top rated series finales of all time

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

Rank Show Number of
Viewers
(in millions) Date Network
1 M*A*S*H 105.9million February 28, 1983 CBS
2 Cheers 80.4 May 20, 1993 NBC
3 Seinfeld 76.3 May 14, 1998 NBC
4 Friends 52.5 May 6, 2004 NBC
5 Magnum, P.I. 50.7[10] May 1, 1988 CBS
6 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 50.0 May 22, 1992 NBC
7 The Cosby Show 44.4 April 30, 1992 NBC
8 All In The Family 40.2[10] April 8, 1979 CBS
9 Family Ties 36.3 May 14, 1989 NBC
10 Home Improvement 35.5 May 25, 1999 ABC
11 Dallas 33.3 May 3, 1991 CBS
12 Everybody Loves Raymond 32.9 May 16, 2005 CBS
13 Gunsmoke 30.9[10] March 31, 1975 CBS
14 The Fugitive 30.0[11] August 29, 1967 ABC
15 Newhart 29.5 May 21, 1990 CBS
16 Golden Girls 27.2 May 7, 1992 NBC
17 Frasier 25.2 May 13, 2004 NBC
18 Night Court 24.6 May 13, 1992 NBC
19 Full House 24.3 May 23, 1995 ABC
20 St. Elsewhere 22.5[10] May 25, 1988 NBC
21 MacGyver 22.3 May 21, 1992 ABC
22 ALF 21.7 March 24, 1990 NBC
23 Growing Pains 21.1 April 25, 1992 ABC
23 The Wonder Years 21.0 May 12, 1993 ABC
24 Who's The Boss 20.5 April 25, 1992 ABC
25 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 19.9 May 20, 1996 NBC
26 Mad About You 19.8 May 24, 1999 NBC
27 Bonanza 19.3[10] January 16, 1973 NBC
28 Will & Grace 18.1 May 18, 2006 NBC
29 Murphy Brown 17.5 May 18, 1998 CBS
30 Roseanne 16.6[10] May 20, 1997 ABC
31 Hill Street Blues 16.3[10] May 12, 1987 NBC
32 Married With Children 15.2 May 5, 1997 FOX
33 Monday Night Football 14.43[12] December 26, 2005 ABC
34 JAG 13.98[13] April 29, 2005 CBS
35 NYPD Blue 13.3[10] March 1, 2005 ABC
36 Touched by an Angel 12.9[14] April 27, 2003 CBS
37 The Nanny 11.1 May 12, 1999 CBS
38 Sex and the City 10.6[15] February 22, 2004 HBO

[tvfan0101]

Huge drop between M*A*S*H and Cheers. Incredible, eh? Where did you find this list, and, what do the numbers in brackets mean?

[roz11]

I'm surprised The Nanny is there. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favourite shows but I never thought it was that popular.

[freshprinceofLA]

Hey this is a great list. Does anyone know the last 2 #39 & #40?

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

i got the list from this site....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-watched_television_episodes

but it doesn't go beyond 38

[globalspot28]

I don't think any show will ever beat MASH.

[JulieSomoski]

I am also shocked that The Nanny made the list. The series went downhill fast in the last 2 seasons. I also can't beleive that Full House beat out some of great showsof the past decade, like Roseanne, Mad About you, and Murphy Brown.

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

I don't think any show will ever beat MASH.

I don't either, except maybe one day a superbowl game. It's just as time goes on more networks come into play. Which means more competiors taking viewers and it gets harder to get those huge ratings after that.

[GoldenGirlsFan92]

I'm surprised The Nanny is there. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favourite shows but I never thought it was that popular.
I agree with you Roz11. It a great show, but I didn't know that many people liked it.

[TJL]

It's amazing that after all these years, M*A*S*H is still number one.

Not that I'm complaining.

;)

[tvfan0101]

I don't either, except maybe one day a superbowl game. It's just as time goes on more networks come into play. Which means more competiors taking viewers and it gets harder to get those huge ratings after that.

The finale episode of M*A*S*H has already been beaten in terms of total viewers, simply because the television audience keeps growing as the nation's population grows. However, in terms of sheer ratings, nothing has yet to beat the actual rating.

[JulieSomoski]

It's funny, because when The Cosby Show continued to come on first each year, I always t hought this would be the next MASH finale from the start. Too bad the show had to be a disappointment in the end . . . same thing with Roseanne.

[Dean Winchester]

I've always been surprised how low the Roseanne finale performed. Granted, the show's ratings went into a huge decline it's last two seasons but you would've thought more than 16 million would've tuned in to say goodbye. It should've doubled what it did.

[megamanj2004]

Full House, Seinfield, and The Nanny made this list?!

ODD.

I thought "The Fugitive" was supposed to have been one of the top 5 series finales of all-time, b/c many people tuned in back in the day to watch what happened to the "One-Armed" bandit.

"Macgyver" had two really great final eps.!

[Dean Winchester]

Full House, Seinfield, and The Nanny made this list?!

ODD.

were you living under a rock in 1998 when Seinfeld ended and all the hoopla surrounding it? It was a big big deal, you are aware how popular the show was, right? It would be odd if Seinfeld WASN'T in the top 10 series finales.

[Miss Lisa]

Full House? LOL, I did like the show, but I never thought there was really that much to the series finale.

The only ending that I truly ever liked though was the finale to Newhart. I love the final scene of that ep, not so much the entire episode, but the last ten minutes.