The Chris Moeller Archives

Saints take down Colts... and the 4077th

"M*A*S*H's" great record stands no more. For 27 years, the final episode of the CBS comedy stood as the most-watched television event in U.S. history, but last night's Super Bowl contest between New Orleans and Indianapolis has just become the new standard, according to overnight Nielson ratings. The industry's accepted ratings barometer estimated that 106.5 million people watched the game, besting the old mark of 105.97 million.

This is a remarkable accomplishment for the NFL. I guess I just assumed that Super Bowl ratings had leveled off in recent years, along with the ratings of everything else, but it's actually been spiking in recent years. Many thought that the M*A*S*H record had come to be unbeatable as audiences splintered off in the age of cable. Certainly there were M*A*S*H parties for the show's 251st and final episode in 1983, but there couldn't have been as many that night as there would be for any typical Super Bowl, where communal viewing typically works to hold down the numbers of total TV sets in use, if not percentage of sets.

I was partially among the record-breaking masses. I watched the game until halftime, but then left the house to see a movie. The Baseball TV Festival was held in Kansas City this weekend (thanks again, Dave), and I was a little TV'd out by 7 o'clock on Sunday night. Naturally, I decided it was time for a movie instead!

There was a steady snowfall as I made my way to the Fleur Cinema, yet I should have known something was up. There were only seven cars in the theater parking lot, nobody else at my particular screening (an Oscar finalist for Best Picture), and the streets were empty but for the pizza delivery vehicles.

The NFL had some things fall in their favor. The game was televised on the top-watched network (CBS). They had beautiful weather in South Florida for the game and a blizzard across the Northeast, trapping everybody there inside their homes. (The top-rated market in the country for Super Bowl viewing-- aside from New Orleans-- was Washington D.C.) New Orleans was a feel-good story for the ages, and Peyton Manning, the league's highest-profile quarterback, opposed them. There was some advance hype regarding controversial advertisements, and many were thought to have tuned in to see if anybody in the halftime show band-- The Who-- dropped dead on stage. Also, I think the competing Lingerie Bowl went out of business after last year.

Still, it's hard not to give the NFL its just due. Better than any other professional sports league in the U.S., the NFL promotes its teams evenly. There's no favoritism between clubs, and this has a wide-ranging impact. World Series ratings could never match that of a one-time event like the Super Bowl, but can you even imagine a baseball-ratings record for a championship series between a city the size of New Orleans and a city the size of Indianapolis? "Dear God, we need the Yankees!" the corporate partners plead.

"If the 'M*A*S*H' audience was eclipsed, it was probably due in large part to the fact that the whole country is rooting for New Orleans to triumph in every way possible, said Alan Alda, star of the series, on Monday. "I am, too, and I couldn't be happier for them. I love that city."

But even if the final numbers are confirmed, M*A*S*H is sitting pretty. There are more TV sets now (114.9 million) than there were in 1983 (83.3 million), meaning that the sitcom can still claim a larger share of an audience-- 77 percent to the Super Bowl's 68. Also, I don't think we're going to still be watching reruns of this Super Bowl three decades from now.

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As I said, I only watched the first half of the game, but to me, the most exciting-- and historically-significant 15 seconds of the evening was this commercial. Here's the story behind it.

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I've had it with winter. I vow that I have brushed and scraped my car for the last time as of today. From now on, I'm just drivin'...

posted by CM @ 8:34 PM