Talk:List of most-watched television broadcasts

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[edit] Commentary

Could some commentary be added to this list, for instance how all the top shows seems to be from a long time ago. i.e. 80's. Nothing from this century! Just about nothing mentioned from the 90's too. A let section mentioning this and why perhaps? Mathmo 06:25, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Any chance that TVRs (UK: BARB ratings) - i.e. percentage of total audience/households at the time - be provided for all the examples in this article? I know that it may not mean much to the average reader but it's useful for comparision over long periods of time. If you look at the BBC source [1] you can see that the Ed Sullivan episodes could actually rank higher that the Superbowl and Dallas based on ratings because the total audience was smaller in the 60's.

I know it's all a bit technical but if it was just included in brackets or something after the viewers figure that would be handy -- Lochaber 14:49, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 1957?

"Note: according to Cinderella (TV), the 1957 broadcast had 107 million viewers, which would make it #1 on this list. However, it is not included on most lists of this nature."

1957 broadcast of WHAT? was there only one broadcast in the entire year? the note is highly unencyclopedic.pauli 12:22, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

It was a live broadcast on CBS of a musical version of Cinderella starring Julie Andrews [2], I have no idea if it really did 107 million viewers - would be best if someone checked this out - however it probably is worth including. That said it wasn't an episode of anything, it was a one off event, so I suppose it should really be on the list that includes the Superbowl shows except that that list gives household ratings rather than viewers so it can't really be added to it unless of course someone can find the household rating. -- Lochaber 15:17, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Addition of Super Bowl XL

I have reverted edits concerning Super Bowl XL. The edits are inaccurate and not credited.

About edits in "Most watched episodes": According to MSN SB XL had 90.7M viewers. The 141.1M figure refers to viewers "at any point" which is not the metric used to calculate viewership. (For instance Super Bowl XXXVIII had 144.4M but has not been put on this list) In fact this list has a couple of issues:

  • The title says "episodes" but lists a Super Bowl.
  • The original source leaves out other Super Bowls that have had more viewers (like Super Bowl XXX's 94.1M viewers, according to the MSN article)

About the edits in "One-off events": The original source of this list [3] is "Ranked By Household Rating." Which would put Super Bowl XL off the list with a rating of 41.6%.

To those who wish to add Super Bowl XL: Super Bowl XL deserves to be on a list in this article but you should not simply add it to an existing list, especially when it is added in the wrong context. Adding handpicked telecasts to lists in this article (aside from potentially being original research) neglects any other entry that could have been added since the original source was published.

If you wish to use the MSN article as a source, I see a few problems. First, the list would have to be "average # of homes." (Which currently does not exist) Second, that list would only have two entries: 1. MASH and 2. SB XL (no other positions are mentioned in the article). The article doesn't give a number for the MASH show (although that can be gotten from the Nielsen list[4], but that list doesn't rank by "# of homes.") - Ektar 05:31, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Apollo 11

So, I'm only a moron, and I have only anecdotal sources to support the suspicion, but I am still shocked the first step on the moon isn't on this list. Anyone know the numbers for it, and/or how it compares with those listed?

I assume the moon landing was carried by all three U.S. commercial networks, so the ratings would be split between them. It seems 93% of U.S. television households watched the funeral of President Kennedy [5] (similarly split, I guess); the first moon landing's total ratings were perhaps comparable (though the first step was late at night IIRC). --Cam 15:28, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
Found a source [6] that gives 96% "of the population" for Apollo 11 landing viewership.--Cam 15:38, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
That also mentions the same 93% for Kennedy though, so I assume it's talking about television households again. Of course, I'm sure many people who didn't have TVs went round to friends houses to watch it. — sjorford (talk) 11:04, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Hmm yes I am extremely surprised that the moon landing is not in this list. The article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program#A_world_wide_audience states "Approximately one fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the first Apollo moonwalk" Timmywimmy (talk) 22:45, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Er

Okay, I have two issues with this article.

1) Firstly, there are several "Most Watched Finales" that were watched by more people than certain "One-Off Events." (the Cheers and Seinfeld finales both trumph Ed Sullivan's show with The Beatles by about 10 and 3 million viewers, respectively.) If the MASH finale gets double mention among the two categories, why wouldn't they? 2) On that note, the category organization doesn't make any sense at all. Why does the MASH finale count as all three? Why is there a Super Bowl in the most-watched episode category? Why are three television episodes listed under one-off events?

I think the Episodes and One-Off Events should just be merged, and listed in order of viewer count, not temporally. The most-watched finales can go in a sublist, but clearly the Cheers and Seinfeld finales belong in the main list. The crudeness of the article makes me think the information needs to be double-checked, anyway, though. -VJ 13:41, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree - how is the Superbowl episodic? Why does MASH appear in all three categories? QmunkE 22:53, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Fugitive

The series fanale of The Fugitive on August 29, 1967 needs some info about ratings. Can anyone find it? --The Real Zajac 22:37, 2 Apr 2006 (PDT)

According to this website http://www.thefab40.com/alltimetop75.html the episode ranked 55th in terms of PERCENTAGE of US population watching. 27.05% Other data from that website:

08/29/67 The Fugitive (Final episode) 45.9 Rating 72 Share 25,700,000 TV Homes 51,400,000 Estimated Viewers

This website ranks it 18th in terms of Rating http://www.mediainfocenter.org/television/content/top25_nonsports.asp

The Fugitive (Final Episode) 8/29/1967 ABC 45.9 Rating

This website ranks it 4th in terms of most watched television episode http://www.vitalstatistics.info/sub-category2.asp?cid=20&scid=1581 and a 45.9% share of the audience. (which is corroborated by the other 2)

In terms of a series finale, it might rank as second after MASH. Other higher rated TV episodes Dallas "Who Shot JR?" and 1/30/1977 episode of "Roots" rank higher but "Who Shot JR?" was not the final episode and technically, "Roots" was a miniseries and not a true weekly television series.

wolf1728

[edit] Philippines

I can't verify the figures shown for the Philippines. Should they stay? --Howard the Duck | talk, 06:32, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Philippine ratings

it is unverified plus sources are unreliable.

agb and nielsen are of separate research companies when the said "rosalinda" ratings are made. plus late night programs like "sports unlimited are impossible of having a 30+ rating. average rating for late night programs only reAch up to 20.

i think this shouldn't stay.

[edit] User 72.199.27.31

Ok, im going to get an admin involved and possibly have this page protected or get the IP blocked. May take a few days as i have finals all week, so i guess we might have to put up with it for a little bit more.--Gephart 20:28, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why is the Philippine lists still reappearing?

I think this should not be included. really. Philippines in not that big to include it. The list is undeniably unreliable. Please verify the infos first before adding it.--Brown-FOx 09:25, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism.--Gephart 19:08, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] That 70's Show Finale

Is this really the 9th best rated series finale of all time? The 9+ million viewers seems exceptionally low for a top rated finale.

I was asking myself that same question when i was making the boxes for it. I doubt it is, ill look into it.--Gephart 00:42, 13 June 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Selena VIVE! ratings

The 35.9 ratings correspond to Nielsen's Hispanic ratings, not the general population. [7] The actual number of viewers was 3.9 million (35.9% of the universe of Spanish language TV viewers), a far cry from the numbers shown. [8] Calwatch 01:53, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Morecambe & Wise

The 1977 Christmas Morecambe & Wise show was watched by an estimated 27.5-28 million British viewers; that should probably be included in the UK list. 140.142.174.111 21:33, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Change page's name?

The pages title, List of most-watched television episodes, is misleading since the page also lists one-off events and movies. How about List of most-watched television broadcasts? Thoughts on that title? Other suggestions? Cheers. DarkSideOfTheSpoon 04:08, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The apprentice

Why the apprentice isn't here the finale was 28.05 millions viewers so the apprentice have to be in most watched finals.

[edit] Daddy Day Care?

Daddy Day Care, number one, in 2007, in our scattered TV universe? That's impossible.--RobNS 17:37, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Rob is right. According to Neilsen ratings it had only a 3.64 million viewers - http://tv.yahoo.com/news/

[edit] General Hospital

I have deleted the following from the US list:

31 General Hospital - Luke and Laura's wedding 16.10 million (about 30 million viewers) 44.3% 68% November 16, 1981 ABC

These figures don't match up - using the figures for the 1981 and 1982 Superbowls gives the 100% number of households as 77.79 million and 81.51 million respectively. The General Hospital figures assume 100% is 36.34 million! Either there was a mass abandonment of television, followed by an even bigger return or the General Hospital figures are bogus. Timrollpickering 18:11, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moon Landing?

I thought the moon landing was one of the most viewed television broadcasts of all time. Shouldn't it be on this list somewhere. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.10.113.134 (talk) 01:37, August 23, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Yao vs Yi I

The Rockets-Bucks (11/09/07) game is projected to reach 300 million viewers worldwide. The World Cup game between Italy and France drew 750 million viewers, this game has the potential to be right below that. Can we expand the worldwide section? Realferrari 01:05, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mash finale question

there is a discrepency of 50 million viewers between the two different listings of the final episode of mash. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.153.112.110 (talk) 20:39, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Patrtiots game

I was watching sportscenter and they said that the recent Ravens-Patriot game was the most watched event in U.S. history. Is this true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.61.96.95 (talk) 06:45, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why are are the lists ranked by percentage of households?

It seems to me that the actual number of viewers is a much more meaningful statistic. 71.203.209.0 (talk) 06:43, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Switch to U.S. network schedule articles

For List of most-watched television broadcasts#Annual top-rated U.S. TV series, I've started a switch to U.S. network schedule articles such as 1960-61 United States network television schedule. I'll try to remember to continue the conversion, though of course others are welcome to contribute. 72.244.204.25 (talk) 12:34, 24 May 2008 (UTC).