15 Shows With Most-Watched Post-Super Bowl Episodes
When we think of Super Bowl Sunday, we think of the usual suspects: the football game, the commercials, the trailers, the Puppy Bowl … and, of course, the post-game episodes. (For 2024, Justin Hartley‘s new series Tracker on CBS receives that honor.)
Each year, the network on which the game airs chooses one of its shows to get that coveted post-Super Bowl slot. Over the years, both scripted and unscripted programming has reigned supreme, with all getting quite the nice bump — some (a lot) more than others — in ratings thanks to the football game.
And while some of those episodes have been major ones, featuring moments we’d been waiting for, or that would come to mean something going forward (This Is Us, The X-Files, and Alias, to name a few), in other cases, it’s been an excellent way for a network to try to introduce a new show, to mixed results (Undercover Boss, The Last Precinct).
Scroll down as we take a look at the most-watched post-Super Bowl episodes of all time.
The X-Files
Viewers: 29.098 million
Air date: January 26, 1997
In “Leonard Betts,” Paul McCrane guest stars as the monster-of-the-week, who feeds on cancer and regenerates his body … and leads to Scully’s (Gillian Anderson) diagnosis.
Grand Slam
Viewers: 30.765 million
Air date: January 28, 1990
The CBS action drama about bounty hunters (John Schneider and Paul Rodriguez) in San Diego premiered after the Super Bowl but was canceled after six episodes (with two unaired).
Brothers and Sisters
Viewers: 31.722 million
Air date: January 21, 1979
This NBC frat-house sitcom, following students (Chris Lemmon, Jon Cutler, and Randy Brooks) living in Pi Nu’s basement and wreaking havoc with the rest of the fraternity, premiered after the Super Bowl, but it was off-air by April of that year.
Brotherhood of the Rose
Viewers: 32.0 million
Air date: January 22, 1989
The first of the two-part miniseries scored the post-game slot. It follows orphans (Peter Strauss and David Morse) from Philadelphia adopted by a man (Robert Mitchum) who treats them like his own children and raises them to become assassins. They start to question everything when things start going wrong.
Survivor
Viewers: 33.535 million
Air date: February 1, 2004
The eighth season, All-Stars, kicked off with the premiere and featured for the first time 18 returning competitors (who were split into three tribes instead of two).
3rd Rock from the Sun
Viewers: 33.662 million
Air date: January 25, 1998
In the one-hour “36! 24! 36! Dick,” a group of beautiful women comes to Rutherford, then Dick (John Lithgow), Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Harry (French Stewart) have to save Sally (Kristen Johnston) and the entire world from them.
All in the Family
Viewers: 35.472 million
Air date: January 15, 1978
In “Archie and the Super Bowl,” Archie’s Place is robbed while the bar is doing great business during the Super Bowl.
The Voice
Viewers: 37.611 million
Air date: February 5, 2012
Season 2 premiered after the Super Bowl with the first episode of Blind Auditions, in which the coaches — Adam Levine, CeeLo Green, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton — with their backs to the contestants, choose singers for their teams based only on their voices.
Grey’s Anatomy
Viewers: 37.800 million
Air date: February 5, 2006
In “It’s the End of the World,” the first of a two-parter, Christina Ricci plays a paramedic whose hand is the only thing keeping a bomb from exploding — until Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) must step in — and Kyle Chandler is the bomb squad leader.
Undercover Boss
Viewers: 38.654 million
Air date: February 7, 2010
The CBS reality series about a person in an upper-management position at a major business going undercover as an entry-level employee to find the company’s faults premiered in the prime time slot, with the first episode following Larry O’Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management, Inc.
The Last Precinct
Viewers: 39.729 million
Air date: January 26, 1986
The pilot introduced the NBC sitcom, which followed a group of misfit police academy rejects (led by Adam West) in Los Angeles’ seediest and most woebegone unit. It officially premiered in April of that year and was canceled after two months.
60 Minutes
Viewers: 40.746 million
Air date: January 20, 1980
The American television news magazine claimed the post-game spot a total of four times, with this one the most-watched by far.
Raid on Entebbe
Viewers: 42.816 million
Air date: January 9, 1977
Rather than a post-Super Bowl episode, in 1977, NBC aired a film following the game. The TV movie was based on an actual event, Operation Entebbe, and the freeing of hostages at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on July 4, 1976.
Survivor
Viewers: 45.369 million
Air date: January 28, 2001
The CBS reality competition kicked off its second season, The Australian Outback, with the post-Super Bowl time slot.
Friends
Viewers: 52.925 million
Air date: January 28, 1996
In the one-hour “The One After the Super Bowl,” Ross (David Schwimmer) finds out his money Marcel is in show business, Joey (Matt LeBlanc) has a stalker (Brooke Shields) who thinks he’s really his Days of Our Lives character, Chandler (Matthew Perry) reconnects with his childhood friend (Julia Roberts), Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) meet Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) dates a man (Chris Isaak) who hires her to play music for kids at the library.