In its original American broadcast, "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" received a 5.0 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 5.3 million viewers. The episode finished in 53rd place in the ratings for the week of May 20–26, 2002. Together with the first half-hour of "Celebrity Boxing", the shows averaged a 3.9 rating among adults between ages 18 and 49, pushing Fox to number two for the night, just behind NBC. Some listings do not name this show as the Season 13 finale because it aired outside of the series' regular Sunday 8PM EST timeslot; those listings name this episode as a "special airing" and list The Frying Game as the S13 finale instead.