The Closer continued its cable dominance last week hauling in 7.36 million viewers for TNT. NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing continues to perform well for ESPN landing in the second spot with 6.19 million. Both hours of WWE Raw took the third and fourth spots, and a new Law & Order: CI was fifth with 4.93 million.
Burn Notice, Monk, Psych, and In Plain Sight all pulled more than four million viewers for USA, as did Saving Grace for TNT. Lifetime's Army Wives also had more than four million viewers, as did yet another airing of The Incredibles for Disney. SpongeBob took the fourteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth slots on the list for Nickelodeon and Princess Diaries 2 annd Studio DC: Almost Live took the fifteenth and seventeenth spots for Disney. An airing of Family Guy on Adult Swim rounded out the top 20.
We get the top 40 weekly rankings for cable, but Nielsen only allows us to publish lists of 20, so that's what you see below. But we feel that it's OK to tell you that SpongeBob took 12 out of the 21-40 slots, and that iCarly took three of them, with Fairly Odd Parents and Mighty B! scoring one airing each. Bravo's Project Runway was thirty-third with 3.29 million and the Lifetime Movie Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleaders was thirty-ninth with 3.042 million. Disney's Suite Life of Zack & Cody rounded out the top 40 with 3.038 million viewers.
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 08/03/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH Rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 4.8 | 7,358 |
| 2 | NASCAR SPRINT CUP L (POCONO) | ESPN | SUNDAY | 3.8 | 6,191 |
| 3 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 3.2 | 5,524 |
| 4 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.9 | 4,985 |
| 5 | LAW & ORDER: CI (ORIG) | USA | SUNDAY | 3.2 | 4,926 |
| 6 | Burn Notice | USA | THURSDAY | 3.2 | 4,863 |
| 7 | SAVING GRACE | TNT | MONDAY | 3.2 | 4,778 |
| 8 | Hannah Montana | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.9 | 4,624 |
| 9 | MONK | USA | FRIDAY | 2.9 | 4,605 |
| 10 | PSYCH | USA | FRIDAY | 2.7 | 4,290 |
| 11 | IN PLAIN SIGHT | USA | SUNDAY | 2.8 | 4,223 |
| 12 | Army Wives | LIF | SUNDAY | 3.0 | 4,181 |
| 13 | INCREDIBLES, THE | DSNY | MONDAY | 2.6 | 4,136 |
| 14 | SpongeBob | NICK | THURSDAY | 2.3 | 3,895 |
| 15 | PRINCESS DIARIES 2 | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,877 |
| 16 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.5 | 3,730 |
| 17 | STUDIO DC: ALMOST LIVE(S)-08/03/2008 | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.3 | 3,692 |
| 18 | SpongeBob | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.3 | 3,639 |
| 19 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.5 | 3,618 |
| 20 | Family Guy | ADSM | WEDNESDAY | 2.4 | 3,616 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Wow Criminal Intent’s doin pretty well. Granted it’s on cable. I remember a year ago when everyone said that show was gonna get canned. And now it’s giving USA some it’s best numbers.
Wow Criminal Intent’s doin pretty well. Granted it’s on cable. I remember a year ago when everyone said that show was gonna get canned. And now it’s giving USA some it’s best numbers.
Ratings for Secret Life… on ABC Family?
Was the Fairly Odd Parents episode the “Fairly Oddgames” one on Friday? And how many viewers? Thanks.
Doug, the only FOP in the top 40 was a Saturday airing with a 2.4 rating and 3.508 million
Luanne, unfortunately I didn’t see any numbers for Secret Life’s most recent airing and it wasn’t in the top 40. If I wind up seeing them, I’ll post them here.
Luanne, unfortunately I didn’t see any numbers for Secret Life’s most recent airing and it wasn’t in the top 40. If I wind up seeing them, I’ll post them here.
any idea how factory is doing on spike? clearly not in the top 40, and havent seen any press releases touting the numbers.
was a funny show, hope it gets more of a look than 6 episodes.
If Secret Life didn’t make the top 40, then it didn’t get 3.6 million viewers like everyone is reporting!
Luanne, it seems that way but isn’t necessarily true. Nielsen’s way of reporting numbers publicly can be problematic. The top 40 shows are ranked not by viewers but household rating. It is possible the show could have had a slightly smaller HH rating, not made our list, and still had more viewers. For example, this week as Nielsen ranks (and they only show me one decimal) Project Runway was 38 based on HH rating with a 2.2 and 3.29 million viewers. SpongeBob had the 39th rank by HH rating (also 2.2) but with 3.564. So it’s very possible with slightly more people per screen, but slightly fewer HH for it to have more viewers and not make our list.
I know that’s confusing, I wish it wasn’t, but we can only report on what we see.
Hannah Montana did pretty well this week.
Miley is a ratings beast…considering she's not an animation but merely human. we can't all be yellow, porous and animated like SpongeBob.
Secret Life of the American Teen should pop up in the TOP 20 or 40 for the first time next week as it got a large 4.1 million viewers on August 5. Its been averaging over 3 million viewers and that is huge for ABC Family, which has never had a hit for original series.<br><br>WWE Raw just dominates every week even though its in a tough position b/c alot of their viewing are taping it instead of watching it live.<br><br>CI has turned into a pretty special pickup for USA. Burn Notice is a real hit especially going against a similar program like Flashpoint. A little worried about In Plain Slight slipping every week though. Monk and Psych are just that, Friday night specialists.<br><br>Hannah Montana is a ratings beast and The Incredibles always seems to be in the ratings everytime it airs. That's one of Disney's best performers right now on TV.<br><br>TBS is doing a great job with their comedies as House of Payne are doing really well in the demo as it had a huge 1.5 in 18-49 last week with over 3 million viewers. Also Bill Engvall is doing good also getting 2.5 million viewers a week.
how many other company's monitor Nielsen ratings? who's to say their not getting paid off ? they have been doing this since 1940 and no other company is, why?
Joe, please adjust your tinfoil hat, it's blinding the other readers.
how many other company's monitor Nielsen ratings? who's to say their not getting paid off ? they have been doing this since 1940 and no other company is, why?
Joe, please adjust your tinfoil hat, it's blinding the other readers.