Super Bowl Eclipses M*A*S*H Finale as Most-Watched TV Show

A long-standing television record was rewritten Sunday night, as CBS’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV became the most-watched TV program in history.

Nielsen says 106.5 million TV viewers watched the New Orleans Saints defeat the Indianapolis Colts, according to reports by the Associated Press. That surpasses the 105.97 million who watched the series finale of M*A*S*H on February 28, 1983, which was also aired on CBS.

The previous record viewership for a Super Bowl was set just last year, when 98.7 million people watched the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals.

While Drew Brees and Peyton Manning certainly attracted plenty of attention on Sunday night, Hawkeye and Klinger can be comfortable knowing their mark was made in an era with fewer TV sets and a smaller population.