http://tv.yahoo.com/news/fc?d=tmpl&cf=fc&in=entertainment&cat=friends

Looks like NBC was disappointed in the numbers that Friends got in the finale. It ranked lower than the Seinfeld finale. At least M*A*S*H*'s record of 108 million is safe.

Any comments on this???

According to that article:

but along the lines of what NBC had been predicting

It looks like NBC was just about spot-on. Sure, it would've been nice to have even more tune in, but as long as it met expectations I'm sure NBC is thrilled.

once they got that $2million per 30 second commercial space....
i think NBC could care less who watches.
they've already got the dough.


They predicted 45million total.... 51.1 is better.
Im sure they're happy.
I know their bankaccount is.

I find it funny to see "Only" 51.1 million. I mean, before this episode, the highest rating Friends has ever had was about 25 million viewers, and that was back in 95... so they had double the ratings they had in their prime... not bad at all

This is very hypocritical of me to say, but Ill do it anyways.

Just yesterday, I started to become a fan of Friends.... maybe it was because the finale was going to be on, I dont know.

But I wonder -- who are the 25million people who didnt watch every week.... but tuned in for the finale??

Originally posted by barwars88
This is very hypocritical of me to say, but Ill do it anyways.

Just yesterday, I started to become a fan of Friends.... maybe it was because the finale was going to be on, I dont know.

But I wonder -- who are the 25million people who didnt watch every week.... but tuned in for the finale??

I think a lot of the people who watched the finale were fly-by "Friends fans" back in the mid-90's that got hooked when it was in it's prime then lost interest, who decided for the hell of it to watch the finale. I know my older sister quit watching probably in 97 or 98, and she watched last night. Plus, I'm sure with all the hype, people who never watched Friends before decided to watch last night just because it was such an event (such as a friend who has never seen a complete episode before... but he did tune in last night just because it's "tv history"

I think 51 million is great. Does anyone here honestly think there will be another sitcom currently on the air that will be able to duplicate those ratings during their finale? I highly doubt it.

Originally posted by Central Perk
I think 51 million is great. Does anyone here honestly think there will be another sitcom currently on the air that will be able to duplicate those ratings during their finale? I highly doubt it.

the only ones that would even come close would be either Everybody Loves Raymond or Frasier, which leads to my next question....

Any idea how many viewers NBC is expecting for the Frasier finale??
Im sure the commercials last night alone will attract an extra couple million.

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
I find it funny to see "Only" 51.1 million. I mean, before this episode, the highest rating Friends has ever had was about 25 million viewers, and that was back in 95... so they had double the ratings they had in their prime... not bad at all


Actually, the highest rated Friends episode was the season finale a few years back which brought in 35 million viewers.

OH, WAH WAH WAH!!!!!! People watched it. So, quit with the complaints!

Originally posted by Central Perk
I think 51 million is great. Does anyone here honestly think there will be another sitcom currently on the air that will be able to duplicate those ratings during their finale? I highly doubt it. I think Frasier may beat Friends in its finale. Cheers had a even higher rating than Friends did when they had their finale. NBC talked and even advertised to the effect that they were trying to beat out Cheers in its effort to promote the finale.

Originally posted by BravesFan2004
I think Frasier may beat Friends in its finale. Cheers had a even higher rating than Friends did when they had their finale. NBC talked and even advertised to the effect that they were trying to beat out Cheers in its effort to promote the finale.

That would be very cool.... Im a much bigger fan of Frasier.

But on the off chance that that does happen.... NBC will surely be kicking themselves for not charging exorbinant (sp?) prices for commercial time.

The end of Frasier will be an end of an era as well. It was the last connection to one of the most loved sitcoms of all time (Cheers). It seems like NBC is hoping for Joey to pull a Frasier. Anyway, in particular I think the Frasier finale will be espically hard on those who've followed the character for 20 years. With NBC's critical darling gone (Frasier) and its ratings powerhouse (Friends), it will be intresting to see how sitcoms in general will survive on American television. Maybe something will come along like The Cosby Show or Seinfeld again and bring back light into the genre. But the future looks grim.

Bear in mind that this whole thing is based on the Neilson ratings. I mean, do any of you actually know someone who has, or have yourself a Neilson box?? It's so sad that that's what TV is based on these days. More networks are worried about the Neilson Ratings than the quality of show they put out.

I don't know how the ratings actually work as far as people who taped it and watched something else, but it did go up against the most watched drama on television (CSI) and it wasn' t a repeat. The first hour of friends(10 years of Friends) went up against a new Survivor.

Originally posted by BotchieB
I don't know how the ratings actually work as far as people who taped it and watched something else, but it did go up against the most watched drama on television (CSI) and it wasn' t a repeat. The first hour of friends(10 years of Friends) went up against a new Survivor.

CBS was so stupid for that!!!! I mean, the end of Friends was a night like the Oscars or the Super Bowl that other networks should've just been "well, we're not going to win the timeslot tonight, so lets throw on a rerun" or something. I remember vividly the night the final Cheers aired... CBS and ABC both aired movies and reruns because they both knew that was NBC's night.... I don't see why they couldn't give NBC the same respect for Friends.

I've also heard from people the night MASH ended it's run, that NBC and ABC both aired movies instead.... because when a major marquee show ends it's run, other networks should be smart enough to know there is no chance against it.

Here is what Pav has to say about it:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108563&perpage=15&pagenumber=2

Originally posted by BuffySlayer79
I think a lot of the people who watched the finale were fly-by "Friends fans" back in the mid-90's that got hooked when it was in it's prime then lost interest, who decided for the hell of it to watch the finale. I know my older sister quit watching probably in 97 or 98, and she watched last night. Plus, I'm sure with all the hype, people who never watched Friends before decided to watch last night just because it was such an event (such as a friend who has never seen a complete episode before... but he did tune in last night just because it's "tv history" Actually, I think that SPOILERS had something to do with it,not only that,ABC and CBS even was promoting the Friends finale as well on their morning news casts. And also the fact that the finale will be in stores on Tuesday maybe made people think about getting it on DVD than watching it on TV. It would be interesting to find out how Survivor and CSI did against the Friends finale.

Zap2it has their own story on the Friends finale ratings:

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - By 9 p.m. ET on Thursday (May 7), NBC's finale night was already a success. "The One with All the Other Ones -- A Friends Retrospective" delivered the highest ratings among adults 18-49 in that time slot since May of 2002, eclipsing nearly two seasons of regular "Friends" numbers. It was the next hour, though, where things began to get exciting for NBC.

The exhaustively hyped series finale of "Friends" drew 52.25 million viewers for its extended 66 minute running time. In the television history the only series finales to have drawn bigger audiences were "M*A*S*H" (106.0 million), "Cheers" (80.4 million) and "Seinfeld" (76.3 million).

The finale drew a 24.9 rating among adults 18-49. "Friends" provided NBC with the highest viewership and demographic numbers for any entertainment program in the last six years, dating back, appropriately, to the "Seinfeld" finale on May 14, 1998.

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|88037|1|,00.html

51.1 million viewers tuned in for the finale last night. What a record.:clap: I hope WPIX-TV will still showing "Friends" in reruns.:)

well I KNOW for ME
I stopped watching cause I got fed up with the whole Ross and Rachel thing but I did watch lastnight (even giving up on a NEW EP of CSI) and I feel so sad I'm gonna miss it I just never realized how much *huge sigh*

I think that maybe the fact that it was on at 9, instead of 8, made the ratings decline. I think a lot of people had no idea that the finale was on at 9 and din't have the patience to sit thru an hour long clip show before the actual episode started.

Put things into perspective, the sitcom has been on the decline since the 1980's (possibly before) Friends was never going to beat M*A*S*H, even if it had remained a huge hit for the past 10 years.

NBC for example has, what three or four sitcoms this year, in the days of Seinfeld it used to have at least 12, with Friends gone there isn't a powerhouse sitcom and I doubt there will be again.

Another fact is there is so much choice now, when the M*A*S*H finale aired cable was in its infancy and FOX, UPN and WB didn't even exsist, television was also still pretty new only about 35 years old.

So I think 51 Million in this day and age is pretty respectable.

No one will ever beat M*A*S*H. The population number changes every year... so the growth of viewers increase as well. I think it ahs something to do with that that M*A*S*H will never be beat.

Originally posted by savy333
I think that maybe the fact that it was on at 9, instead of 8, made the ratings decline. I think a lot of people had no idea that the finale was on at 9 and din't have the patience to sit thru an hour long clip show before the actual episode started. That and if any of these Fans are CSI fans as well (Like myself) CSI was new as well so some of them may have watched that