There’s an awful lot of hoopla today over the ratings of last night’s Super Bowl XLIV broadcast. In case you haven’t heard, the CBS broadcast was watched by an estimate 106.5 million people. The last episode of M*A*S*H, which aired on CBS in 1983, attracted approximately 106 million people.
As a result, many in the media are very happily reporting that the old M*A*S*H sitcom has finally been dethroned as the most-watched telecast in TV history. Well, yes and no.
While it’s true that more human bodies watched the Saints beat the Colts, it seems appropriate to try to put it in perspective. If you merely look at the total number of viewers, it’s going to be easier and easier to surpass the record as the population grows.
In 1983, there were approximately 233.8 million people living in the United States. Today, there are 308.6 million. So, that’s approximately 25% more people that were available to watch the game in 2010 than the sitcom’s last episode in 1983.
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In addition, one of the most impressive parts of the M*A*S*H record is the percentage of households that were watching.
A record 60.2% of households with televisions tuned in to see the 4077th crew say goodbye. In contrast, only 46.4% of households watched yesterday’s game.
Sure, there are far more channel options to watch these days but really, there have always been other things to do and watch.
Of course, whichever way you look at the numbers, CBS is the big winner.They broadcast both programs.
What do you think? Is the M*A*S*H record still more impressive or are we just partial to series finales?
MASH finale still wins, percentage of viewers was greater. Seeing as the population has increased, of course more people are available to watch the Superbowl.
But, 60% vs 46%….MASH still wins.
When a Superbowl makes it over the 60% mark,THEN I’ll be more impressed.
While I’m an avid football fan I am an even bigger MASH fan. I think that they both had impressive numbers in terms of viewership but I have to give the edge to the final episode of MASH. Not only are the two broadcasts in completely different genre’s the MASH episode was a scripted offering and the Super Bowl was not. People will debate this for a long time to come and with good reason, but you can’t compare apples to oranges no matter how much you want to.
Agreed Elwood, and as I posted, I still think the percentage watching is more important than the number of people. Since the population has increased, of course you’ll get more people, number wise, watching