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'Friends,' 'ER,' reality TV top list of 10 most-watched episodes of the decade
By Andrea Reiher

December 3, 2009 9:05 AM

The #1 most-watched single episode of the aughts? The "Friends" series finale. What other shows made the list?

Reuters has released a list of the most-watched TV episodes of the last decade. Some are hardly a surprise; some are very surprising (and slightly depressing). The list is as follows (it does not include duplicate titles, so a show can only have their highest-viewed episode on the list):

1. "Friends," "The Last One," May 6, 2004, 52.5 million viewers
2. "Survivor: Palau," finale, Aug. 23, 2000, 51.7 million
3. "Joe Millionaire," finale, Feb. 17, 2003, 40 million
4. "ER," "All in the Family," Feb. 17, 2000, 39.4 million
5. "American Idol," season six premiere, Jan. 16, 2007, 38.1 million
6. "Grey's Anatomy," "It's the End of the World as We Know It," Feb 5, 2006, 38 million
7. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," May 3, 2000, 36 million
8. "Frasier," "Something Borrowed, Something Blue," May 18, 2000, 33.7 million
9. "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The Finale," May 16, 2005, 32.9 million
10. "Spin City," "Goodbye," May 24, 2000, 32.8 million

Interestingly enough, only three of the Top 10 are from the latter half of the decade and there are none from the last two years. As more shows are available for download and cable programming gets better and better, we're unlikely to see a list like this in 2019.

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Interestingly enough, only three of the Top 10 are from the latter half of the decade and there are none from the last two years. As more shows are available for download and cable programming gets better and better, we're unlikely to see a list like this in 2019.

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