James28
01-09-2022, 11:57 PM
According to page 24 of the January 24, 1972 issue of Broadcasting magazine (https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/72-OCR/1972-01-24-BC-OCR-Page-0024.pdf) (in the article titled "CBS Comes Back Strong in Post-Holiday Nielsen", the January 8, 1972 original airing of All in the Family attracted a whopping 40.7 rating and a 62% share of the audience, unsurprisingly ranking first for the week ending January 9, 1972. That has got to be the best rating for All in the Family during its nine-season run (AitF was averaging a 34 rating during its second season).
The title of that episode? "Edith's Problem".
To my fellow SitcomsOnline users, can you imagine how many viewers would a 40.7 Nielsen rating in the early 1970s equate to? The Cosby Show would beat that high mark with the episode "Say Hello to a Good Buy", originally telecast on January 22, 1987, with a 41.3 rating and a 56 share (apparently translating to less than 65 million viewers), ranking second for the week ending January 25, 1987, behind Super Bowl XXI the following Sunday. Cosby Show was averaging a 34.9 during its third year in 1986-87.
The title of that episode? "Edith's Problem".
To my fellow SitcomsOnline users, can you imagine how many viewers would a 40.7 Nielsen rating in the early 1970s equate to? The Cosby Show would beat that high mark with the episode "Say Hello to a Good Buy", originally telecast on January 22, 1987, with a 41.3 rating and a 56 share (apparently translating to less than 65 million viewers), ranking second for the week ending January 25, 1987, behind Super Bowl XXI the following Sunday. Cosby Show was averaging a 34.9 during its third year in 1986-87.