What do people like to watch on TV? When was the last time you could remember practically everyone you know watching? Sure, there were some shows that proved very popular in your friend group, but what about something that everyone talked about and was clearly on the minds of people you passed by in the street? What does event television look like, and does it still exist today?
Besides the usual shows, there are also broadcasts that are so well-known and important that they become cultural forces in and of themselves. You probably know of a few of them yourself, and they can define television for decades to come, with imitators coming along and rarely succeeding.
While some might argue over which broadcasts qualify for these lists and how people should look at content popularity today (for example, some YouTube videos have over 1 billion views), here are the clear cut major television events of all time, ranked by ratings in the United States:
The most popular TV broadcast of all time in terms of ratings is easily the M*A*S*H finale, wrapping up an 11-season series with a cast of beloved characters and one of the most popular shows of the time. It was the 256th episode of the show, and was advertised and planned for so much that the cost of advertisement during the finale was greater than that of the Super Bowl that year (which is no easy feat).
While there have been other TV finales in the past and will be in the future, there are few that could match up to the hype, preparation, and the effort put into this one, especially for the time. The finale was effectively filmed as a 2.5-hour TV movie in order to give every character and the plot time to breathe, and give gravity to the effects of the Korean War on the characters.
It was well-received on release, with some images still maintaining cultural importance to this day. Despite major events, nothing else has even come close to this in terms of ratings. While CBS wanted to keep the show going in spirit, follow up and spinoff attempts proved ultimately unsuccessful, making M*A*S*H one of a kind.
Broadcast Year: 1983
Rating: 60.2
Number of Viewers: 106 Million
Next up is another major TV event, this time not a series or even a series finale but resolving a huge cliffhanger from the previous season (the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger). For those who have heard little about it before, Dallas was a popular soap opera that aired on CBS mostly during the 80s, lasting for 357 episodes over 14 seasons. Highly regarded, the fact that J.R. Ewing was by most accounts the most popular character at the time further cemented that “Who Done It” was going to be a huge ratings hit.
This cliffhanger, this episode, and the events surrounding it also gained greater cultural reach, getting regularly spoofed and being a major talking point for several months. While these sorts of cliffhangers are rarer these days, especially as people watch shows on their own time, at the time it was a clear spike of interest and there was nothing to truly compete with it.
In fact, after the episode aired, Dallas jumped in the general rankings to become one of the most popular shows running for the next several years. It always remained popular until its eventual ending (though it saw a shorter revival several decades later). It shows that one huge broadcast can make a show reach new heights in terms of success.
Broadcast Year: 1980
Rating: 53.3
Number of Viewers: 83.6 Million
When Roots was broadcast all over America, it was the definition of a cultural event. Part VIII was the part with the highest rating, with the finale (covering the years of roughly 1865-1870) taking in over 100 million viewers. It was the finale of the saga of Kunta Kinte and his descendants, telling a tale of the horrors of American slavery most Americans had only perhaps read about in books and continuing a conversation that carries on to this day.
The finale, in particular, deals with the immediate aftermath of the end of the Civil War, and thus the freeing of the slaves. There are still problems, and the characters need to decide what to do next and what is best for them in their new life. The finale showed a sense of hope, but does not shy away from the many problems facing freed slaves of the time, some of which continued for more than a century or carry on in some form to this day.
While remakes or expansions of the miniseries have been attempted, none have made such an impact as the 1970s original. The finale drew in the most views, but about 130 million people watched at least part of the series, and few things can draw the direct and scheduled attention of more than half the country.
Broadcast Year: 1977
Rating: 51.1
Number of Viewers: 100 Million
There is nothing quite like the Super Bowl, and no Super Bowl drew higher ratings than Super Bowl XVI. It featured the San Francisco 39ers and the Cincinnati Bengals, both relative surprises from their side of the league and strong defensive teams at the time. While the game took place during snowy weather, the stadium was domed and there were few problems caused by the snow.
After a long and hard-fought game, the 49ers won 26-21, and won their first Super Bowl.
As for the halftime show, that year it was Up with People presenting a “Salute to the 1960s and Motown”, one of the group’s many Super Bowl Appearances. Other than this, it was perhaps an unremarkable show and one of those that later contributed towards more popular acts in future Super Bowls.
Broadcast Year: 1982
Rating: 49.1
Number of Viewers: 85 Million
The very next Super Bowl is also the very next Super Bowl in terms of ratings. Super Bowl XVII was a matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins (now known as the Washington Football Team). While it was a close game for the first half, eventually Washington broke through and gained a lead in the fourth quarter to win 27-17.
While the Super Bowl itself proceeded as normal, the season itself was different, with a shortened season because of a players’ strike that led to every team only playing nine games during the regular season. This led to the playoffs being run differently, involving a 16-team four round tournament that ignored divisions in the seeding.
The halftime show was once again one before the era of huge superstars headlining the show, with the Los Angeles Super Drill Team being produced by Bob Jani Productions putting on a show titled “KaleidoSUPERscope”. That being said, the game itself had more than enough energy for everyone, given that the players were better rested than usual.
Broadcast Year: 1983
Rating: 48.6
Number of Viewers: 81.7 Million
The Olympics are generally a big draw, and were an especially big draw in the United States in the past, given some of the national rivalries and storylines progressing through the decades. Yet no Olympics event has rated as highly as the 1994 Winter Olympics Ladies’ Singles figure skating.
Why does this single event in this specific year make people take such interest? Much of it was the drama surrounding Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding involving a physical attack on Kerrigan during a practice that injured her right knee. While the full story deserves a longer explanation than we can provide here, suffice it to say that the figure skating world’s eyes were on both competitors and who would come out on top.
In truth, while Kerrigan only got the silver medal that year, she came out on top of Harding, and was the talk of the sporting world for some time.
Broadcast Year: 1994
Rating: 48.5
Number of Viewers: Undetermined
Super Bowl XX is another big one. The teams were the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears, with the Bears being a favorite and the Patriots being the underdog that got into the playoffs through wild card tiebreakers. Given the passion of both teams’ fans, it was clear ratings were going to be especially high for the game.
This Super Bowl was highly anticipated, considering the talk around Bears’ quarterback Jim McMahon and some of his behavior and false accusations, the effects of which might have affected performance. However, by the time the game got started, it was clear it was going to be a blowout, with the Bears winning over the Patriots 46-10. After the first quarter lead of 13-3, the Bears effectively had it wrapped up.
The halftime show for this one was Up with People presenting “Beat of the Future”, an interesting performance with dancers portraying scenes “of the future”. This was the last time the organization would put on a halftime show. Since this was the twentieth Super Bowl, previous Super Bowl MVPs were honored prior to the start of the game.
Broadcast Year: 1986
Rating: 48.3
Number of Viewers: 92.5 Million
“The Big Event” was a regular two-hour film showing on NBC every Sunday night. Sometimes viewing was simply an opportunity to see something unknown, and Gone with the Wind was the showing on November 7th, 1976.
While the film might be controversial today for some of its idyllic portrayals of plantation life, relative glorification of slavery, and depiction of African-Americans, it was highly regarded and one of the biggest films to have ever come out to that time and broke attendance records when it first came out in 1939. This amount of hype, combined with perhaps an older audience that would want to see the film again, made ratings huge for this big event.
Note that when this was broadcast, people did not have so many opportunities to watch older movies. There were no DVDs or internet at all, and VHS tapes had not reached peak popularity yet and were still prohibitively expensive for many families. Most people still watched whatever was on the television. In this case, most people really watched Gone with the Wind.
Broadcast Year: 1976
Rating: 47.7
Number of Viewers: 84 Million
Coming in at number nine is Super Bowl XLIX, the fourth highest-rated Super Bowl, and the most recent one on this list. Featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots (a common team to see in the Super Bowl by that point) in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The game was an incredibly exciting one. Tom Brady led the Patriots to victory in the fourth quarter (with the fourth quarter comeback boosting ratings in its own right) after a rough third quarter and a dead heat in the first half of the game. The game drew huge viewer numbers, and while the ratings might have been higher for past games, the number of viewers soared over 100 million.
The halftime show was headlined by Katy Perry, and drew in an estimated total of 120 million viewers, with the spectacle involving Lenny Kravitz, Missy Elliott (who enjoyed a resurgence in popularity from the appearance), and plenty to excite fans, including multiple costume changes, shark dancers, and shooting star props.
Broadcast Year: 2015
Rating: 47.5
Number of Viewers: 114.4 Million
Last up on this list is Gone with the Wind Part 2, which was not a sequel but simply the rest of the film which started the previous day on The Big Event. Gone with the Wind was a remarkably long movie, and needed to be split up into two nights to maintain NBC’s schedule and provide audiences with the full experience.
While it makes number ten on this list, we would like to point out that the ratings difference between this and part one was negligible, with people naturally continuing to watch after the previous night despite possible changes in schedule and plans. People instead made plans to watch this and worked everything else around it.
As for the movie itself, naturally we have little new to say, though we can only wonder what the television format did for it and whether audiences at the time found it as enthralling as the original viewers did in the theaters decades ago.
Broadcast Year: 1976
Rating: 47.4
Number of Viewers: 83.4 Million
There will, of course, be future television broadcasts and programming that rival and likely surpass the numbers seen above. More major sporting events will occur, and networks are constantly looking for the next big hit show or series.
Yet there is also the matter of on-demand content, and how we view those numbers. There is no more appointment viewing for all intents and purposes, perhaps outside of sports, and people can watch things like the Game of Thrones finale whenever they would like if they have the right subscriptions (even outside of a cable subscription). How will we measure these new content distribution methods? And how will we count digital downloads and streaming on the same level as viewers for a live broadcast?
Yet on the contrasting side of that argument is perhaps some of these numbers, at least in proportion, might not be seen again. More people have access to more content and more channels than ever before, and people have more varied interests than before. Many people simply do without a TV and content is practically unlimited, and a lot is unscheduled. Some shows might become as popular, but it will be over time.
No matter the case, it will be interesting to see what people are drawn towards and how networks of all types react.
Even people who were not alive at the time are aware of some of the above broadcasts, and their records will live on far beyond any of us. We hope that the above information proved entertaining and helpful, and we hope you dig deeper into what else is out there and what might be coming. Something you watch this or next year could break the next records.
