List of Super Bowl lead-out programs
Lead-out programs following the Super Bowl are typically one of the year's highest rated television broadcasts in the United States. The Super Bowl is aired on a rotation schedule between NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX. Networks usually choose to air a new episode of their most popular program (Survivor, Friends) but sometimes opt to air a program that merits special attention (Undercover Boss, Elementary). In the case of Fox, The Simpsons has been used twice as a companion program to bolster series premiere ratings of Family Guy (1999) and American Dad! (2005). Some networks air cliffhanger episodes (Grey's Anatomy) to capture new viewers for a program in its regularly scheduled timeslot.
Friends (1996) holds the distinction for being the most-watched lead-out program with 52.9 million viewers. Other high-rated telecasts have included season premieres of Survivor: The Australian Outback (2001, 45.4 million) and Survivor: All-Stars (2004, 33.5 million) and part one of a Grey's Anatomy two-part episode (2006, 37.9 million).
For the 2014 Super Bowl, Fox will be airing new episodes of popular comedy New Girl and freshman hit Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Programs and Ratings
| Date | Network | Program | Episode | Viewers (millions) |
Share | 18-49 Demo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 15,1967 | CBS | Lassie | "Lassie's Little Bit" | 33.7% | ||
| NBC | Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color | "Willie and the Yank: The Mosby Raiders" | 25.3% | |||
| January 14, 1968 | CBS | Local programming, then Lassie | "The Foundling" | 41.2% | ||
| January 12, 1969 | NBC | The G.E. College Bowl | 21.2% | |||
| January 11, 1970 | CBS | Lassie | "The Road Back" | 34% | ||
| January 17, 1971 | NBC | Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournament | 36% | |||
| January 16, 1972 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 36% | |||
| January 14, 1973 | NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney | "The Mystery in Dracula's Castle" | 44% | ||
| January 13, 1974 | CBS | Local programming, then The New Perry Mason | "The Case of the Tortured Titan" | 15.06 | 20% | |
| January 12, 1975 | NBC | NBC Nightly News | 15.92 | 28% | ||
| January 18, 1976 | CBS | Phoenix Open Golf Tournament | 22.36 | 31% | ||
| January 9, 1977 | NBC | The Wonderful World of Disney | Raid on Entebbe | 42.82 | 37% | |
| January 15, 1978 | CBS | All in the Family | "Archie and the Super Bowl" | 35.47 | 47% | |
| January 21, 1979 | NBC | Brothers and Sisters | "Pilot" | 31.72 | 32% | |
| January 20, 1980 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 40.75 | 50% | ||
| January 25, 1981 | NBC | CHiPs | "11-99: Officer Needs Help" (rerun) | 26% | ||
| January 24, 1982 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 36% | |||
| January 30, 1983 | NBC | The A-Team | "Children of Jamestown" (series premiere) | 21.91 | 39% | |
| January 22, 1984 | CBS | Airwolf | "Shadow of the Hawke" (two-hour series premiere) | 27.87 | 36% | |
| January 20, 1985 | ABC | MacGruder and Loud | "MacGruder and Loud" (series premiere) | 38% | ||
| January 26, 1986 | NBC | The Last Precinct | "Pilot" (series premiere) | 39.73 | 25% | |
| January 25, 1987 | CBS | Hard Copy | "Pilot" (series premiere) | 33% | ||
| January 31, 1988 | ABC | The Wonder Years | "Pilot" (series premiere) | 28.98 | 31% | |
| January 22, 1989 | NBC | Brotherhood of the Rose | Television movie (part 1; two hours) | 36% | ||
| January 28, 1990 | CBS | Grand Slam | "He Works Hard for the Money" (series premiere) | 30.77 | 30% | |
| January 27, 1991 | ABC | Davis Rules | "A Man for All Reasons" (series premiere) | 26.70 | 25% | |
| January 26, 1992 | CBS | 60 Minutes 48 Hours |
24.82 | 30% | ||
| January 31, 1993 | NBC | Homicide: Life on the Street | "Gone for Goode" (series premiere) | 28.12 | 31% | |
| January 30, 1994 | NBC | The Good Life | "Pilot" (series premiere) | 23.01 | 22% | |
| The John Larroquette Show | "Eggs" | 17.71 | 22% | |||
| January 29, 1995 | ABC | Extreme | "Pilot" (series premiere) | 22.59 | 25% | |
| January 28, 1996 | NBC | Friends | "The One After the Super Bowl" (Parts 1 and 2) | 52.93 | 46% | |
| January 26, 1997 | FOX | The X-Files | "Leonard Betts" | 29.10 | 29% | |
| January 25, 1998 | NBC | 3rd Rock from the Sun | "36! 24! 36! Dick!" (Parts 1 and 2) | 33.66 | 34% | |
| January 31, 1999 | FOX | Family Guy The Simpsons |
"Death Has a Shadow" (series premiere) "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" |
22.00 | 21% | |
| January 30, 2000 | ABC | The Practice (10:32pm ET) | "New Evidence" | 23.85 | 27% | |
| January 28, 2001 | CBS | Survivor: The Australian Outback (10:13pm ET) | "Stranded" (season premiere) | 45.37 | 39% | 21.8 |
| February 3, 2002 | FOX | Malcolm in the Middle (10:51pm ET) | "Company Picnic" (Parts 1 and 2) | 21.45 | 21% | |
| January 26, 2003 | ABC | Alias (11:01pm ET) Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:02am ET) |
"Phase One" Series premiere of Jimmy Kimmel Live |
17.36 | 20% | |
| February 1, 2004 | CBS | Survivor: All-Stars (10:52pm ET) | "They're Back!" (season premiere) | 33.54 | 32% | 14.9 |
| February 6, 2005 | FOX | The Simpsons (10:44pm ET) | "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" | 23.10 | 22% | |
| American Dad! (11:16pm ET) | "Pilot" (series premiere) | 23.07 | 22% | |||
| February 5, 2006 | ABC | Grey's Anatomy (10:27pm ET) | "It's the End of the World" | 37.88 | 27% | |
| February 4, 2007 | CBS | Criminal Minds (10:26pm ET) | "The Big Game" | 26.31 | 26% | |
| February 3, 2008 | FOX | House (10:38pm ET) | "Frozen" | 29.05 | 27% | |
| February 1, 2009 | NBC | The Office (10:40pm ET) | "Stress Relief" (one-hour episode) | 22.91 | 21% | 10.6 |
| February 7, 2010 | CBS | Undercover Boss (10:13pm ET) | "Waste Management" (series premiere) | 38.60 | ||
| February 6, 2011 | FOX | Glee (10:39pm ET) | "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle" | 26.80 | 11.1 | |
| February 5, 2012 | NBC | The Voice (10:19pm ET) | "The Blind Auditions (Part 1)" (season premiere) | 37.61 | 16.3 | |
| February 3, 2013 | CBS | Elementary (11:11pm ET) | "The Deductionist" | 20.80 | 7.8 | |
| February 2, 2014 | FOX | New Girl Brooklyn Nine-Nine |
