11 Best Post-Super Bowl TV Episodes

For many, the best part of Super Bowl Sunday has little to do with football and commercials. On the day of the big event, networks showcase their most creative, or successful television series by airing big episodes right after the game. For example, in 2024, we have Tracker, airing after the big game on CBS. (This year’s Super Bowl airs on CBS and streams on Paramount+. Click here for a Paramount + free trial. )

This slotting has become a tradition, with many television dramas and comedies using the slot to wow the football-loving audience and impress critics, as well. Scroll through to take a look at the 11 best post-Super Bowl episodes.

11. ‘Family Guy’

Episode: Series Premiere, “Death Has a Shadow” (1999)

Can you believe this show has been on since 1999? Fox premiered the long-running animated comedy on January 31, 1999, after the Super Bowl, introducing viewers to Peter, Lois, Stewie and the rest of the family. Hundreds of episodes later, the series continues to entertain audiences.

10. ‘Malcolm in the Middle’

Episode: “Company Picnic (Parts 1 and 2)” [2002]

A sitcom that uses the highly coveted post-Super Bowl slot to tell its main character “there’s something wrong with” him takes guts. The two-part episode had all the crazy antics that characterized the beloved series, as well as some crazy guest stars like Susan Sarandon and Patrick Warburton. 

As a double episode aimed at introducing audiences to the Malcolm world, it’s a crash-course into this crazy family, from Hal’s insecurity at work all the way down to Dewey’s sugar-fueled craziness.

9. ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’

Episode: “Operation: Broken Feather” (2014)

The perfect episode to introduce fans to this workplace/cop comedy series during its first season. The Andy Samberg-led comedy showcased everything audiences would come to love about the show. 

The biggest highlights of the episode: the switch-out of Rosa’s computer — followed by a hilarious property-destroying freak out — and Andre Braugher sitting breathlessly in a theater marveling at the movie Moneyball.

8. ‘Survivor’

Episode: Season 2 Premiere, “Stranded” (2001)

After a successful summer run for its first season, Survivor established itself as a CBS ratings juggernaut when 45 million viewers tuned in for the second season premiere. The season introduced audiences to a cast of future reality stars, among them future The View and Fox and Friends host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. 

Dozens of seasons later, the reality competition series remains a hit show in CBS’ catalog. 

7. ‘The Office’

Episode: “Stress Relief (Parts 1 and 2)” [2009]

An hour-long Office special focused on stress relief sounds about as hilarious as you can imagine. 

Upset that no one paid attention to his safety seminar, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) locks all the doors and starts a fire in the hallway. The ensuing panic illustrates the cast’s individual and collaborative talents, even if the consequences can’t quite live up to that first scene. Michael (Steve Carell) ends up throwing himself a roast in the second episode, which he (of course) can’t tolerate; the roast itself is too painful to be funny.

The whole hour doesn’t really come together until Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) bond over her parents’ separation, a touching moment that fans of the couple would never forget. 

6. ‘The X-Files’

Episode: “Leonard Betts” 

The X-Files hit its creative peak during its fourth season and this episode embodied a lot of the series’ best elements.

Presented initially as a typically bizarre casefile, “Leonard Betts” switches when Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) successfully hunt down the cancer-ridden Leonard Betts, their freak of the week, and out comes the brutal twist: Betts uses his ability to detect cancer in others to tell Scully that she “has something I need.” With that, the realization that Scully is also sick with cancer escalates the drama to a whole new level.

New fans of the show were treated to some X-Files weirdness, while established fans lost their minds.

5. ‘The Wonder Years’

Episode: Series Premiere, “Pilot” (1988)

Perhaps one of the most successful scripted series premieres behind the Super Bowl, The Wonder Years was a hit from the moment it premiered.

Written and created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black, the show was the right nostalgia at the right time for Baby Boomers. Taking place in 1968, the premiere told the story of 12-year-old Kevin Arnold as he experienced his final summer before moving on to junior high. The episode introduced virtually every hallmark of the show, including Kevin’s best friend Paul (Josh Saviano), his first kiss with crush Winnie (Danica McKellar) and his sibling rivalry with older brother Wayne (Jason Hervey).

The episode ended on a dramatic note, as Winnie’s brother had just been killed in Vietnam. And the show would only explore more of the challenges of adulthood from there. 

4. ‘Friends’

Episode: “The One After The Superbowl Parts 1 & 2” (1996)

In between Ross going to San Diego to save Marcel the Monkey and Joey dating a stalker convinced he was his daytime soap character, Friends‘ Post-Super Bowl episodes were not without. But it was the flawless celebrity cameos from stars like Brooke Shields, Julia Roberts and Jean-Claude Van Damme, combined with the usual charm of the core cast that elevated this episode to be a standout for the series, as well as successfully brought in new fans to the popular sitcom. 

3. ‘This Is Us’

Episode: “Super Bowl Sunday” (2018)

Viewers finally learned how Pearson family patriarch Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) died after the 2018 Super Bowl, a question that had been lingering on the show since the first season. Ventimiglia described the episode as a “soul-crushing event,” while co-star Sterling K. Brown said the episode will feel like a “superhero movie.”

At the end of the previous episode, it was revealed that the family’s slow cooker shorts out and catches the Pearsons’ home on fire. The fire grew fast, creeping upstairs to where Jack and the rest of the Pearson family is sleeping. The special event episode picked up where that scene left off by showing the family discovering their house in flames.

However, Jack did not die in the fire. After helping his family escape, he goes back in to save Kate’s dog. In the process, he inhaled too much smoke. He is taken to the hospital for treatment, and everything seems all right. However, moments later, he suffered cardiac arrest and died.

We are still crying, to be honest.

2. ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Episode: “It’s the End of the World” (2006)

A shocker from start to finish, Grey’s Anatomy’s post-Super Bowl hour is the perfect example as to why the long-running medical drama’s second season is the series’ best. 

After a sexually-charged opener — clearly meant to persuade Super Bowl audiences to stick around — the episode goes to lead character Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) convinced she might die if she gets out of bed that day. 

When she finally makes it to the hospital, a man arrives in the ER who is later discovered to have unexploded ammunition inside his body. With guest cameos from Christina Ricci and Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler, the hospital gets put on code black as the bomb could cause serious damage to the building and harm the staff. 

The stressful hour comes to a shocking end when Ricci’s character panics and takes her arm out of the body cavity, the only thing holding the bomb in place and preventing it from blowing up, only for Meredith to stick her hand and save the day.

Viewers had to tune in to the medical drama’s regular hour to find out what happened next, but despite Grey’s remains one of the top network dramas to this day, the post-Super Bowl episode remains the highest-rated episode of the series to date. 

1. Alias

Episode: “Phase One” (2003)

If there’s anything that would capture the attention of viewers post-game, it’s seeing Jennifer Garner in skimpy lingerie — twice, because, of course, the plot requires she try on the black and then the red ensemble back-to-back in the first few minutes.

It’s all part of a completely bonkers opening where her super spy character Sydney Bristow seduces and then outmaneuvers a bad guy at 30,000 feet just before she blows out the airplane’s door but somehow survives when others don’t. For anyone new to the world of Alias, this is an excellent entry point midstream because the rather ridiculous but thoroughly enjoyable high-octane episode has it all: sex appeal, crazy fight scenes, disguises, secret identities, heartache, double-crosses, and an insane ending.

Garner sells every delicious moment, and she’s surrounded by equally strong and colorful stars. The episode still holds up to this day and is a perfect example of a bold Super Bowl lead-out hour of television.