The series finale of Friends, which aired in May 2004 and attracted 52.5 million viewers, was the most-watched TV series episode of the decade, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Following Friends were the first season finale of Survivor, the season one finale of Joe Millionaire, an ER episode from 2000, and the premiere episode for American Idol‘s sixth season. Seven of the top 10 episodes are from the first half of the decade, as an increase in channels has fractured audiences and made “must-watch shows” harder to connect with huge audiences. The full Top 10 list is below:
1. Friends, “The Last One,” May 6, 2004 — 52.5 million
2. Survivor: Borneo, “Season Finale,” Aug. 23, 2000 — 51.7 million
3. Joe Millionaire, “Season Finale,” Feb. 17, 2003 — 40 million
4. ER, “All in the Family,” Feb. 17, 2000 — 39.4 million
5. American Idol, “Minneapolis Auditions,” Jan. 16, 2007 — 38.1 million
6. Grey’s Anatomy, “It’s the End of the World,” Feb. 5, 2006 — 38 million
7. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, May 3, 2000 — 36 million
8. Frasier, “Something Borrowed, Someone Blue,” May 18, 2000 — 33.7 million
9. Everybody Loves Raymond, “The Finale,” May 16, 2005 — 32.9 million
10. Spin City, “Goodbye,” May 24, 2000 — 32.8 million
Probably one of the best finale’s I’ve seen, it really wrapped up everything nicely and reminded us why we loved the show.
I’ve never seen the last episode of “Friends”. Actually I think I hadn’t seen any from the pregnancy on.
Still a crappy show, it shows most people are saps who are easily entertained. Friends was definitely a show of its time and will not stand the test of time.
Joe Millionaire?!?!?! i week for our current pop culture climate.
I had almost the same thought. I hope you meant weep:). What does it say about our culture when something sooooo trashy was a must watch for so many?
Right? Geez, people are pathetic.
The finale of Survivor: The Australian Outback scored 36 million viewers–are theylimiting it to one episode per show for some reason?
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20134486,00.html
I’d be more interested in seeing a list that covers all episodes including duplicates.
After Friends ended NBC started to fall apart!!!
Cant wait for them to fall behind theCW in ratings!!!
Why? Because Friends should have run for 20 years?
Why were those randomn Grey’s and Frasier episodes so high. Was Frasier ever on after the Super Bowl? And I can’t even guess on Grey’s?
I dunno about the Grey’s episode, but that Frasier episode was the one with Daphne going all Runaway Bride with Niles, which was a pretty big deal.
The GREY’s episode was after the SuperBowl
That Grey’s was the post-Super Bowl episode.
AND Kyle Chandler was on it!
A little side fact: The most watched episode of Friends was “The one after the super-bowl”, which had 52.9 million viewers, just a bit more than the series finale. This was in 1996 though so it is not on the list.
Frasier never aired after the Super Bowl. The episode in this list is the one where Daphne and Niles finally got together. That Grey’s Anatomy episode is the one that aired after the Super Bowl, where the guy had an unexploded ammunition in his chest.
I looked up the Grey’s episode and it was pretty random. bailey goes into labor, but thats about it! Wasnt even a winter finale becuase another episode was on the next week. Bet ABC is wishing Grey’s could still pull in numbers like that!!
Since the episode of Frasier was in May, I assume it was a season finale. And judging from the title, I think it may have been the episode where Daphne was supposed to get married to some guy (can’t remember his name), but in the end chooses Niles. So that episode was kind of a big deal.
And I think that episode of Grey’s was on after the Super Bowl.
I think the guy’s name is Donny (to whom Daphne was engaged). He seems to be on Warehouse 13 on Scifi now.
That was Frasier’s season finale, and that was when it was on Thursdays, in Seinfeld’s old time slot. That was back when pretty much anything that aired on NBC on Thursday nights drew large ratings, thanks to Friends and ER (and formerly Seinfeld).
Friends was, is, and always will be the shiz. <33
Loved the Friends finale!
The Grey’s episode aired after the Super Bowl.
And that episode of ER is the one where Kellie Martin’s character dies after her and Carter were stabbed by that deranged patient.
i miss friends
That ER episode was so memorable, and tragic. I bought the dvd set from that season just for that episode. I’m glad to see it got the numbers it deserved.
Definitely a fitting #1. That so rarely happens anymore.
I could watch any Friends episode over millions of times and still laugh like I’ve seen it just then. My question is… Joe Millionaire? Seriously???? What the heck were we doing???
Judging by this list, it seems live tv viewership is dying a slow death. Scripted TV shows would kill for some of those numbers now-a-days.
I’m most shocked that Joe Millionaire was watched by 40 million people (third biggest audience this decade). While I admit I watch reality shows on occasion, among other shows, I think that JM was one of the worst.