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‘The One After the Superbowl’ 30 Years Later: ‘Friends’ Most-Watched Episode Ever, Revisited
NBC aired a double-length Friends episode after Super Bowl XXX, attracting nearly 53 million viewers and becoming the most-watched Super Bowl lead-out in history.
- On January 28, 1996, NBC aired 'The One After the Superbowl' as its Super Bowl XXX lead-out, drawing nearly 53 million viewers and setting a record.
- NBC chose not to debut a new show after the Super Bowl and instead leaned on an established hit, citing risks with new series post–Super Bowl programming and Curt King referenced few lasting premieres like Homicide: Life on the Street.
- On set, production mixed celebrity cameos with tense moments and performance tests, including Andre Agassi's jealousy over Brooke Shields and Matthew Perry courting Julia Roberts with a quantum physics paper.
- Brooke Shields' performance earned her a subsequent sitcom opportunity from NBC executives, while Entertainment Weekly staff and Diane Holloway criticized the episode as uneven and overly dependent on star cameos.
- Long ago the episode set a high-water mark for Super Bowl lead-outs and remains a programming touchstone, but David Crane didn’t rank it among his favorites while writers recall testing Jean-Claude Van Damme’s lines and inventing gags like the walnut bit.
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16 Articles
16 Articles
Coverage Details
Total News Sources16
Leaning Left2Leaning Right2Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution34% Left, 33% Center, 33% Right
Bias Distribution
- 34% of the sources lean Left, 33% of the sources are Center, 33% of the sources lean Right
34% Left
L 34%
C 33%
R 33%
Factuality
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