30 Million People Watched This ‘Blacklist’ Episode Live Back in 2015

The Blacklist ended in 2023 but the drama saw some pretty big numbers during its earlier seasons, but nothing came close to a certain Season 2 episode in 2015.

More than 10 years ago, 30 million people tuned in to watch the ninth episode of Season 2, “Luther Braxton.”

Per Nielsen ratings, the episode is the only scripted telecast in the Top 10 TV programs of 2015 for a single telecast, ranking number 8. One of the main reasons is because even just two seasons in, it was given the coveted post-Super Bowl slot on Feb. 1, 2015. Super Bowl XLIX, which had an average of 115,000,000, was between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, with the Patriots taking it all. Katy Perry performed during the halftime show.

As for the Blacklist episode, in “Luther Braxton,” James Spader’s Red was placed in a high-security prison in the middle of the Bering Sea. He tries to escape, since inmate Luther Todd Braxton (Ron Perlman) was going to escape, wreak havoc, and threaten Red’s life. After finding out the situation, agents Keen (Megan Boone), Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff), and Navabi (Mozhan Marnò) were dispatched to the prison to extract Red, all the while Braxton breaks out of his cell, assembling a team of criminals.

After being ambushed by Braxton’s men, Ressler and Samar are captured, while Liz escapes and reunites with Red. Long story short, they devise a plan to take down Braxton and save their colleagues, Red nearly dies, the NCS director is urged to have Braxton and Red eliminated, and before Liz has a chance to shoot Braxton, the prison is hit by a missile.  

The episode kept fans on the edge of their seats the entire time, maybe even more so than the Super Bowl at points. Episodes that are granted the post-Super Bowl slot are always bigger or more important than other episodes the show has done, or are more special. In The Blacklist’s case, it was pretty big and kept viewers wondering what would happen and worried about their favorite characters the entire time. It’s not so surprising that it reached the viewership it did.

That being said, although 30 million is a lot, it actually doesn’t even crack the Top 10 for most-viewed post-Super Bowl shows. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Friends aired “The One After the Superbowl” in 1996, and it racked up an impressive 52.93 million viewers. However, “Luther Braxton” still became the highest-viewed episode on The Blacklist, and continued to be throughout the remainder of its 10-season run. Fans can watch the episode and the entire series on Netflix.