List of Super Bowl lead-out programs

The NBC sitcom Friends is the highest-rated Super Bowl lead-out program to date, the episode "The One After the Superbowl" aired in 1996. The episode is also the highest-rated episode of that series.

The Super Bowl is the National Football League's championship game, and typically the highest-rated single U.S. television broadcast of any given year. In turn, the program aired immediately following coverage of the game in the U.S. is typically also one of the year's most watched television programs.

Overview

The Super Bowl lead-out is typically aired across most U.S. markets simultaneously, and is usually one hour in length, although before the game adopted its standard kickoff time of just after 6:00 p.m. ET in the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for longer programs to be broadcast. When the game moved into a later time slot in 1983, the game and its associated post-game programming would be scheduled until 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time / 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time, allowing for only one hour of network programming until the late local news. These programs are almost inevitably delayed, due to the extended length of the pre-game, halftime, and post-game festivities. It is common for affiliates in the home markets of the competing teams to delay the lead-out show further, until after additional local post-game coverage.

In 1979, and largely from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, this slot was used to showcase a new series or movie, such as The A-Team or The Wonder Years, or broadcast a special episode of an "up-and-coming" series. However, many of the series were ultimately unsuccessful, with some being canceled within a matter of weeks. Since then, virtually all of the programs in the post-game timeslot have been special episodes of series that had already aired for at least one season.

Despite the fact that Fox almost never programs time slots after 10:00 p.m. except on Saturdays (instead encouraging its affiliates to air local news in the slot), Fox has aired lead-out programming after the Super Bowl ever since it began airing them in 1997, preempting local newscasts.

Currently, a regular-length episode of a drama series will usually air, although in some cases a one-hour episode of a sitcom (normally 30 minutes in length), or two episodes of different sitcoms paired together, may air instead. Quite often the selected series is one of the "prestige" shows for the network showing the game that year, or a moderate hit (e.g. The X-Files, Criminal Minds, and Grey's Anatomy), which the network wants to give a higher profile. The Simpsons have aired in the slot twice, with both airings being paired with the premieres of animated sitcoms (Family Guy in 1999 and American Dad! in 2005). An occasional practice used to maximize the effect of the lead-out, is to make the Super Bowl episode a cliffhanger, with a story that concludes later in the week in the program's regularly scheduled timeslot.

TV ratings

The following is a list of shows that have aired after the Super Bowl in the United States:

Date	Super Bowl	Network	Program	Episode	U.S. viewers (millions)	Share	Refs
15 January 1967	01 !I	CBS	Lassie	"Lassie's Litter Bit"	& —	33.7%
		NBC	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	"Willie and the Yank: The Mosby Raiders" (Part II)	& —	25.3%
14 January 1968	02 !II	CBS	Local programming, then Lassie	"The Foundling"	& —	41.2%
12 January 1969	03 !III	NBC	The G.E. College Bowl		& —	21.2%
11 January 1970	04 !IV	CBS	Lassie	"The Road Back"		34%
17 January 1971	05 !V	NBC	Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournament			36%
16 January 1972	06 !IV	CBS	60 Minutes			36%
14 January 1973	07 !VII	NBC				44%
13 January 1974	08 !VIII	CBS	Local programming, then The New Perry Mason	"The Case of the Tortured Titan"	15.058	20%
12 January 1975	09 !IX	NBC	NBC Nightly News		15.924	28%
18 January 1976	10 !X	CBS	Phoenix Open Golf Tournament		22.363	31%
9 January 1977	11 !XI	NBC	The Wonderful World of Disney	Raid on Entebbe	42.816	37%
15 January 1978	12 !XII	CBS	All in the Family	"Archie and the Super Bowl"	35.472	47%
21 January 1979	13 !XIII	NBC	Brothers and Sisters	"Pilot"	31.722	32%
20 January 1980	14 !XIV	CBS	60 Minutes		40.746	50%
25 January 1981	15 !XV	NBC	CHiPs	"11-99: Officer Needs Help" (originally aired January 18, 1981)		26%
24 January 1982	16 !XVI	CBS	60 Minutes			36%
30 January 1983	17 !XVII	NBC	The A-Team	"Children of Jamestown" (first regular episode)	21.910	39%
22 January 1984	18 !XVIII	CBS	Airwolf	"Shadow of the Hawke" (two-hour pilot)	27.874	36%
20 January 1985	19 !XIX	ABC	MacGruder and Loud	Unknown		38%
26 January 1986	20 !XX	NBC	The Last Precinct	"Pilot"	39.729	25%
25 January 1987	21 !XXI	CBS	Hard Copy	"Pilot"		33%
31 January 1988	22 !XXIII	ABC	The Wonder Years	"Pilot"	28.976	31%
22 January 1989	23 !XXIII	NBC	Brotherhood of the Rose	Television movie (part 1; two hours)		36%
28 January 1990	24 !XXIV	CBS	Grand Slam	"He Works Hard for the Money" (Pilot)	30.765	30%
27 January 1991	25 !XVV	ABC	Davis Rules	"A Man for All Reasons" (Pilot)	26.695	25%
26 January 1992	26 !XXVI	CBS	60 Minutes 48 Hours	60 Minutes was an abbreviated 13-minute edition and was apparently a last-minute addition to the schedule, consisting of an interview of Bill and Hillary Clinton addressing the Gennifer Flowers affair. The length (i.e., 47 or 60 minutes) of the edition of 48 Hours which followed is not clear.	24.821	30%
31 January 1993	27 !XXVII	NBC	Homicide: Life on the Street	"Gone for Goode" (Pilot)	28.121	31%
30 January 1994	28 !XXVIII	NBC	The Good Life		23.012	22%
			The John Larroquette Show		17.708	22%
29 January 1995	29 !XXIX	ABC	Extreme	"Pilot"	22.594	25%
28 January 1996	30 !XXX	NBC	Friends	"The One After the Superbowl" (Parts 1 and 2)	52.925	46%
26 January 1997	31 !XXXI	Fox	The X-Files	"Leonard Betts"	29.098	29%
25 January 1998	32 !XXXII	NBC	3rd Rock from the Sun	"36! 24! 36! Dick" (Parts 1 and 2)	33.662	34%
31 January 1999	33 !XXXIII	Fox	Family Guy The Simpsons	"Death Has a Shadow" (Pilot) "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday"	22.005	21%
30 January 2000	34 !XXXIV	ABC	The Practice	"New Evidence"	23.847	27%
28 January 2001	35 !XXXV	CBS	Survivor: The Australian Outback	"Stranded" (season premiere)	45.369	39%
3 February 2002	36 !XXXVI	Fox	Malcolm in the Middle	"Company Picnic" (Parts 1 and 2)	21.445	21%
26 January 2003	37 !XXXVII	ABC	Alias	"Phase One"	17.362	20%
1 February 2004	38 !XXXVIII	CBS	Survivor: All-Stars	"They're Back!" (season premiere)	33.535	32%
6 February 2005	39 !XXXIX	Fox	The Simpsons	"Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass"	22%
			American Dad!	"Pilot"	23.074	22%
5 February 2006	40 !XL	ABC	Grey's Anatomy	"It's the End of the World"	37.881	27%
4 February 2007	41 !XLI	CBS	Criminal Minds	"The Big Game"	26.314	26%
3 February 2008	42 !XLII	Fox	House	"Frozen"	29.045	27%
1 February 2009	43 !XLIII	NBC	The Office	"Stress Relief" (one-hour episode)	22.905	21%
7 February 2010	44 !XLIV	CBS	Undercover Boss	"Waste Management" (first episode)	38.6
6 February 2011	45 !XLV	Fox	Glee	"The Sue Sylvester Shuffle"	26.8
5 February 2012	45 !XLVI	NBC	The Voice	"The Blind Auditions" (Part 1) (season premiere)	37.611