List of Super Bowl lead out programs

Overview

The Super Bowl provides an extremely strong lead-in to the programming on the channel following the game, the effects of which can last for several hours. For instance, in discussing the ratings of a local TV station, Buffalo, New York television critic Alan Pergament noted on the coattails from Super Bowl XLVII, which aired on CBS: "A paid program that ran on Channel 4 at 2:30 in the morning had a 1.3 rating. That’s higher than some CW prime time shows get on WNLO-TV, Channel 4’s sister station."

The Super Bowl lead-out is typically aired across most U.S. markets simultaneously, and is usually one hour in length, although before the game adopted its standard kickoff time of just after 6:00 p.m. ET in the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for longer programs to be broadcast. When the game moved into a later time slot in 1983, the game and its associated post-game programming would be scheduled until 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time / 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time, allowing for only one hour of network programming until the late local news. Outside of the few blowout games through the game's history, these programs never have started anywhere near the mentioned time, due to the extended length of the pre-game, halftime, and post-game festivities. It is common for affiliates in the home markets of the competing teams to delay the lead-out show further, until after additional local post-game coverage. In addition, stations often use the large audience in order to introduce a re-imaging of the station's local newscasts and station's look, with many stations in the late 2000s and early 2010s using the game to launch their high definition news operations.

In 1979, 1999, and 2010, and largely from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, this slot was used to showcase a new series or movie, such as The A-Team or The Wonder Years, or broadcast a special episode of an "up-and-coming" series. However, many of the series were ultimately unsuccessful, with some being canceled within a matter of weeks. Since then, virtually all of the programs in the post-game timeslot have been special episodes of series that had already aired for at least one season.

The most recent Super Bowl lead-out program to have also been a series premiere is Undercover Boss, which was launched following Super Bowl XLIV on CBS (which also attracted the largest peak half-hour viewership of any Super Bowl lead-out program to date with 75.474 million viewers by the February 2010 debut telecast). Three other series have had their season premieres following the Super Bowl: two editions of Survivor, the Australian and all-star series (which followed Super Bowls XXXV and XXXVIII), which aired on CBS, and The Voice, which launched its second season following Super Bowl XLVI on NBC.

Although Fox almost never programs time slots after 10:00 p.m. except on Saturdays (instead encouraging its affiliates to air local news in the slot), Fox has aired lead-out programming after the Super Bowl ever since it began airing the game in 1997, which normally preempts local newscasts. The Fox affiliates in the market of the winning team do not necessarily have to do this (an example is Fox flagship WNYW, which aired a post-Super Bowl news broadcast following Super Bowl XLII and delayed the start of the House episode that was Fox's lead-out program until the newscast's conclusion).

Currently, a regular-length episode of a drama series will usually air, although in some cases a one-hour episode of a sitcom (normally 30 minutes in length), or two episodes of different sitcoms paired together, may air instead. Quite often the selected series is one of the "prestige" shows for the network showing the game that year, or a moderate hit (e.g. The X-Files on Fox, Criminal Minds on CBS, or Grey's Anatomy on ABC), which the network wants to give a higher profile. The Simpsons has aired in the slot twice, with both airings being paired with the premieres of animated sitcoms (Family Guy in 1999 and American Dad! in 2005). An occasional practice used to maximize the effect of the lead-out is to make the Super Bowl episode a cliffhanger, with a story that concludes later in the week in the program's regularly scheduled timeslot.

Because the Super Bowl is on a Sunday, before the mid-2000s, networks never carried a new episode of their weeknight late night talk shows after the game, lead-out program and local news. However this has changed since then, usually after the late local news, in order to give those programs an additional promotional push to those shows rarely found on American television and to introduce the current generation of hosts more willing to promote their series on more than a traditional Monday-to-Friday schedule. This was first done with the live premiere episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live after Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, followed by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2012 after Super Bowl XLVI, finishing a week of shows recorded from Indianapolis, and in 2013, a special episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson from New Orleans after Super Bowl XLVII. In 2015, Jimmy Fallon had another new episode after Super Bowl XLIX from Phoenix, this time as the host of the The Tonight Show. In 2016 for Super Bowl 50, a special live episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered directly after the game rather than a primetime series episode. The Late Late Show with James Corden also aired a special edition after local newscasts.

The most common lead-out program is the news magazine 60 Minutes, which has aired after four Super Bowls (VI, XIV, XVI, XXVI). Two other series have followed the big game three times—Lassie (I, II, IV) and The Wonderful World of Disney (I, VII, XI). Two more series have appeared in the time slot twice—The Simpsons (XXXIII, XXXIX) and Survivor (XXXV, XXXVIII)

List of lead-out programs

The following is a list of shows that have aired after the Super Bowl in the United States:

Lead-outs in Canada

CTV, who currently airs the Super Bowl in Canada in simulcast with the U.S. broadcaster, has aired its own specific lead-out programs for Canadian audiences, as the network does not necessarily own domestic rights to the program airing as the lead-out of the U.S. broadcaster. For example, after Super Bowl XLV, CTV aired the season finale of its original drama Flashpoint, as Glee rights were held by Global. Global counterprogrammed the game with a "Sue-Per Bowl Sunday" marathon of Glee encores, and Glee-themed episodes of The Simpsons ("Elementary School Musical") and The Office to lead into its simulcast of the new episode, "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle". Super Bowl XLVI provided an exception, however; as CTV holds Canadian rights to The Voice, it was able to simulcast its second-season premiere along with NBC after the game.

CTV was to air a "sneak peek" of the second season of its original sitcom Spun Out after Super Bowl XLIX, but the premiere was pulled after cast member J. P. Manoux was charged with voyeurism. The season 2 premiere of MasterChef Canada was pushed ahead to air in its place.