In the past there have been some incredible TV events that have united people all over the world. Images of families gathered around the grainy black and white pictures of Neil Armstrong taking his ‘giant leap for mankind’ instantly spring to mind. Likewise, the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show drew a huge audience, enraptured by the four young men from Liverpool, England who seemed to bring the world to a standstill. Indeed, even criminals stopped and took notice. Not a single serious crime was reported between 8-9pm on the night of their performance.

However, the late 70’s and early eighties was the real golden age for TV ratings. Before widespread cable gave households more choice and split viewers attention it was possible, for a show that really captured the imagination, to be broadcast to the majority of the nation, all watching, all at the same time.

Here’s a run down of the three most watched TV programmes in US history.

3) Roots, Series Finale

Many of the highest rating TV broadcasts have benefitted from a long build up. Incredibly successful series such as Cheers or Friends ran for years and years before airing their much anticipated final episodes. Roots, is something of a rarity in that the whole mini-series consisted of just 8 episodes, which were all aired in a single week from the 23rd to the 30th of January 1977.

Producers feared that the series, which tells the story of a black slave and his ancestors, spanning over one hundred years of history, would be a flop, thinking that white audiences would be uncomfortable with the show’s content. It is even rumoured that the tactic of showing the whole series in one week was developed in anticipation of the show being failure, and was intended to get it off the air as quickly as possible.

However, the show was a huge hit with critics and families alike. Over 85% of homes with a TV watched all or part of the series, and the show received a staggering 36 Emmy Award nominations.

2) Dallas, Who Shot JR?

Over the summer of 1980 there was just one question on the lips of the nation. It appeared on bill boards, was referenced on the radio and could be seen emblazoned across T-shirts. The riddle in question? Who Shot J.R.?!

When J.R. Ewing, a central character to the soap opera, Dallas, was killed off in the final episode of the 1979-1980 series, viewers started speculating as to who the hidden assailant who dealt him death could’ve been. Fans had to wait through the whole summer for the new series to come out before they’d know, and the suspense was only heightened when a Hollywood actor’s strike caused the production of new episodes to be delayed by a further 8 weeks.

When the revelation finally came 83,000,000 people tuned in to watch, giving the show a 76% ratings share. In Turkey a session of parliament was actually postponed to allow members to see the episode and bookmakers took thousands in bets on the identity of the killer.

The ‘who done it’ episode is unique in being the only non-finale episode of a series to ever get anywhere near the top of the all time ratings list, let alone second.

1) M*A*S*H, series finale

M*A*S*H’s series finale tops the list, although the final instalment of the series’ 251 episodes can, in fairness, only really be described as a TV movie seeing as, at 150 minutes in length, it lasted over 5 times longer than regular episodes, meaning it could, in of itself, have been aired as a miniseries.

The episode, which was written by a number of collaborators, is still the most watched single broadcast of a series, and to this day has only ever been surpassed once, by last year’s Super Bowl game. Entitled ‘Goodbye, Farewell and Amen’, the episode’s plot detailed the final days of the Korean War and demonstrates the effect that the conflict had on the central characters in the wake of the cease fire.

Emotions where high as the characters came to terms with the cessation of hostilities, started to think about their separate futures and went their different ways, bringing the 11 season long series to an end (although the network would immediately commission a spin off ‘AfterMash’, which would quickly flop.) The ratings would’ve been even higher if it had not been for unusually strong weather which caused blackouts in large parts of California and stopped hundreds of thousands of people from watching the episode.

The show, which attracted 105.97 million viewers, was so anticipated that the network sold 30 second advertising blocks for almost $500,000 a piece and it still stands as the most viewed episode of any series, ever.

Russell Fielding is a self-confessed TV addict and plans his viewing using his favoured TV Guide just to make sure he doesn’t miss anything he wants to watch.