With approximately 125 million viewers, this overtook Dallas: Who Done It? (1980) to become the most-watched television broadcast in American history--50.15 million households, or 60.2%, watched, giving it a Neilsen share of 77%.
Originally slated to be 90 minutes, then two hours, the finale incorporated an unexpected real fire at the Fox Ranch. Writers and producers incorporated scenes, expanding the original story line by another 30 minutes, for a 2.5-hour episode that ended the series.
Third and final time the phrase "son of a bitch" was spoken, uncensored, on the series. It was first said by Hawkeye in "Guerrilla My Dreams" (1979), which was also the first time the curse was ever uttered on network television, then spoken a second time, aimed at Hawkeye by a grieving General Collins upon being informed of the death of his son, in "Say No More" (1983). Hawkeye said it once before, in "The Interview" (1976), but it was bleeped as it would have been in a 1951 interview.