The most watched TV shows of all time (Updated-02/03/2004 10:35 PM ET) Top TV shows of all time Rank Date Show/episode http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-02-04-most-watched-shows.htm 1) 02/28/83-- M*A*S*H (150 min. finale movie) 2) 02/09/64-- Ed Sullivan - Beatles' 1st 3) 02/16/64-- Ed Sullivan - Beatles' 2nd 4) 01/24/82-- Super Bowl XVI 5) 11/21/80-- Dallas ("Who Shot J.R.?") 6) 05/20/93-- Cheers (100 min. finale special) 7) 01/25/87-- Super Bowl XXI 8) 01/28/96-- Super Bowl XXX 9) 01/30/83-- Super Bowl XVII 10) 01/26/86-- Super Bowl XX 11) 01/20/85-- Super Bowl XIX 12) 01/29/94-- Super Bowl XXVIII 13) 01/22/84-- Super Bowl XVIII 14) 01/31/93-- Super Bowl XXVII 15) 01/25/98-- Super Bowl XXXII 16) 02/23/64-- Ed Sullivan - Beatles' 3rd 17) 01/22/89-- Super Bowl XXIII 18) 01/26/97-- Super Bowl XXXI 19) 01/30/77-- Roots (mini-series - 2 hrs finale) 20) 01/27/91-- Super Bowl XXV 21) 01/20/80-- Super Bowl XIV 22) 01/21/79-- Super Bowl XIII 23) 01/30/00-- Super Bowl XXXIV 24) 01/15/78-- Super Bowl XII 25) 01/31/88-- Super Bowl XXII 26) 02/23/94-- 1994 Olympics Women's Skating 27) 01/25/81-- Super Bowl XV 28) 01/29/95-- Super Bowl XXIX 29) 11/20/83-- The Day After (145 min. TV movie) 30) 01/26/03-- Super Bowl XXXVII 31) 01/10/82-- NFC Championship 32) 02/03/02-- Super Bowl XXXVI 33) 11/07/76-- Gone With the Wind (TV premiere) 34) 01/31/99-- Super Bowl XXXIII 35) 11/08/76-- Gone with the Wind (Part 2) 36) 01/26/92-- Super Bowl XXVI 37) 01/28/01-- Super Bowl XXXV 38) 01/28/90-- Super Bowl XXIV 39) 01/09/77-- Super Bowl XI 40) 02/25/94-- 1994 Olympics Women's Skating 41) 01/28/77-- Roots (Part 6) 42) 01/27/77-- Roots (Part 5) 43) 03/29/83-- The Thorn Birds (Part 3) 44) 03/30/83-- The Thorn Birds (Part 4) 45) 01/25/77-- Roots (Part 3) 46) 03/28/83-- The Thorn Birds (Part 2) 47) 01/24/77-- Roots (Part 2) 48) 01/18/76-- Super Bowl X 49) 01/22/87-- Cosby Show (episode) 50) 01/12/75-- Super Bowl IX
Very surprised recent superbowls rate so high. The measure is percentage of TV households watching, so i would have expected pre 1980's shows to dominate since back in the dark ages, we only had network tv -- no cable. To pull 30% plus in an era of hundreds of channels is quite a feat. ---- As an aside, if you were to include net searches and downloads, that will probably make Janet's boob the most watched 1.5 seconds in TV history.
I thought I read some place that this past Super Bowl was the most watch television event of all-time?
Most watched in terms of raw number of people... not in terms of percentage. (which is what this list illustrates). Far more people have TV nowadays. Also, far more people have more options rather than local network TV. All that being said, this year's SB did quite well... but nothing will ever beat MASH.
Wasn't The Day After originally aired on HBO? If so, and that's what this is referring to, in 1983, that's simply amazing.
<a HREF="http://www.mediainfocenter.org/television/content/top25_nonsports.asp">Top 25 Network Telecasts (non-sports)</a> <i>The Day After</i> was on ABC (11-20-83). A list that leaves my man out just doesn't seem right. <center> </center>
they say the superbowl is the most watched sporting event in the world...i find that hard to believe...don't more people watch the World Cup?
This is the most amazing one. Everything else is an event: a sporting championship, a movie, a series finale, or other major TV event (like the Beatles). But this is just "Cosby Show (episode)." I'm surprised it can compete without some kind of special marker.
Cosby Show Season 3 (1986-1987) (25 Episodes In Season 3) Rudy Spends The Night (Originally Aired 1/15/1987) Say Hello To A Good Buy (Originally Aired 1/29/1987) Hmmmm, an episode for 1/22/87 is not shown. Perhaps they replayed the pilot episode?
I saw all of the top ten except for the Super Bowls. I know I saw several, maybe all of them, but I just can't remember. Yes, most of the time the games are that bad.
