Mike Farrell was a main character on the iconic TV show “M*A*S*H,” in which he starred as Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt.
Some of the cast, including Farrell, will be seen on the new two-hour special, “M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television,” which airs on Jan. 1 at 8 pm ET on Fox. Ahead of the debut, Farrell told Fox News Digital that there was a time during taping that executives thought the show could get canceled.
Speaking about the show’s ability to maneuver between comedy and drama, he said, “You know, we now hear about things like ‘dramedy’ rather than comedy… I remember a studio executive, or maybe a network executive, contacting us after a couple of the things we did, saying, ‘You’re going to knock yourselves off television with these things, people are expecting laughs.'”
Mike Farrell, along with Loretta Swit and Alan Alda, starred in “M*A*S*H.” (Getty Images)
He continued, “And we tried to provide the laughs, but we also wanted to provide a realistic situation. So I can’t tell you exactly what happened that made it happen. But I remember coming to the understanding later that the show had become a social phenomenon, and not because it was a comedy and not because it was a drama, but because it was a situation that people understood. I think not everybody goes to war, not everybody signs up for the military, but everybody understands having to leave home for some reason, and sometimes for a good reason, and leave their loved ones behind. And it struck a chord.”
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“M*A*S*H,” which also starred Alan Alda and Loretta Swit, told the story of an Army hospital during the Korean War. It was extremely well-received when it aired from 1972 to 1983, earning high ratings and winning several accolades, including 14 Emmy Awards. To this day, the series finale remains the most watched episode in television history – over 105 million people tuned in to bid farewell to the show.
“We knew it was a terrifically popular show, but it took a while for us to understand, and maybe it was at the end of the show, we understood it would become a social phenomenon,” Farrell said.
Later, he shared his belief that the show “will never be surpassed” when it comes to pulling in viewers, insisting that, because of the popularity of streaming services, there’s “no way for [the record] to be broken today.”
Mike Farrell joined “M*A*S*H” in season four as Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt. (Bettmann/Earl Gibson)
“But I’m happy to wear that crown,” he added. “It’s not a bad thing.”
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Farrell also discussed the pressure he felt joining the show – his character was introduced in the fourth season. He’d filmed several episodes before his debut appearance aired, and he remembered someone approaching him and asking, “Are you sweating?” from nerves.
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“If the ratings went in the tank the first year that I was there… I’ll wear that around my neck for the rest of my life,” he said. “And then when the ratings came in, whoever it was said, ‘Well, you passed.’”
While “M*A*S*H” was a smash hit, one that still manages to bring in new fans today, Farrell told Fox News Digital that what the show meant to people at the time was something he and the rest of the cast appreciated.
“I remember, I think my second season on the show, I had been in Southeast Asia and I met a guy and he was talking about how much the show meant to them,” he said. The themes of “peace” and “human rights” had moved him, the man told him, and after the conversation he recalled talking to Alda about it, and afterward they “convened the group.”
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He said, “We just talked about the fact that this show has a significance that we can’t forfeit. We can’t let down. We’ve got to make damn sure that everything we do is as honest and as real and as meaningful as it can possibly be. And everybody got it and everybody pitched in. And it was the crew and the producers and the writers and the cast and everybody in it. So the feeling was, whatever has happened to this show, we want to make it deserve the way people seem to feel about it.”
While fellow cast members Alda, Swit, Gary Burghoff, William Christopher, Jamie Farr and Wayne Rogers, as well as executive producers Gene Reynolds and Burt Metcalfe, will be featured on the Fox special, Farrell said that the old cast and crew has stayed in touch by phone and email. Despite that, he said the special was something the group had been wanting to do for a while.
“What it’s been like for me,” he said, “I mean, I watched a cut of it and I just watch it with tears running down my face. It just really touches all the buttons. I’m sitting there laughing and crying at the same time, which is, I figure, a real compliment to the show.”
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Speaking specifically of Alda, he said, “He is at once the most intelligent, most talented human being I think I’ve ever known. And his generosity on the set – by generosity, I mean the show could have been ‘Hawkeye. Hawkeye, Hawkeye, Hawkeye, Hawkeye’ – he made sure that everybody on the show had something to do and was meaningful. And he treasured all of us.”
“And I mean, he was the star, there’s no question about that,” he went on. “But he made it a group that people remember. I get letters all the time from people saying how much the show and certain characters meant to them.”
The actor told Fox News Digital that hearing fans praise the show reminds him of the first time he watched it himself, before he joined the cast.
Loretta Swit, Mike Farrell, David Odgen Stiers, Jaime Farr, Alan Alda, Harry Morgan and William Christopher on the set of “M*A*S*H.” (Getty Images)
“A friend of mine and I were going to dinner, I went to his place, and he said, ‘I can’t leave yet. I’m watching my favorite show on television,'” he recalled. “I said, ‘What’s that?’ And he said, ‘It’s M*A*S*H.’ And I said, ‘What’s that?’ And we went in and I remember a scene where Gary Burghoff was doing this remarkable, remarkable scene about this 19-year-old virginal kid… bombs are bursting and blood is spurting and he’s trying to keep everything together, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, that is really something. I would so want to be part of something like that.’ And then two years later, I was.”
When asked about memorable moments he shared with the “M*A*S*H” cast, Farrell said, “Almost all of them were memorable in one way or another. But I mean, we pulled tricks on each other. We did jokes on each other. We had fun as we were doing the show.”
“God, I remember a time – talk about the popularity of the show – Alan got a letter from a man who was telling him how much he loved the show and that all Alan had to do is contribute $10,000 to his particular charity and he would have a gold brick in a wall in San Francisco or someplace,” he said. “And Alan was just… he was furious. He came over and he said, ‘Do you believe this guy?’ And he had signed his name to the letter and he was just fuming. And that was unlike Alan, but this one really ticked him off.”
“M*A*S*H” actors, from left, Jamie Farr, Loretta Swit, David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, Alan Alda and William Christopher, circa 1978. (20th Century-Fox TV/Getty Images)
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Farrell, deciding to take advantage of the situation, spoke with the person who answered the phones during production and told him to tell Alda that the man who’d sent the letter had called for him. When this upset Alda further – he remembered that he “just blew it” – Farrell told the crew member to continue telling Alda that the fan had kept calling.
After a few days of this, Farrell admitted to having a telegram sent to the set in the fan’s name. At this point, he said, “Alan was crying,” but he continued the prank, getting an actor friend of his to stop by the set and pretend to be the fan.
“Alan couldn’t believe it, he’s standing there, mouth agape, talking to this guy. And the guy walked out and Alan looked at me with his mouth open, and then we had somebody come in with one of those gorilla costumes and sing a song saying, ‘You’ve been had.'”
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When he was asked if Alda got him back for that particular prank, Farrell laughed and said, “Many, many times.”
WATCH: MIKE FARRELL SHARES WHAT HE HOPES ‘M*A*S*H’ FANS TAKE AWAY FROM NEW FOX SPECIAL
Speaking about the special, Farrell told Fox News Digital, “You know, I hope everybody who watches it remembers it with tears in their eyes and a smile on their face. I certainly did when watching it. And I will watch it again. And I was just telling somebody else about it recently. But I think, you know, there’s a special relationship that was developed.”
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“I get the most heartwarming and stirring and touching emails and letters and messages from people about what B.J. meant… how much the show meant to them, the relationship between Hawkeye and B.J. or Hawkeye and Loretta or Hawkeye and, you know, whoever. The show really found a way… We didn’t want to dumb down the audience. We wanted to meet them at the level at which they met us.”
