1988 IBM ads M*A*S*H Col. Potter meets Trapper John!

Col. Potter finally meets Trapper John for the first time, as the original MASH cast reunites for several TV commercials for IBM Personal System/2 products recasting them in a business office with new IBM computers. Gary Burghoff, Jamie Farr, Larry Linville, Harry Morgan, Bill Christopher, Loretta Swit, and Wayne Rogers tout "the next generation of power, speed, and graphics," with a whopping 256 colors! Originally broadcast in early April 1987 and rebroadcast in 1988. The BetaGems channel also has the later 1988 IBM ad featuring Alan Alda crossing the flooded office in an inflatable life raft, "1988 IBM ad M*A*S*H cast, Alan Alda television commercial."
The BetaGems channel also has "1999 IBM Just Socks television commercial," "1989 IBM Technology At Work television commercial," "1985 Family Computing Magazine TV commercial," "1988 DeVry Computer Education TV commercial," "1989 Kelsey Jenney Business College computer classes TV ad," "1988 Epson Computer television commercial," "1987 Nintendo TV ad - Super Mario Bros, Hogan's Alley, Duck Hunt, more," "Activision 1984 commercial Pitfall II Lost Caverns Atari 2600," "April 1990 Family Fun Center TV ad, San Diego," "Milford Amusement Center May 1992 musical TV commercial We've got the fun," and "Game Boy 1991 vintage TV ad."
BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded from 1983 into the 1990s. Most feature live music performances broadcast on television in San Diego CA, though there are also rarely seen commercials, comedy clips, and other material that doesn't seem to be anywhere else on KZbin or online. Most of the tapes were recorded on a Sony SL-HFT7 Super Beta Theater Hi-Fi Stereo - the same model was refurbished and is being used for these digital transfers and uploads.
In rare occasions where a BetaGems clip does appear elsewhere, we're only uploading if our own beta master is better quality or contains material not seen previously. Much footage comes from public television and public access broadcasts that the taper, who worked for a local cable TV production company in the 1980s, monitored nightly for several years. Some of the programming is strictly regional, mostly from the San Diego area.

[@jasoncamp483]

When you see something like this you realize it is about the people. The talent. No matter the setting you want to watch more. They were very special

[@bostonrailfan2427]

you almost forget that half have passed on and the others retired or have fizzled out as actors… then again, Wayne Rogers probably knew what Gary Burghoff was talking about since he was a stock market fanatic with a decent haul from it

[@jasoncamp483]

@@bostonrailfan2427 No joke love your username. I worked on the Boston/Worcester line for some years.

[@mwholms4536]

I sometimes wonder why there are some who still think that with all the important things that go on in this world the only things that matter are people and relationships.

[@jasoncamp483]

@@mwholms4536 Narrow minded. Self absorbed with a lack of empathy for others. That is what my take is.

[@mwholms4536]

@@jasoncamp483 The relentless mantra of the Liberal Left, in fact. (Let's Go Brandon!)

[@keithbrown8814]

Seeing Trapper back with the group was outstanding!!!!!

[@realazduffman]

He needed some investment money

[@johnmckenzie8522]

We miss him so I wish he still around

[@georgemaster689]

Nice to see the many generations of the cast, although Mac Stevenson, Alan and Dave Ogden Stiers aren't in this ad.

[@seanwebb605]

@@georgemaster689 Potter was the only character from the second group of starring cast and supporting cast.

[@tryithere]

Still can't believe he left that show even playing second fiddle.

[@duaneaponte696]

Larry Linville, Wayne Rogers, William Christopher, and Harry Morgan. May they Rest In Peace!!

[@mrjohnklake]

You forgot Gary Burghoff and Jamie Farr.

[@MrAschiff]

@@mrjohnklake They're still alive

[@roncaruso931]

Someday, we will all rest in peace.

[@MrAschiff]

@@roncaruso931 Thanks for the keen insight

[@roncaruso931]

@@MrAschiff Your welcome.

[@3dartistguy]

what a nicee group of people, such great chemistry. They should all be in a tv series together.

[@jeremysolomon7791]

Yeah if only

[@josephjones8648]

And it should be a wartimes series where they all play medical doctors patching up wounded soldiers

[@3dartistguy]

@@josephjones8648 Hah ha ha. they alreaddy did that.

[@josephjones8648]

@@3dartistguy I know 😊

[@kevinbroderick3779]

😂😂😂

[@tropicalcatdetective]

Now I'm wishing the M*A*S*H cast had been brought back together for an office-based 80s sitcom, lol. Even in such short durations about completely different subject matter, you still feel the camaraderie between them all. Also, these ads are lit and filmed really well. Looks like a film more than a tv commercial.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

sadly only half of them are still alive…

[@mwholms4536]

They did. They just continued to call it M*A*S*H.

[@SamLallo]

After M*A*S*H they created a sitcom about a veteran's hospital in the USA. Potter, Klinger and Father Mulcahy were the characters starring. The show received I think a 2 star rating. Mostly because people also wanted to see characters such as Hawkeye or Margaret or BJ.

[@orlock20]

@@SamLallo There was also Trapper MD. Different actor but it is the same Trapper from MASH.

[@brianarbenz1329]

A series about an office? Radar could shout, “Choppers. They sound loaded. Must be the CEO and board of directors flying in. All shifts report to their terminals and look busy!”

[@arthouston7361]

Hearing William Christopher exclaim, “it’s a miracle” made me wish that it was 1981 again.

[@ShannonFreng]

Whoever thought of this ad gimmick was definitely smart.

[@bigdrew565]

Didn't really help sales much, but they were fun to watch.

[@guytech7310]

They had to! PS/2 were junk!

[@bigdrew565]

@@guytech7310 they weren't all awful. But between stepping on their dick with Microsoft and OS/2, and deciding to get all proprietary with the hardware, more specifically the MCA architecture which was way better than the ISA bus. The model 25 was hot garbage, though. We had a computer lab full of them and they were just awful. IBM was horrible at marketing their shit.

[@guytech7310]

@@bigdrew565 They were absolute horrible.There is areason why Microchannel failled. & superseceed by EISA & PCI.

[@drake128]

I grew up sneering at M.A.S.H thinking it was lame . Hit 30 and watched it in it's entirety. Absolutely phenomenal. It's the characters and the journey not just one liners here and there . You watch thinking it'll never work if Trapper, Frank, Radar or Henry leave the show BUT they never try to replace them , they bring new characters in.. Winchester , potter ... BJ. It's just a joy. Bittersweet at times but always a treat .

[@k1productions87]

Trapper, Frank, and Henry made the show fun BJ, Winchester, and Potter made the show absolutely ICONIC

[@drake128]

@@k1productions87 agreed. They were all integral in their own unique ways.

[@HariSeldon913]

Probably Alda's growing influence, but all of the original characters that were married were cheating constantly. The cheating was ushered out with the replacements (yes, BJ cheated once, but that episode sucked).

[@kensellers4082]

While Frank Burns was a weekly punching bag for Hawkeye, Trapper John and B.J. Hunnicut, Charles Emerson Winchester III was a worthy opponent, who often gave it right back to them.

[@drake128]

@@kensellers4082 Charles was intelligent and a very skilled surgeon who had compassion . I love the episode where they're winding Charles up so he just drops the entire tent on them .

[@warptek]

Interesting bit. I see they had Larry Linville still playing Burns. They were all playing their respective MASH characters without identifying themselves as such.

[@terryrose4804]

But Father Mulcahy was never rude to Burns in the show like here.

[@LordZontar]

Larry Linville was a great actor and comedian, and a really nice guy in real life. My mother and I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Linville in a dinner-theatre engagement in New Orleans way back in the 70s, about a couple of years or so after he left MASH, in which he was starring in a production of A Thousand Clowns.

[@mwholms4536]

It was creepy. Like they were thinking about a new vehicle for all those actors whose careers had fizzled out after the show ended.

[@audaxhistoricus7467]

@@terryrose4804 I mean tbh you can’t tell me Father Mulcahy didn’t have reservations about Burns

[@brianarbenz1329]

Notice here, Mulcahy is in a tie, not a collar. He seems to have left the priest-o-sphere.

[@notmyrealname6150]

I remember when the company I worked for then purchased IBM PS/2s. They had 20MB hard drives. We thought that was a lot of disk space. 😄

[@dawnkindnesscountsmost5991]

These days, one app can be double or triple that! 😂 💾💾💾

[@thomasfrench2012]

I use to work on 16K TRS-80's. 20MB WAS!!! :-)

[@notmyrealname6150]

@@dawnkindnesscountsmost5991How technology and times have changed.

[@BabaDka]

I remember pricing a model 80 with 128mb Ram. It was $10k

[@electricfootballhero1349]

20 megabytes?? Me and my Smith Corona word processor with 744kb diskettes would have been SOOOO jealous!

[@Bannerninja]

this is like finding hidden treasure - whoever thought this up just instantly plugged into some of the greatest team chemistry ever captured on camera

[@harleypiper]

I miss my extended family . They were always there 8p.m. Mondays. I cried while watching the very last episode of M*A*S*H.

[@Renville80]

A lot of us did.

[@harleypiper]

I met Gary in 83 while AFTERMASHwas being filmed in San Pedro, California

[@bxpress6507]

Yeah that one scene on last episode hit us all hard..I grew up on M*A*S*H..1st time I am seeing these commercials..better late than never

[@Lupton2000]

Harry Morgan first appeared in an episode of MASH with the original cast in The General Flipped At Dawn as a crazy general.

[@edwardadams7619]

He was singing “Mississippi Mud”!!!👍🏽

[@keithbrown8814]

"A RADISH will never stand in the way of victory" ....Marshall Foch!

[@dgwaters]

Loved that episode! I could watch that over and over and NEVER get tired of it! THAT is what makes good high quality television.

[@keithbrown8814]

Col Blake's story about the little bird in the cage is genius...."he just fell off his perch and broke his bill.....!!!

[@edwardadams7619]

@@dgwaters The funny thing is I had NEVER seen that episode BEFORE Harry Morgan came on as Col. Potter. I had no idea that he had an appearance before Colonel Potter. So seeing that episode had me mesmerized by his portrayal. Great episode.

[@duece5976]

Really good commercials. They are kind of in character and nothing seems forced. Still great chemistry. Enjoyed seeing those little gems.

[@sword_of_light]

"Can we talk to each other? Only if we have to." Most prescient thing in the whole commercial. (256 colors!)

[@freundschaft870]

I couldn't bare finishing this add. Seeing them all got old. In my head trapper radar are all still the same age as they were in Mash.

[@jeffgalus8454]

It was the M.A.S.H reunion we wanted and needed

[@gregwatson8219]

The show of shows

[@mcarp555]

It's funny to hear them go on about how 'efficient' those machines were, in comparison to what we use now. This was even pre-Internet. I suppose by the 2060's they'll be laughing at our computing 'efficiency' as well.

[@HM2SGT]

Indeed. The 4K of today is the 256 of tomorrow

[@lawrencewestby9229]

Pre-internet but at least they had LANs to connect machines locally assuming the office was wired for it,

[@ki5aok]

Old Adult in 2060: "You kids and your direct neuralink to your quantum computer. You think you have it rough? Back in my days, we had to view our data on a LED screen, input our responses using a keyboard, and point to what we wanted to do with a mouse." Me (if I live that long): "Please, back when I was younger, we didn't even have a mouse and we had to look at those cancer-causing CRT screens, in four colors."

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

I hate to think of 2060 seeing what we've become since 1995.

[@lynnpoint6395]

It's even funnier to me that the tech in these commercials seems older than the television show MASH, which left the air some 5 or 6 years before they aired. But I guess that's the Power Of Reruns.

[@TopSpot123]

I never saw these ads, but my sister picked up a yard sale PS/2 in the mid-nineties and it came with a demo floppy that went through a bunch of selling points, one of which was a 256 color picture of Loretta Swit and the gang here.

[@keithscott1926]

What’s so fascinating if you look at movies and commercials, you see the evolution of computers.

[@aliarshad3012]

Radar in his natural habitat

[@ejseabury]

I remember being excited watching these IBM commercials with the M*A*S*H alumni. I was happy to see Wayne Rogers, Larry Linville and Gary Burghoff with the others again. I remember Alan Alda doing a commercial but he was on his own and McLean Stevenson was featured in an ad for another company.

[@stephaniegormley9982]

Did you notice the narrator of this ad (Len Cariou) also played Alan Alda's best friend in the movie "The Four Seasons?" (1981) Probably just a coincidence.

[@jamesrawlins735]

Alda was actually a spokesperson for IBM before this campaign. He did appear in a commercial with David Ogden Stiers and Harry Morgan. The only MASH actor who didn't appear in the campaign was Mike Farrell, who had a policy not to do any commercials for several years after MASH ended. (I seem to remember him selling life insurance in the 90s, though.

[@davididiart5934]

I actually snorted, seeing Larry Linville's little Frank smirk XD.

[@thepayne7862]

If I remember correctly most of the actors on the show said Larry Linville was one of the nicest guys to work with. Side note before he went into acting he was studying to be an aeronautical engineer .

[@davididiart5934]

@@thepayne7862 I've heard that as well. Apparently, in addition to being bored with playing a flat character, Linville wanted to leave the show due to the stress of him being so completely different (ie; Nice) from his character.

[@thepayne7862]

@@davididiart5934 I could see that also the tone of the show was changing to more serious and the character of Frank wouldn't really work with shift in tone.

[@TheIggypop1]

Franks smirk and when he flares his nose

[@anthonycantu8879]

I watch four episodes of M.A.S.H. per day, five days per week. I NEVER get tired of it! And what a treat to see them doing these IBM commercials. Wonderful!

[@Sue-gq7xv]

metv right?

[@anthonycantu8879]

@@Sue-gq7xv Yes, MeTV.

[@gracealexandre3381]

M.A.S.H. is hard to get tired of. It can become very addictive to me.

[@CloneShockTrooper]

Strange to see them in more “modern” settings. But still the chemistry ⚛️ is tip top subliminal :-)

[@mechaplatypus82]

It's like some alternative dimension version of M*A*S*H and I would totally have watched it. 😅

[@cornerofthemoon]

I remember reading an article that there was talk in Hollywood circles of reuniting the MASH the cast in an office sitcom in the wake of these commercials, even if it had nothing to do with MASH. But it never got off the ground.

[@magnificentone4686]

HOF crew and to see Trapper John & Col. Potter together in the same scene is incredible!

[@boblloyd75]

Zsoft PC Paintbrush was used for the graphics along with the SHOW command which did the animation of the graphics. The animation scared the heck out of the film crew with many asking how much longer before computers did the acting.

[@D8W2P4]

In 2024...

[@patricksanders858]

I did summer stock theatre with William Christopher in Greensboro N.C. in '84. He was as sweet, kind and unassuming as you might imagine. He played in a two man show with Joe Sears in "a Greater Tuna". Amazing!

[@gardenlover9663]

This is so much fun to see! I am watching all of the episodes of MASH again. They show four episodes a night. Season four began last night. Tonight they are airing the show finale and interviews with many of the cast, I assume, in honor of Veterans Day.

[@1Snovy]

I don't ever remember seeing these commercials! Priceless!

[@patricksanders858]

I used PS2's in the 80's and watched MASH reruns so this is 💯 pure ice blue nostalgia! Thank you!

[@tricia5792]

So, we can talk to each other? . . . Only if we have to! Absolutely priceless 😂🤣😂

[@jetcitysinatra7300]

This is priceless. I have never seen these before. I would like to add these to my MASH collection.

[@GeoHvl]

OMG! I have been in IT way too long. I worked on these back in the 80/90's. The keyboard was cast aluminum. The network cards were 8MB/sec. We ordered them with a 50MB hard drive and 8MB Ram. All this was over $2500.00 each.

[@jim2lane]

Oh, I remember the PS/2's all too well. Interesting though that none of these commercials featured their brand new GUI OS/2 that IBM released at the same time. These all appear to be running straight DOS 🤔

[@GeoHvl]

@@jim2lane We had IBM Series 400 they gave us a package of this. 35 1.44 disk that took over an hour to load. Then it was a RAM pig. Pure junk and IBM knew it.

[@johnruschmeyer5769]

IBM Model M keyboard. Considered by many to be one of the finest keyboards ever made.

[@edwardpate6128]

@@johnruschmeyer5769 I have one and they are still great!

[@troyjollimore4100]

Weren’t they great, though? I loved showing new techs the technology after their initial run… “8-bit ISA slot? Micro channel architecture? What are those?!?” 😄

[@MisatoBestWoman]

These ads are incredibly awesome, the cast from MASH are so amazing, the chemistry

[@PlasmaCoolantLeak]

I kept expecting Gary to say to the person on the phone "Oh, hey, Sparky!"

[@leoventresca7867]

I don't remember ever seeing this commercial back in the day but it put a smile on my face, especially seeing Larry Linville, RIP, to all these great actors who have passed

[@bloqk16]

This is a remarkable series of TV commercials! I regularly viewed US prime time TV back then, but I don't recall ever seeing these ads when they ran.

[@jim2lane]

Neither do I. They must have been placed in specific markets (cities) instead of national airtime buys at the network level

[@kensellers4082]

Yes, I don’t remember seeing these IBM commercials being aired on any NYC stations back then.

[@kurtsnyder4752]

Could have been on the network evening news where ads seem to run together, easy to miss.

[@bloqk16]

@@kurtsnyder4752 That would make sense, as myself a CBS network news viewer back then, if the IBM spots ran on ABC or NBC network newscasts, I would have never seen them.

[@kurtsnyder4752]

@@bloqk16 Thinking further, Jimbo's got a point with the marketplace where I grew up and live is Minnesota, specifically the Minneapolis/Saint Paul tv station broadcast(never had cable or satelite) area and we had the business market plus a strong agriculture area, so saw business/banking spots along with seed and fertilizer ads which would NOT have aired in a Northeastern Corridor area as they haven't nearly so large a farming community segment of the viewing audience demographic. Definitely would have aired in LA, SF,DFW metroplex, Miami, and of course NYC, WDC and Boston markets.

[@lexiwilson9501]

Great seeing Trapper again and, more pertinently, still looking and sounding like we remember.

[@garyquail4996]

This just gets better and better thanks !

[@andrewkelley434]

Trapper and Frank!!!! OMG, great to see them both back...nothing at all against BJ and Charles, it's just great to see both those guys back with the crew! :)

[@dallisb1047]

M*A*S*H* is still my favorite.

[@Gunners_Mate_Guns]

Rest in peace, Harry, William, Larry, and Wayne.

[@edalisauskas7313]

I used to sell these in the late 80's I remember the posters Memories!

[@keithpl5438]

What exactly was the concept behind using the cast of the then-cancelled MASH for IBM spots?? Usually, when there's not just a single spokesperson for a brand, there's a sort of high-concept -- like, were they trying to sell PCs to an older crowd that missed the show, was the idea that they were all in the army (on TV) so it implied efficiency? Not the perfect examples (b/c these are both singular spokespeople), but Don Adams telling people to "be smart" by using a certain hotel chain or John Ratzenberger telling people to buy post office stamps. Any clue?

[@pspboy7]

I love how they retained the feel of the MASH show in the commercial.

[@performtransform]

These are so much fun! What a great campaign!

[@priruss357]

I lived in Japan at the time these commercials aired in the US. My loss - I would have loved to have seen them.

[@kd4pba]

I am absolutely obsessed with the filters and lighting used in these ads. I am curious who produced these. This had to cost a fortune.

[@barke27barker19]

By the mid-90s my workplace had all these PS/2s sitting in a pile in a storage shed. We couldn't even give them away. It was the beginning of electronic waste...

[@jjmars9160]

Yep, ancient and slow computers. It was always business dress mode back then, no relaxing clothes.

[@wlsmojo]

Pathetic and clueless attempt by IBM to shut out all the PC competition with their new “licenced” architecture. Worked well 😝😂

[@FlyingMitch]

Wasn’t Apple also competing with IBM at the time

[@jjmars9160]

@@FlyingMitch I think Alan Alda by himself, did a commercial shortly after the cast from MASH did theirs.

[@barke27barker19]

@@wlsmojo yes, Microchannel, I forgot all about that! 😆

[@davebender8901]

Nice to see Frank!!

[@TheIggypop1]

Waiting for Radar to say hello Sparky yeah more casualties..

[@danielearly1098]

I still have my System II Model 30. It was required for engineering students in 1987 at Virginia Tech.

[@roncaruso931]

256 colors!! Amazing!!!!

[@JAMSpaceIndustries]

Amazingly, this perfectly-appointed ad campaign had nothing to do with the Super Bowl. It was just good, creative nostalgia advertising for ad's sake.

[@thomasfrench2012]

This must have been difficult for Larry to do. I hate that this character was so tough for him to do because it brought a whole bunch of joy to the world. Thanks Larry for stepping into the line of fire once more and bringing some more smiles to the world.

[@terminat1]

I doubt it was difficult. I'm sure he liked the money.

[@TheProjectHelpDesk]

256 colors! LMAO. And we were glad to finally get those 256 VGA colors. So many years of choosing between Green or Amber.

[@scottlowman.1044]

Very cool! Don't remember this but glad it exist.😊

[@timothykozlowski2945]

It would've been nice if BJ stopped by the hospital Trapper was working at during Trapper John MD.

[@realbogus]

I have no recollection of this ad... I feel like I missed something epic.

[@gardenlover9663]

Sorry, but they met in season 3, episode 1 - The General Flipped at Dawn. Harry Morgan played a crazy general. He returned a year later as Colonel Potter. Lucky us! We get to enjoy both Blake and Potter!

[@danskeroonie6303]

Never knew about this!! I’m grinning from ear to ear. God, I loved that show!!! 😊❤️👍😃

[@lincolnparc8897]

Cooool...It's like an 80s The Office starring The 4077th.

[@soylentteal]

M*A*S*H and I*B*M

[@0010Kev]

Wow, I never knew these commercials existed...or at least I had forgotten about them if I ever did see them. So much fun seeing so many of them together again ....almost back in character at times. Great!

[@jweav151]

Trapper and "Potter" met in the third season, when Henry Morgan played a General for just one episode.

[@battlejack1863]

This is pretty cool I never saw these ads

[@macwyll]

Me either, and I'm all about anything M*A*S*H! I wonder if these were regional commercials.

[@ChrisStavros]

Remember when working was so inefficient that this is all you had to do to replace two people.

[@mjproebstle]

at the end, it would have been funny if col potter had turned to trapper and said something like, “who’s the new guy?” i should have been in advertising…

[@Soli_Deo_Gloria_.]

M*A*S*H* is cemeted in history as the best show ever conceived and executed... all facets that encapsulates its greatness will never ever be achieved again.

[@dutchyboy66]

I loved it that The Actors stayed in Character w/o the Military "Trapp"ings. 😊😊😅😅😂😂

[@zhugeliang1000]

Here ye here ye

[@Sparky0627]

It was ironic that the show lasted longer than the actual Korean War!

[@laurenjcoates]

Radar saying “yo!” When he picks up the phone is such a cute nod to mash

[@ecotrekker8184]

"Keep your yo's to yourself" - Col. Potter.

[@alanocarlossur9440]

I don't remember ever seeing these commercials. I thought i watched a lot of TV and a lot of commercials in 1988. Maybe because I was a Commodore guy and ignored the IBM commercials. Then I remembered that I went off to Basic Training in the summer of 1988. I didn't watch as much TV as I thought that year.

[@marcellino1956]

That made me smile......so great to see the gang back together.....they all look like they can do another episode of MASH

[@jimmysmith2249]

This was back in '88 when they were all still with us.

[@mwholms4536]

I don't remember HotLips having that perm.

[@dobdoa3691]

@@mwholms4536 She did at least once. When she gave herself a perm and caught laryngitis and could go see a Dr.s presentation so the Dr came to see her personally.

[@borrisg4972]

What a missed oportunity. Why didn't Radar say "Thanks, Sparky" to the machine when he left the office? Pretty decent lines from everyone regardless.

[@keithbrown8814]

Would have been great....and Sparky could have replied: "shazam"!!!

[@oaktonite]

Would have been funny but they were carefully tip-toeing around an actual MASH connection.

[@griergentry8777]

@@oaktonite That and you don’t want someone who didn’t watch MASH (not an easy task back then) misunderstand & think that the computers could catch on fire.

[@kevinbergin9971]

Remember, the intent was to move product only.

[@seanwebb605]

Nobody wants to imagine their computer sparking.

[@JoeVideoed]

I'd completely forgotten about these ads. The 1st 1 was classic.

[@jimjohnstonreviewstheworld]

So you’re telling me we could have had the Office in 1988 with the cast of mash?!?!?! 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️ oh man what a missed opportunity.

[@seanwebb605]

It would be a MASHumentary format.

[@grasmereguy5116]

Looks like there was a very brief glimpse of Tracy Ullman after the IBM ads, probably in a promo for "The Tracy Ullman show", which was on in 1988. I was a big fan of the show at the time, it was what introduced us to "The Simpsons". I think I vaguely remember these M*A*S*H cast IBM ads from around then also.

[@carldamacion3740]

I remember these add spots and they were great!! And I can't remember if these spots came before or after the Charlie Chaplin IBM ad campaign.

[@pancudowny]

That was odd: Seeing Father Mulcahy (Bill Christopher) rip on Maj. Frank Burns (Larry Linville) when that bit really belongs to Capt. Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce. (Alan Alda) At least they got Maj. Margaret Houlihan's (Loretta Swit) draw towards power. :)

[@Eggmanontheair]

thanks for putting the actors' names in your comment, I'm sure we wouldn't have known who they are.

[@joedellaselva1251]

The ultimate aphrodisiac according to Nancy Reagan.

[@joedellaselva1251]

@@Eggmanontheair 40 years of age or younger?

[@KCKingdomCreateGreatTrekAgain]

Alda was probably too full of himself to do a commercial.

[@Kara_Kay_Eschel]

@@KCKingdomCreateGreatTrekAgain I think at this time he was doing Atari computer commercials. He would later join the cast on the IBM commercials.

[@russs7574]

Seeing Loretta Swit out of uniform reminds one how drop dead gorgeous she was.

[@GaryT1952]

This was great...but I don't recall ever seeing this at the time

[@CrazyHank36]

I forgot all about these, thanks for posting it

[@homebrandrules]

THANKYOU for posting this

[@kbunky69]

IBM keyboard were the best I loved them .

[@marklechman2225]

Don’t forget, Alan Alda was the spokesperson for Atari computers just a few years before that. Just goes to show you how iconic that TV show really was.

[@jamesrawlins735]

Alda also was a spokesperson for IBM even before this campaign.

[@GroverKent]

Thanks for uploading this. I had previously uploaded a nearly hour-long compilation of the various M*A*S*H castmembers in commercials over their careers, and *one guy* had the entire thing removed for copyright because he claims I "stole" his commercial (Mike Farrell selling a Plymouth), so it's nice to see some of these in one video again.

[@kd4pba]

You should have told him Mike hated Plymouth LOL

[@mwholms4536]

You could always upload it to RUMBLE.

[@GroverKent]

@@mwholms4536 I don't have the original video file, and KZbin won't let me download the MP4 because of the copyright strike. I could start all over again and recompile the clips from scratch, but I really don't have the time or the energy for that now.

[@MagSeven7]

Wow! Great stuff! Amazingly, I worked for IBM for 30 years and never saw these commercials!!! How is that possible? IBM and MASH, all time greats.

[@TheSaneHatter]

While I only remember the third commercial (nad only seeing it once, with my parents), I do remember: we were all floored. It's hard to think of what's more nostalgic now: all thse departed M*A*S*H actors, or a time when IBM was actually a company that made computers!

[@civillady13]

I’ve never seen these before! I love it!

[@timothypaskell1464]

I was working at IBM in Yorktown, NY, when these came out. Alan Alda came to take a tour of the building. A few of us from the mail room decided to try and see him. We were going towards him and decided it wouldn't be a good idea to run into him when he's with the head of the building, so we went into another hallway, unfortunately that was a dead end. They kept walking .

[@michaelbarnhart2593]

Hawkeye would have been in the ads, but he was drinking martinis in the break room. ;-)

[@chadhartsees]

This would have been a great show.

[@icollectstories5702]

Well, except that every problem would eventually be solved by installing new equipment from their sponsor!🙃 (I wonder what was so wrong with all their old equipment?😜)

[@kensellers4082]

They could have also included the Dell Computer Kid. I wonder whatever happened to him?

[@STho205]

It kinda was... It was "After MASH" if i recall, in the mid 80s with some of the cast working together in later civilian life. A lackluster sequel (the second MASH sequel).

[@MichaelSHartman]

The Office 1980s version.

[@TheGrayfrog100]

1:28 256 colours. Oh I remember when that was the tops.

[@mattmallecoccio8378]

The only weird thing about it is that the guy who played Adam Cartwright on Bonanza was playing Trapper on his own show at that time I think. So briefly we had two Trappers at the same time

[@woohooboy]

Wayne Rogers stopped playing Trapper John when he left M.A.S.H in 1975 (after being with that show for three years). There was a four-year gap before Pernell Roberts played the character in Trapper John M.D from 1979-1986. Also that series was set more than twenty-five years after M.A.S.H. Both M.A.S.H & Trapper were on CBS for four years at the same time, however for copyright issues, the producers of "Trapper" were not allowed to reference any characters from M.A.S.H hence why there were never any crossover episodes between the two programs.

[@fivebearrugs]

@@woohooboy What I read was that Trapper John was a followed to the movie MASH, and not M*A*S*H* the TV series. In the pilot, Trapper is having a dream about the war and briefly mentions Radar and Hawkeye.

[@jb888888888]

@@fivebearrugs The producers of _Trapper John_ claimed it was based on the book, but in the first episode he's dreaming of his time in Korea and they used generic clips of the TV series _M*A*S*H_ to represent that.

[@woohooboy]

@@fivebearrugs - Correct. It was a weird grey area in that "Trapper" was often thought of as a spinoff series to M.A.S.H when really it wasn't......

[@mattmallecoccio8378]

@@woohooboy oh. So it was after Trapper John MD was over by time these ads were on?

[@kellijackowski3645]

These are great!

[@jillv4006]

I don’t remember these commercials at all. Thanks for sharing

[@patrickjacobs2382]

It’s sad watching this. Most of them are gone.

[@Nmax]

This is awesome

[@justinquaylepate1358]

I loved it!!

[@langlsd1604]

Harry Morgan is from my hometown!