By 9 p.m. ET on Thursday (May 7), NBC's finale night was already a success. "The One with All the Other Ones -- A Friends Retrospective" delivered the highest ratings among adults 18-49 in that time slot since May of 2002, eclipsing nearly two seasons of regular "Friends" numbers. It was the next hour, though, where things began to get exciting for NBC.

The exhaustively hyped series finale of "Friends" drew 52.25 million viewers for its extended 66 minute running time. In the television history the only series finales to have drawn bigger audiences were "M*A*S*H" (106.0 million), "Cheers" (80.4 million) and "Seinfeld" (76.3 million).

The finale drew a 24.9 rating among adults 18-49. "Friends" provided NBC with the highest viewership and demographic numbers for any entertainment program in the last six years, dating back, appropriately, to the "Seinfeld" finale on May 14, 1998.

The episode, which saw Ross and Rachel find love and Chandler and Monica find twins, more-than-tripled up it's nearest time period rival, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" among adults 18-49. The new episode of "CSI," no ratings slouch itself, could stir up only a 6.5 demographic rating.

Interestingly, the finale was only the second most-watched and highest rated episode of "Friends" in its 10 year run. The post-Super Bowl episode on Jan. 28, 1996 had a 28.2 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 52.9 million viewers. Still, NBC announced that Thursday's episode ranks among the Top 33 entertainment broadcasts of all time in total viewers.

The "Friends" finale also contributed to a big night for "ER," which carried over a 13.8 rating in NBC's desired demographic and 28.4 million viewers overall. No drama has had a higher demographic rating since the May 9, 2002 episode of the venerable medical series.

All numbers are still based on updated Fast National figures and may still settle a tiny bit.