The New Girl episode starring Prince pulled in a monumental 25.8 million viewers thanks to the Super Bowl lead in on Sunday evening. It also scored an 11.8 rating among adults 18-49, making it the highest rated scripted entertainment telecast in the adult demo on broadcast TV in three years (incidentally it was the biggest since Fox's Glee episode, after the Super Bowl).

Zooey Deschanel Prince New GirlZooey Deschanel [L], Prince [center] and Jake Johnson [R] on 'New Girl'

Despite the lead-in, the Zooey Deschanel starring comedy fared reasonably well against previous post-Bowl entertainment shows. According to Entertainment Weekly, last year's episode of Elementary pulled in 20.9 million, with NBC's The Voice scoring 37.6 million in 2012. Before that, Glee pulled in 26.9 million and in 2010, Undercover Boss drew 38.7 million. In 2009, 2008 and 2007, The Office, House and Criminal Minds pulled in between 22.9 million and 29 million.

Prince's highly anticipated guest appearance on New Girl didn't disappoint and the Purple Rain superstar was on hand to offer some relationship advice to Jess (Deschanel). Essentially, the episode worked so well because the singer was able to poke fun at his own image. 

Elsewhere after the Super Bowl - in which underdogs the Seattle Seahawks beat Denver Broncos - Brooklyn Nine-Nine scored its best ratings ever, pulling in 14 million viewers.

The Super Bowl had 96.9 million viewers.