Big Fat Story
A shower scene ropes in viewers.
Football freaks aren’t the typical audience for soapy dramas—which is why Grey’s Anatomy sexed up the opening of the 2006 episode with an oh-so-original dream sequence bit. Before the in-fighting began and the cast slowly splintered away from the show, the three leading ladies—played by Ellen Pompeo, Katherine Heigl, and Sandra Oh—had no problem getting super close (and sudsy) in front of 38 million viewers. The episode featured multiple guest stars dropping by Seattle Grace Hospital, including Christina Ricci as a paramedic with unfortunate luck—her hand held a bomb together inside a body cavity (who says this show isn’t creative?)—and Kyle Chandler who, well, has a little run-in with the aforementioned explosive.
Photo: ABC
Cast gets meta on a movie set.
Friends didn’t need the post-Super Bowl slot—the show gained a foothold on the cultural landscape the second Ross met Rachel—but the high-profile episode in 1996 drew nearly a half dozen guest stars and over 50 million viewers (or at least that many people kept the television on after the game). Now the plot seems only partly dated: Monica and Rachel fight over Jean Claude Van Damme on a movie set and Julia Roberts plays a makeup artist who claims, at one point, “I hate actors.” The Office is one of the most well-liked sitcoms today, but it’s hard to imagine the mockumentary ever reaching the popular heights of this New York-set show. NBC, get back to your drawing board.
Photo: Warner Bros. / Courtesy of Everett Collection
Storytelling climaxed but ratings fumbled.
Although critics and fans hailed this episode as the creative peak of the Jennifer Garner-fronted show in 2003, the gem from television god J.J. Abrams drew in the least amount of viewers ever for a post-Super Bowl slot. Sloane (brilliantly played by Ron Rifkin) is usurped as director of SD-6, fan favorite Francie is killed by someone who looks identical to her, and undercover agents Sydney Bristow and Matthew Vaughn (played by Michael Vartan) overcome all that unresolved sexual tension and make out amidst the rubble of their crumbling workplace. It was a nearly perfect hour of television—unfortunately half the country was already asleep: due to a long game, the show aired at 11 p.m. on the East Coast.
Photo: Doug Hyun, ABC / Courtesy of Everett Collection
THE BEST POST-SUPER BOWL TV
From The Wonder Years to Grey’s Anatomy, a look back at the most notable television episodes to score a touchdown after the biggest sports day of the year.
45 million meet Hasselbeck.
Forty-five and a half million viewers quenched their thirst for competition—absent in the blowout contest between the Ravens and Giants back in 2001—with the ensuing premiere of Survivor's sophomore season set in the Australian Outback. The tournament, which tracked the exploits of 16 fearsome cast members stranded in Northern Queensland, went on to become the top-rated show of the year. It’s worth noting (if only to cringe) that the show’s immense popularity launched the television career of America’s anti-sweetheart Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who is currently attempting to play nice with Barbara Walters et al as co-host of The View.
Photo: Tammie Arroyo / AP Photo
How could football fans not weep?
In 1988, nearly 29 million people tuned in for the pilot episode of The Wonder Years, kicking off six tender yet socially poignant years of 1960s nostalgia. The series premiere introduced to the world not only Kevin (Fred Savage, who, at 13, became the youngest performer ever to be nominated for a Lead Actor Emmy) but also his love interest, Winnie (Danica McKellar), whom we discover is coping with her brother’s death in Vietnam (social commentary anyone?). Kevin’s comforting words land him a kiss from Winnie, sparking the couple’s iconic relationship.
Mr. T debuts, scores one for mohawks.
We pity the fools who missed The A-Team’s dynamite first episode in 1983 (the pilot aired the previous week). Over the course of two riveting hours, T and his elite gang of well-intentioned mercenaries (ex-U.S. Army Special Forces, natch) escaped from wrongful imprisonment in order to serve the greater good of humanity…by taking out the trash, one social parasite at a time. Its exuberant use of violence and catchphrases cemented the show in the hearts of fans everywhere. But good news, A-Teamers! After a long hiatus, the squad will resume (recast, we presume) to bust heads in a film produced by Ridley Scott and slated for a 2010 release.
Photo: Universal TV / Courtesy of Everett Collection
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