Goodbye, Farewell, Amen

From the first episode in 1972, I have been a fan of the TV series M*A*S*H. First runs, re-runs, re-re-re-re runs... I have seen them all dozens of times. Literally. I can flip by an episode, hear only a few words, and know the entire plot... sometimes recite the dialog! Loved the cast, loved the scripts, loved it all.

This past weekend TV-Land on cable had a M*A*S*H marathon including the record breaking finale. That one's not on as often as the regular weekly episodes... which I suspect are on all day everyday somewhere.

It was late but I was watching. I have it recorded but was determined to see it through to the end. I gave up and went to bed turning on the last half hour in the bedroom... trying very hard to watch ever so quietly. About the time Klinger was getting married to Soon-Lee there was a horrible screeching noise!

Kind of like a real bad old time buzzer alarm clock. BUZ BUZ BUZZZZZZZZZ.... then the crawler across the top of the screen.... BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZZ.... "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. Should this be an actual emergency... blah blah blah." BUZ BUZ BUZ... At 2AM who gives a shit? My husband flew out of the bed so fast it was as if a fire truck has just driven into the room. His exact words were... and I quote... "!jesus#@@**frickin#?#@!christ!!!!!" BUZZZZZZ BUZZZZZZZZ and he slammed the bathroom door. Not sure what he said in there but I imagine it was more of the same.

BUZ BUZZ BUZZZZZZZZZZ.... are you kidding me? In this day and age you have to TEST the damn thing? Why? You can't do that without broadcasting it? He huffed and sighed pulling at the covers mumbling to himself (me) until I turned it off.

So, those of you with bomb shelters rest assured the system is tested daily for your convenience. Who else cares? I thought they only tested it when the verdict was being rendered during "The People's Court."