The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 27, 2011. It was watched by approximately 5.61 million people during this broadcast. The show received a 2.6 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49, which was a 4% drop from the previous episode "The Book Job", and a six percent audience share. It was preceded by The Cleveland Show and became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night in terms of total viewers, finishing higher than Family Guy (5.50 million), American Dad! (4.48 million), The Cleveland Show (3.67 million), and Allen Gregory (3.18 million). The episode did, however, not rate higher than Family Guy in the 18–49 demographic. Seven days after the initial airing, the episode had a 19.2% increase in the 18–49 demographics from DVR viewings, raising the overall ratings to 3.1. The overall viewership increased with 15.7% to 6.49 million viewers. For the week of November 21–27, 2011, "The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants" finished in 21st place in the ratings among all network prime-time broadcasts in the 18–49 demographic.
