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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The final "Friends" episode drew 51.1 million viewers as U.S. television's top-rated comedy ended its 10-year NBC run with Ross and Rachel in each other's arms, preliminary ratings issued on Friday show.
It was the second-biggest TV audience this year behind the 89.6 million viewers posted by the Feb. 1 Super Bowl telecast, making it the most watched non-sports program since the August 2000 finale of the first "Survivor," which drew 51.7 million.
While at the high end of NBC's expectations, the "Friends" farewell audience on Thursday fell short of the show's all-time high of 52.9 million viewers for the post-Super Bowl telecast of Jan. 28, 1996, NBC said.
The "Friends" finale's audience, 53 percent of all those people watching television from 9 to 10 p.m., also was eclipsed by the 76 million viewers who saw "Seinfeld" depart NBC's airwaves in 1998.
The conclusion to "Friends," the breezy sitcom built around the lives and loves of six attractive young denizens of Manhattan, capped months of media hype that helped drive advertising rates for the finale to a Super Bowl-sized $2 million for each 30-second spot, the most ever for a sitcom.
Wrapping up the show's most ballyhooed plot line, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) decided at the 11th hour to stay in New York with Ross (David Schwimmer) rather than fly to Paris, sealing their off-and-on romance once and for all.
The show's other central couple, Monica and Chandler (Courteney Cox Arquette and Matthew Perry) end up adopting twins as they prepare to move to the suburbs.
The hourlong "Friends" retrospective special that preceded the final episode also drew big numbers, averaging 35.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
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