'Friends' Finale Draws 51 Million U.S. Viewers
By Steve GormanMay 11, 12:16 PM (EDT) Photo by Reuters (Handout)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 51 million viewers tuned in to see Ross and Rachel get back together on the final episode of "Friends" as U.S. television's top-rated comedy ended its 10-year run on NBC, preliminary ratings issued on Friday show.
It was the second-biggest TV audience this year behind the 89.6 million viewers posted by the Feb. 1 Super Bowl telecast and the most watched non-sports program since the August 2000 finale of CBS's first "Survivor," which drew 51.7 million.
Measured another way, the highly promoted, hourlong "Friends" finale accounted for more than half of all U.S. households watching television from 9 to 10 p.m. on Thursday.
While at the upper end of NBC's expectations, the "Friends" farewell audience on Thursday, 51.1 million viewers, fell short of the series' all-time high of 52.9 million for the post-Super Bowl episode of Jan. 28, 1996, NBC said.
As big-event TV swan songs go, "Friends" ranks fourth in total viewership. The 1983 conclusion to "M*A*S*H," the single most watched U.S. telecast ever with 106 million viewers, stands as the mother of all finales, followed by the 1993 last call for "Cheers" (80.4 million viewers) and the 1998 "Seinfeld" send-off (76.3 million), both on NBC.
Still, the highly anticipated 236th and final "Friends" episode capped months of media hype that helped drive its advertising rates to a Super Bowl-sized average of $2 million for each 30-second spot, a new sitcom record.
HAPPY ENDING
The Emmy-winning sitcom, built around the lives and loves of six easy-going, attractive denizens of Manhattan, ended the way most fans hoped it would.
Jennifer Aniston's Rachel character decides at the 11th hour to get off a Paris-bound airplane and run back into the arms of Ross, played by David Schwimmer, sealing one of the most storied and stormy of all prime-time love affairs.
Asked later on a post-finale edition of the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" whether he was happy with how the Ross-Rachel romance ended, Schwimmer said, "Oh, yeah. Come on!"
The show's other central couple, Monica and Chandler (Courteney Cox Arquette and Matthew Perry) end up adopting twins as they prepare to move to the suburbs.
The finale concludes with the two couples, joined by fellow friends Phoebe and Joey (Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc) sharing hugs in Monica's empty apartment, then solemnly leaving their keys on the kitchen counter and departing together for one last cup of coffee at their old hangout, the Central Perk cafe.
The hourlong "Friends" retrospective special that preceded the final episode also drew big numbers, averaging 35.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The departure of "Friends" has led some to predict the impending demise of TV sitcoms as a genre, coupled with the recent loss of HBO's "Sex and the City," next week's departure of NBC's "Frasier" and the probable conclusion of veteran CBS hit "Everybody Loves Raymond next year.
NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., is hoping to recapture some of its "Friends" magic with a spinoff next fall starring LeBlanc called "Joey." A DVD containing the entire final season of "Friends" is due out next Tuesday.
Me, too. 
: I have also grown to like That 70's show too.
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