So much for the articles that said the numbers for the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H would never be topped. Sunday’s broadcast of the Super Bowl on CBS scored 106.6 million viewers, a new record for a TV audience. Writes the Huffington Post:
Compelling story lines involving the city of New Orleans and its ongoing recovery from Hurricane Katrina and the attempt at a second Super Bowl ring for Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning propelled the viewership.
It didn’t hurt that the game went right down to the fourth quarter, too. The M*A*S*H finale scored 106 million viewers. (HuffPo reports that Alan Alda sent his congrats to CBS on the new record. M*A*S*H was a CBS show.) It has been conventional wisdom that the M*A*S*H number would never fall, given the fragmentation of the TV audience and the sheer number of choices people have for entertainment.