were done, we ran to the vans, jeeps, and trucks, and bugged out,” said Nakahara. “The fire came down and wiped out the entire set within 10 minutes.” Alan Alda told the Television Academy Foundation that when they returned the exteriors were completely destroyed. “All these buildings … all that was left was little puddles of aluminum on the ground,” he said. “It was just amazing.” Ultimately, the writers decided that writing the fire into the show would add an extra dose of finality to the series. The scenes of the 4077th returning to a smoldering base camp were very real and ended up working into the story line perfectly.
The fire created last-minute obstacles that were difficult to overcome
It would have been one thing if the fire that ravaged the Malibu Fox Ranch happened at the very end of shooting for the finale of “M*A*S*H,” but, unfortunately, that was not the case. The cast and crew were actually shooting multiple episodes at the time, so once the additional scenes of the 4077th burnt to the ground were filmed, the entire set had to be rebuilt. In fact, crew members even had to attempt to re-color the surrounding mountains green by spraying them with paint. There was also the issue of time. Producers had planned on the finale being two hours long, but they were having difficulty fitting in the cast’s final goodbyes for one of the best sitcoms ever made.
The inclusion of the fire as a plot point only made things worse. “There were just so many elements to tie together, so many people to say goodbye to, and so many stories we wanted to tell,” Executive producer Burt Metcalfe told Woman’s World. “One day I called CBS and said, ‘We’ve got more material here. We could easily go two and a half hours. Would that be of interest to you?’ They called back and said, ‘You bet.'” The final episode became the most watched non-Super Bowl television program in history, with an estimated 106 million people tuning in – which is pretty impressive considering the series was almost canceled after one season.
