Posted: Monday, February 8, 2010, 3:27 PM | 12 comments |
 

Super Bowl most-watched TV program ever
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A record number of viewers watched Drew Brees and the Saints win the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

According to numbers released today, Sunday's Super Bowl was the most-watched program in U.S. television history, topping the M-A-S-H series finale in 1983.

Nielsen reported that 106.5M viewers watched the Super Bowl, beating the 105.97M who watched M-A-S-H.

Last year's Super Bowl set a record at the time with 98.7M viewers.

Because I did not watch that M-A-S-H finale, I looked up the ratings for another, more recently hyped TV event: The Seinfeld finale. As a point of reference, that was watched by 76.3M viewers.

By the way, this has nothing to do with anything, but I was snowed in Saturday and knocked out a few Seinfelds. Very underrated scene that had me laughing hysterically. Just classic.

If you're wondering if things will slow down here now that football season is over, think again.

Beginning (hopefully) Tuesday, we're going to start a Year in Review feature. I'll go player-by-player, detailing how each member of the Eagles' roster performed in 2009. And for most, we'll try to look ahead to next season.

In the mean-time, some key dates to circle on your calendar:

Feb. 24-March 2: The combine in Indy
March 5: The start of free agency and the potential uncapped year
April 22-24: The NFL draft
Posted by Sheil Kapadia @ 3:27 PM  Permalink | 12 comments
12
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:03 PM, 02/08/2010
    But was the rating higher than MASH? The rating is a ratio of people watching a show compared to all people watching TV at the time.
    — verve
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:06 PM, 02/08/2010
    'Because WE were not part of the generation who watched that M-A-S-H finale,...' ... Sheil, Do you think that no one over the approx. age of 38 would read this blog? I recognize you are probably a good dude, but your words read as a bit of a slight to us 'old-timers'. No real offense taken here, just keeping it real. just offering some
    — PhilCali
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:10 PM, 02/08/2010
    PhiliCali, meant no disrespect. Appreciate readers of all ages and generations. Poor choice of wording by me. -- SK
    — skapadia
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:32 PM, 02/08/2010
    Like I suspected, Sheil, you are a good dude. Thanks for acknowledging us old dudes and wanted to say I do enjoy your daily blogs. Take care.
    — PhilCali
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:44 PM, 02/08/2010
    Super Bowl may have the most TVs on, but we couldn't really call ithe most watched. At the MASH party I went to, for the final episode, ever person there watched the entire program.
    — tacklinjoe
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:15 PM, 02/08/2010
    Most watched TV program in the United States. The World Cup (soccer) final beats the Super Bowl every 4 years.
    — Boston connection
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:32 PM, 02/08/2010
    I was betting that Klinger would score with Hot Lips. I also took a prop bet about what kind of booze Hawkeye would distill in his hooch.
    — dragoon6
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:49 PM, 02/08/2010
    For my money, that was the most entertaining Super Bowl game I ever saw. Was moderately pulling for the Saints before the game, but once it started, I was cheering for them like they were my favorite team. Just kind of got caught up in it all…by the way, since were talking Seinfeld, there is something that I always wanted to point out. So I figure this is a good time as any- If you ever catch the episode where Constanza has his bosses’ likeness air-brushed on a family portrait, take notice of who the boss looks like when air-brushed. I swear to god it looks like Ed Stefanski! It’s uncanny! Now every time I see a picture of Stefanski, I start bagging. (and not because of his accomplishments as a GM)
    — Reality Speaks
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:51 AM, 02/09/2010
    It's funny how the NFL/Network marketing machine doesn't correlate the extraordinarily high ratings for the Super Bowl and Conference Championship games and the crappy weather on both coasts on each of the Sundays. The NFL climax happens at the perfect time in the calendar. Throw in terrible weather and you get a ratings bonanza.
    — jtj06
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:15 AM, 02/09/2010
    Also, a comment on the Seinfeld clip...too bad itdidn't run a little longer to get more of George's reaction/byplay --the ketchup bottle squirt is classic. "Gonna need some water over here!"
    — MG44
  • Comment removed.


12 comments
About Sheil Kapadia
Sheil Kapadia is in his fourth season writing about the Eagles and the NFL for philly.com. His earliest memories as a sports fan include several trips to Veterans Stadium with his Dad. He's not a beat writer or an Insider, but is here to discuss the NFL 365 days a year. E-mail him at skapadia@philly.com or by clicking here

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