For the first time in fifteen years*, the Super Bowl-carrying network will introduce a new series in its lead-out time slot. On the heels of the most-watched television event of the year, the coveted post-game position is usually reserved for the network's most popular show (Friends, The Simpsons, Survivor in past years) or in rare years like this one, a new series that the network just about guarantees to be a hit. This Sunday, CBS is forgoing an episode of established hits like Criminal Minds or NCIS in favor of Undercover Boss, a reality venture in which the executive of a major company goes undercover as an entry-level worker. In honor of the Tiffany network's big gamble on Sunday, let's look back on nine other series that got their successful (and unsuccessful) starts as Super Bowl lead-outs.
*Movieline is not counting Fox's American Dad as a lead-out to the 2005 Super Bowl, since it aired after The Simpsons.
9. Extreme (ABC), Super Bowl XXIX (1995)
Stars: James Brolin, Tom Wright, Julie Bowen
Concept: A search and rescue team in the Rockies struggles with love, romance and danger as they work under extreme conditions. Described by fans as "Baywatch Meets the Mountains".
Duration: 1 season
8. The Good Life (NBC), Super Bowl XXVIII (1994)
Stars: John Caponera and Drew Carey
Concept: A couple of guys living and working in Chicago.
Duration: 1 season
7. Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC), Super Bowl XXVII (1993)
Stars: Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer
Concept: A police procedure centering on the work of a fictional Baltimore Police Department homicide unit.
Duration: 7 seasons
6. Davis Rules (ABC), Super Bowl XXV (1991)
Stars: Randy Quaid, Jonathan Winters
Concept: A widowed principal (Quaid) raises his three sons with the help of his crazy father (Winters).
Duration: 2 seasons (the second aired on CBS)
5. Wonder Years (ABC), Super Bowl XXII (1988)
Stars: Fred Savage, Dan Lauria, Jason Hervey, Alley Mills
Concept: A young teenager comes of age with his family and friends in this dramedy set in the late 1960s.
Duration: 6 seasons
4. Hard Copy (CBS), Super Bowl XXI (1987)
Concept: Hard-hitting tabloid news series that often depicted gratuitous violence and was later boycotted by George Clooney in 1996 after the show aired footage of him and a then girlfriend.
Duration: 9 seasons
3. The Last Precinct (NBC), Super Bowl XX (1986)
Stars: Adam West, Rick Ducommun, Ernie Hudson
Concept: A rag-tag group of police academy rejects (including an Elvis impersonator and a transsexual) get one last shot at a career in law enforcement when they are assigned to LA's sketchiest precinct.
Duration: 1 season
2. Airwolf (CBS), Super Bowl XVIII (1984)
Stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord
Concept: The crew of a high-tech military helicopter undertake different missions, many involving espionage.
Duration: 4 (the last aired on USA)
1. Brothers and Sisters (NBC), Super Bowl XIII (1979)
Stars: Chris Lemmon, William Windom, Mary Crosby
Concept: An offshoot of Animal House, the series featured a dean of a fictional college (Windom) and three underachieving fraternity brothers who torture their straight-laced brothers and romance sorority sisters in their free time.
Duration: 1 season