what is the most watched simpsons episode ever
Bart Gets an "F" Due to the success of the first season of The Simpsons, Fox decided to switch the show's time slot to Thursday at 8:00Â p.m. EST where it would air opposite of NBC's The Cosby Show, the number one show at the time. Through the summer, several news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry and heavily hyped the first episode of the second season. Several critics predicted that "Bart Gets an "F"" would do considerably worse in the ratings than The Cosby Show. However, the final Nielsen rating for the episode was 18.4 and a 29% share of the audience, finishing second in its time slot behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating and 29% share. It finished eighth in the weekly ratings, but was watched by an estimated 33.6 million viewers, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week. It became the highest rated and most watched program in the history of the Fox network and remained in that position until January 1, 1995. Currently, it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.