Ratings Archives: January 1997

January 1997 was a pretty typical month. The usual shows were topping the charts (ER, SEINFELD, FRIENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT, and so on). So lets look at Super Bowl Sunday, January 26, 1997.

This was the first Super Bowl that FOX will air. It has a great match up in the NE Patriots vs. Bret Favre's GB Packers. The game pulled in 87.9 million viewers and 43.3% of all US homes, 65% of the homes watching TV. A fairly good rating and typical of the era.

FOX chose THE X-FILES to air in the post-Super Bowl slot, starting at 10:25pm. The Sci-Fi hit drama pulled in a strong 29.1 million viewers and was the #6 (in household ratings) program for the week.

The two Super Sunday programs help lead FOX to a rare weekly win with a 14.5 household rating,

The other 4 networks, except the WB's 9pm shows, aired repeat programs. The best showing amongst this group was CBS' TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. The feel good drama managed 11.5 million viewers. in fact, CBS did relatively well that night, averaging over 10 million viewers for the night.

Other highlights for the month were:

NHL All-Star Game (Saturday 01/18/97) - 4.1 million viewers
Funniest Party Disaters (FOX) - 15.9 million viewers, ranking 20th for the week of Dec. 30th, 1996

Nielsen Broadcast ratings charts for December 30, 1996 to January 26, 1997