Top ten most watched tv programs of all time

This family favorite, starring Melissa Gilbert, and based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House" books, produced nine seasons from This sitcom was a top-rated TV show of the s. The tool-centric family comedy was a showcase for Tim Allen, then best known as a stand-up comic.

This crime procedural produced 20 seasons from It is tied with "Gunsmoke" as one of TV's longest-running prime-time drama. This mystery-horror anthology series was hosted by the titular filmmaker of "The Birds," "Psycho" and more. It originally ran from The family comedy was built around the stand-up act of star Ray Romano. TV's longest-running scripted prime-time show, "The Simpsons" dropped its first season in Along the way, per YouGov data , it became a Top 10 all-time favorite among both Generation Xers and millennials.

This series subverted the family sitcom. From , the titular collie of "Lassie" repeatedly saved the day, and provided companionship to a series of families.

Back in the day, "Cheers" was a broadly popular hit: an estimated 93 million Americans watched its finale. A showcase for viral videos before viral videos were called that, "America's Funniest Home Videos" has been a weekly show for ABC since Alfonso Ribeiro, the current host, joined the series in According to YouGov polling , Will Smith's breakthrough sitcom is a top favorite among both millennials and Generation Xers.

Critically panned in its day, the show was nonetheless TV's ratings champ in back-to-back seasons, from Hosted by Steve Harvey since , the still-running "Family Feud" has had a string of iterations and emcees since premiering in This sitcom about a genie and her astronaut "master" is a Top 10 favorite among baby boomers, per YouGov data.

At 13 seasons old, the CBS procedural became the oldest scripted series on record to win the year-end ratings crown. The show's ninth season featured Ellen DeGeneres ' lone year on the judging panel -- and Simon Cowell 's last year. Lee DeWyze took the show's singing crown. NCIS 's top-rated 10th season began where its much-watched ninth season left off: with the team, including Pauley Perrette 's Abby Sciuto, digging out from a terror bombing that leveled their headquarters.

Country crooner Scotty McCreery's crowning as American Idol ' s Season 10 champ was a turning point for the then-Fox singing competition: It marked the last time to date that the powerhouse franchise finished as TV's No. Idol actually finished the season as the No.

From , Friends made six stars of its ensemble cast , but claimed only one ratings title. The NBC comedy made it to No. The season also featured a guest-star appearance by Aniston's then-husband, Brad Pitt.

Retro spoiler alert: Allen won. It was another year of Idol milestones: Songwriter Kara DioGuardi joined the judges' panel -- and Paula Abdul exited the show after the season finale. In CSI 's fourth season, the crime show, featuring Gary Dourdan as forensics team member Warrick Brown, held off a surging American Idol to capture the ratings crown.

In the first decade of the 21st century, CSI and American Idol topped all entertainment shows in the season ratings a combined seven times. This was not just any other top-rated season for American Idol. The show's seventh season, capped by a finale win for David Cook , marked the last time singers faced the show's original, three-judge panel of Randy Jackson , Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.

The show's Tuesday installment took honors as TV's overall No. The Las Vegas-set ensemble drama scored the first of its three ratings victories in the season.

In addition to the ratings title, the crime show's fifth season was distinguished with an Emmy nomination for Quentin Tarantino, who directed the episode, "Grave Danger. In American Idol ' s No.

At age 17, Sparks was -- and still is -- the youngest Idol champ in franchise history. Scotty McCreery, another year-old Idol winner, was about two months older than Sparks at the time of his victory. This time, the show's Wednesday installment took honors as TV's most-watched show. Call it the Carrie Underwood effect.

One year after American Idol crowned the singer who would be its biggest star , the show soared to the top of the Nielsen rankings for the first time. Per usual during its Fox run, Idol aired twice a week; its Tuesday performance episode was the overall No.

Doug Ross since show's inception. The U. ABC soon plugged the show into its fall schedule. Though the primetime version flamed out in , the syndicated edition ran until In , Jimmy Kimmel hosted a new primetime Millionaire. In Roseanne 's big-rated Season 4, D. In its sixth season, Seinfeld became TV's No.

Top Discover what Americans are watching and playing. Learn more about Streaming Content Ratings. Total viewing. A modern update finds the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in 21st century London. Vikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore - and raid - the distant shores across the ocean. TV 44 min Drama, Mystery, Romance. Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, while also investigating the disappearance of their best friend.

TV 43 min Drama, Fantasy, Horror. The lives, loves, dangers and disasters in the town, Mystic Falls, Virginia. Creatures of unspeakable horror lurk beneath this town as a teenage girl is suddenly torn between two vampire brothers. An anthology series centering on different characters and locations, including a house with a murderous past, an insane asylum, a witch coven, a freak show circus, a haunted hotel, a possessed farmhouse, a cult, the apocalypse, a slasher summer camp, and a bleak beach town and desert valley.

A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine in order to secure his family's future. TV 42 min Crime, Drama, Fantasy. Lucifer Morningstar has decided he's had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and decides to spend some time on Earth to better understand humanity.

He settles in Los Angeles - the City of Angels. TV 44 min Drama, Fantasy, Horror. Two brothers follow their father's footsteps as hunters, fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds, including monsters, demons and gods that roam the earth. TV 44 min Action, Crime, Drama. Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother, who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside.

TV 43 min Crime, Drama, Mystery. A group of ambitious law students and their brilliant criminal defense professor become involved in a twisted murder plot that promises to change the course of their lives. TV 41 min Action, Drama, Fantasy. An average high school student and his best friend get caught up in some trouble causing him to receive a werewolf bite.

As a result they find themselves in the middle of all sorts of dramas in Beacon Hills. A young woman with a troubled past is drawn to a small town in Maine where fairy tales are to be believed.