Note: earlier I inadvertently posted the live numbers rather than the live plus same day DVR numbers (the most common Nielsen currency these days). I apologize for any confusion this may have caused, especially if as a result your favorite show was underreported!
While many baseball pundits suggest that it’s time to nix the Home Run Derby from the MLB All Star Game week festivities, that hardly seems likely. Over two hour and forty minutes worth of the 2008 Home Run Derby averaged 9.116 million over 1.3 million more than The Closer’s 7.809 million. And those are no shabby numbers for The Closer. So yeah, Home Run Derby will be around a while.
The Home Run Derby intro of about nine minutes wound up being counted separately and it placed third. Monk, USA’s highest rated show for the week came in fourth and Avatar: Sozin’s Comet came in fifth with 5.585 million viewers. Avatar also took the 13-15 spots. Burn Notice and In Plain Sight continue to do well for USA, though not as well as Saving Grace (#6, 5.156 million)
Not in the top 20 list below but in the Top 40 were seventeen SpongeBob airings, one Family Guy (#23), a repeat of The Closer (#25) and the Celebrity Softball Game from the All Star Game festivities (#36).
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 07/20/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | HOME RUN DERBY | ESPN | MONDAY | 5.5 | 9,116 |
| 2 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 5.2 | 7,809 |
| 3 | HOME RUN DERBY PRE | ESPN | MONDAY | 3.8 | 6,030 |
| 4 | MONK | USA | FRIDAY | 3.6 | 5,639 |
| 5 | AVATAR: SOZINS COMET | NICK | SATURDAY | 3.1 | 5,585 |
| 6 | SAVING GRACE | TNT | MONDAY | 3.5 | 5,156 |
| 7 | PSYCH | USA | FRIDAY | 3.0 | 4,890 |
| 8 | Burn Notice | USA | THURSDAY | 3.3 | 4,865 |
| 9 | LAW & ORDER: CI (ORIG) | USA | SUNDAY | 3.1 | 4,834 |
| 10 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.8 | 4,789 |
| 11 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.6 | 4,715 |
| 12 | IN PLAIN SIGHT | USA | SUNDAY | 3.2 | 4,688 |
| 13 | AVATAR | NICK | FRIDAY | 2.7 | 4,530 |
| 14 | AVATAR | NICK | THURSDAY | 2.5 | 4,230 |
| 15 | AVATAR: BOILING ROCK | NICK | WEDNESDAY | 2.4 | 3,971 |
| 16 | LAW & ORDER: SVU | USA | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,890 |
| 17 | Hannah Montana | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.5 | 3,797 |
| 18 | SpongeBob | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.4 | 3,748 |
| 19 | WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.5 | 3,693 |
| 20 | Army Wives | LIF | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,653 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved
