Undercover Boss averaged 38.6 million viewers and was the most-watched post Super Bowl show since 2001 (Survivor II) eclipsing Grey's Anatomy in 2006.
Here are the past years for comparison:
| Super Bowl | Year | Network | Program | Rating | Share | Avg. Homes (million) | Avg. Viewers (million) |
| XLIII | 2009 | NBC | The Office | 11.6 | 21 | 13.338 | 22.905 |
| XLII | 2008 | FOX | House | 15.7 | 27 | 17.719 | 29.045 |
| XLI | 2007 | CBS | Criminal Minds | 15.1 | 26 | 16.770 | 26.314 |
| XL | 2006 | ABC | Grey's Anatomy | 21.0 | 34 | 23.106 | 37.881 |
| XXXIX | 2005 | FOX | Simpsons | 13.0 | 22 | 14.228 | 23.074 |
| XXXVIII | 2004 | CBS | Survivor All-Star | 17.9 | 32 | 19.415 | 33.535 |
| XXXVII | 2003 | ABC | Alias | 10.6 | 20 | 11.283 | 17.362 |
| XXXVI | 2002 | FOX | Malcolm In The Middle | 11.5 | 21 | 12.117 | 21.445 |
| XXXV | 2001 | CBS | Survivor II | 24.5 | 39 | 25.076 | 45.369 |
| XXXIV | 2000 | ABC | The Practice | 15.3 | 27 | 15.420 | 23.847 |
| XXXIII | 1999 | FOX | Family Guy -Preview | 12.6 | 21 | 12.560 | 22.005 |
| XXXII | 1998 | NBC | Third Rock from the Sun | 19.7 | 34 | 19.260 | 33.662 |
| XXXI | 1997 | FOX | X-Files | 17.2 | 29 | 16.730 | 29.098 |
| XXX | 1996 | NBC | Friends | 29.6 | 46 | 28.400 | 52.925 |
| XXIX | 1995 | ABC | Extreme Special | 14.2 | 25 | 13.350 | 22.594 |
| XXVIII | 1994 | NBC | John Laroquette Show | 12.3 | 22 | 11.590 | 17.708 |
| XXVII | 1993 | NBC | Homicide Special | 18.0 | 31 | 16.760 | 28.121 |
| XXVI | 1992 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 16.8 | 30 | 15.470 | 24.821 |
| XXV | 1991 | ABC | Davis Rules | 15.5 | 25 | 14.430 | 26.695 |
| XXIV | 1990 | CBS | Grand Slam | 18.6 | 30 | 17.130 | 30.765 |
| XXIII | 1989 | NBC | Sun Nite Movie | 20.9 | 36 | 18.890 | |
| XXII | 1988 | ABC | Wonder Years | 17.9 | 31 | 15.860 | 28.976 |
| XXI | 1987 | CBS | Hard Copy Special | 19.8 | 33 | 17.310 | |
| XX | 1986 | NBC | NBC Sunday Night Movie | 16.5 | 25 | 14.170 | 39.729 |
| XIX | 1985 | ABC | Macgrouder and Loud | 22.8 | 38 | 19.360 | |
| XVIII | 1984 | CBS | Airwolf Special(s) | 21.6 | 36 | 18.100 | 27.874 |
| XVII | 1983 | NBC | A-Team Special | 26.3 | 39 | 21.910 | 21.910 |
| XVI | 1982 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 26.2 | 36 | 21.350 | |
| XV | 1981 | NBC | Chips | 16.3 | 26 | 12.680 | |
| XIV | 1980 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 33.0 | 50 | 25.179 | 40.746 |
| XIII | 1979 | NBC | Brothers and Sisters | 21.0 | 32 | 15.650 | 31.722 |
| XII | 1978 | CBS | All In the Family | 30.4 | 47 | 22.160 | 35.472 |
| XI | 1977 | NBC | Disney's "Kit Carson | 25.8 | 37 | 18.370 | 42.816 |
| X | 1976 | CBS | Phoenix Open Golf | 16.5 | 31 | 11.480 | 22.363 |
| IX | 1975 | NBC | NBC Sunday Night News | 16.7 | 28 | 11.440 | 15.924 |
| VIII | 1974 | CBS | Perry Mason** | 12.7 | 20 | 8.410 | 15.058 |
| VII | 1973 | NBC | Disney's "The Mystery | 28.4 | 44 | 18.400 | |
| VI | 1972 | CBS | 60 Minutes | 20.3 | 36 | 12.610 | |
| V | 1971 | NBC | Bing CrosbyPro-Am Golf Champshps | 19.2 | 36 | 11.540 | |
| IV | 1970 | CBS | Lassie | 21.5 | 34 | 12.580 | |
| III | 1969 | NBC | G.E. College Bowl | 11.7 | 21 | 6.670 | |
| II | 1968 | CBS | Lassie | 26.3 | 41.2 | 14.730 | |
| I | 1967 | CBS | Lassie | 15.6 | 25.3 | 8.560 | |
| I | 1967 | NBC | Disney's "The Mosby Raiders" Part II | 21.7 | 33.7 | 11.910 |
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2006-9 numbers are Live+Same Day, all others are Live Viewing.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2010 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
that isnt final though it will go down in the finals to under 38.6 mil
Joleen, I’m pretty sure this is the time zone adjusted number, since CBS wasn’t allowing the non-time zone adjusted numbers to be posted. That means it’s pretty much final.
It would be interesting to see the half hours, not that it matters much for a post-Super Bowl slot. There’s always going to be very poor retention in the second half hour just from people like my SB party who had CBS on for about 30 seconds before realizing what we were about to watch. We put Zombieland on instead.
I feel bad for the office now. NBC has the worst people at promoting shows. Remember last year how it was pretty much the same. CBS did an excellent job in promoting their show especially in putting some characters into the superbowl.
The game likely set a record after 9:30pm so I’m still on the backtrack that this show actually did well. If this aired with any of the past year ratings it would likely get somewhere between 25-30 million viewers.
THIS IS HUGE! The most watched since Survivor? Monstrous CBS. They must be VERY pleased with these numbers.
Julia, I agree, though due to the large scale, I’m not as sure. Last year Nielsen screwed up Super Bowl Sunday ratings (even initially the time zone adjusted fast nationals and finals) because it didn’t count some of the HD telecasts on digital cable/satellite.
I’m guessing they won’t make the same mistake twice, but we’ll see!
Great news for CBS and UB! I guess it is their ability to take risks and make decisions like this that makes CBS a top network.
If it got 30 mil next week i’ll shizz my undercover pants. But it still looks like this will snag the the #6 or #7 spot in most successful post superbowl show ever. Everyone in the other thread was saying under 15 mil.
ew Undercover Boss wasn’t even in HD
I think it will do pretty well next week too, wise to have the Hooters episode second on the sked. Not sure how it will do beyond that, though.
This show was such phoney baloney, it required massive effort on my part not to giggle all the way through it.
I don’t think for a moment that anybody involved believed that whole “we’re filming a documentary about an entry level employee” malarkey that was the cover lie behind it all. That woman who invited her undercover boss over for dinner after working with him for but a few hours knew her the ropes of what’s involved in a reality casting call session…spill your guts to the camera, and ramp up the sob story. I bet dollars to doughnuts she’s a reality-addict of the ‘Extreme Makeover’/'Real Housewives’ vein.
That this rubbish rated well must please CBS, but I don’t see long-term legs for it. It has no second season, because just like with ‘Joe Millionaire’, the word is out on their slim and stagey premise and they’ll have to go to Europe to film a second season.
CBS would have gotten more strategic mileage out of giving the post-’Super Bowl’ berth to ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘The Good Wife’ or even ‘Miami Medical’.
grr_argh, who cares, it’ll just be Stretched to 16×9 on all those new HDTVs
@Brad
Noooooooooo!
True, Robert, but either way the numbers almost certainly won’t be going down from this.
Wait, wait. Brothers and Sisters has been on air since 1979?
Actually, that one sounded like less of a snooze fest.
Brad, nope — it was not stretched, at least not by CBS, and I didn’t change my TV settings to manually stretch it
“ew Undercover Boss wasn’t even in HD”
I’m all for boycotting new shows not in HD. Its 2010 for goodness sake. HD Snobs unite!
ABC will be killed this week. First, GA by Survivor premiere then DH by UB!
@dave
with the exception of new seasons of The Biggest Loser. I don’t want to see the contestants in HD.
Although I’m certainly not an HD snob, they really should have put Undercover Boss in HD. I mean, if you’re going to give a new show the post-Super Bowl treatment, at least try putting a few bucks into it.