The Super Bowl gave a boost to CBS’ newest reality show.
Sunday’s debut episode of Undercover Boss drew a 19.0/32 fast-national rating and 38.6 million viewers on CBS, up 64% in ratings and 69% in viewers from The Office on NBC last year (11.6/21, 22.9 mil), and up 21% and 33%, respectively, from House on FOX in ’08 (15.7/27, 29.0 mil).
Undercover Boss stands as the highest rated post-Super Bowl television program since Grey’s Anatomy on ABC in ’06 (21.0/34), and the most-viewed since Survivor II in ’01 (45.4 mil).
Overall, the series was the third-most viewed post-Super Bowl program ever, behind only the aforementioned episode of Survivor II and a 1996 episode of Friends.
Sunday’s episode also ranks as television’s most-viewed series premiere since the debut of The Dolly Show in ’87 (39.5 mil).
