Yes, the tricky thing is when the Nielsen system switches "viewers" for "households." According to the records I could find, the DYNASTY pilot garnered a 19.0 rating (which you multiply by roughly 1.56, or 156%) and translates to ~30 million American viewers on 12 January 1981.
But the "viewers" and "households" get mixed up by the media quite often... When Larry Hagman died in November 2012, I recall grimacing when some outlets gushed over how "Who Shot JR?" drew "40 million viewers!" in America (which DALLAS attracted with any given episode during most of its run). The actual rating for the "Whodunnit?" episode of 21 November 1980 was something like a 53.3 (which translates into about 83 million viewers in the United States alone). So the mere '40 million" statistic was probably "households" -- but they
didn't say that. And they probably didn't know that.
And there's the additional confusion about how many viewers makes up "a household," which changes. And then all these numbers get transposed in the telling over time.
Today, of course, such numbers are virtually impossible -- short of The Superbowl.
Oh, what almost was...
According to my sources, Dynasty premiere episode had rating 22,2 % households, share 32 % and was rated as a show No. 11/12 this week. I agree that a lot of people still mix households and viewers in their comments.
The most watched shows in the week ending January 18, 1981:
1. Dallas, rating 33,4 %,
2. 60 Minutes, rating 32,6 %,
3. Dukes of Hazzard, rating 27,8 %,
4. One Day At A Time, rating 25,3 %,
5. Little House On The Prairie, rating 24,2 %,
6. MASH, rating 23,9 % (
aired at the same time slot as Dynasty),
7. Bob Hope Anniversary Special, rating 23,8 %,
8. Love Boat, rating 23,5 %,
9. Three's Company, rating 22,5 %,
10. Magnum, P. I., rating 22,3 %,
11.-12. Terror Among Us /
Dynasty, 22,2 %.
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