Last week's Monday night matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles set the viewing record for Monday Night Football since it moved to ESPN, and also was the most-viewed advertising cable supported program ever averaging 18.61 million viewers. It was a steep drop to the number two program, TNT's The Closer with 7.63 million viewers.
The Saturday NCAA football matchup between LSU and Auburn was next with 5.56 million for ESPN. Fox News channel had another strong week with two airings of Hannity & Colmes making the top ten and one airing at #34. The O'Reilly Factor captured the #12, 20, 26, 33 and 38 spots. And On The Record With Greta took the #25 and #32 spots.
The Burn Notice finale pulled 4.665 million and a sixth place finish while Army Wives had a strong showing with 4.37 million viewers for the #8 spot and TNT's new Raising the Bar, while well off its premiere numbers took the ninth spot with 4.21 million,
The best SpongeBob could muster this week was #11 but he placed another three airings in the top twenty and a total of nine airings in the top forty. Not in the top twenty list below or previously mentioned:
Monday Night Countdown (#27, 3.45 million), House (#28, 3.397 million), Back at the Barnyard (#29, 3.327 million) Fairly Odd Parents (Saturday, #30, 3.327 million), the FOP Movie, Fairly Odd Baby (also Saturday, #31, 3.320 million), Last Holiday on TNT (#36, 3.08 million), Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney (#37, 3.063 million) and Mighty B! on Nick (#39, 3.035 million).
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 09/21/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH Rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | NFL REGULAR SEASON L (EAGLES/COWBOYS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 11.3 | 18,608 |
| 2 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 5.0 | 7,627 |
| 3 | COLL FTBALL-SAT PRIME L (LSU/AUBURN) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 3.5 | 5,562 |
| 4 | Hannity & COLMES | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 3.2 | 4,921 |
| 5 | NFL SPORTSCENTER L | ESPN | MONDAY | 3.1 | 4,759 |
| 6 | Burn Notice | USA | THURSDAY | 3.0 | 4,665 |
| 7 | Hannity & COLMES | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 3.1 | 4,589 |
| 8 | Army Wives | LIF | SUNDAY | 2.9 | 4,374 |
| 9 | RAISING THE BAR | TNT | MONDAY | 2.9 | 4,210 |
| 10 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.3 | 4,209 |
| 11 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 4,207 |
| 12 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 2.8 | 4,092 |
| 13 | WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.5 | 4,022 |
| 14 | COLL FTBALL-THUR NIGHT L (WEST VIRGINIA/COLORADO) | ESPN | THURSDAY | 2.7 | 4,018 |
| 15 | Project Runway | BRVO | WEDNESDAY | 2.6 | 3,989 |
| 16 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.2 | 3,966 |
| 17 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,954 |
| 18 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,905 |
| 19 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,866 |
| 20 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 2.6 | 3,839 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
looks like Fairly OddParents did excellent last week!
The Closer is truly a fantastic show. (Why a broadcast network didn’t pick this up is beyond me. Look at what this show has done for TNT!) The finale was fantastic!
As for Raising The Bar.. it’s a “meh” show for me. It seems kinda tired, especially since I’ve been watching some reruns of “The Practice”.
Any idea on viewership of the final season of “the Shield”?
Stacy, I know this year’s premiere of the final season of The Shield did 2.1 million. I believe that was a low mark for the show as far as season premieres go. I haven’t seen any numbers for the subsequent airings.
Last night’s episode of Raising the Bar drew just 2.26 million viewers. Perhaps TNT is regretting that early renewal order…
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/cable-tv/e3i6981db61c01d2a4dbcefd584aa234545
OUCH! Raising the Bar was falling even when it had The Closer as a lead-in. Without it, the bottom just dropped out.
OUCH indeed…
Thanks Robert! I kinda knew they weren’t that great, but I have a client who INSISTS is a very well watched show and was surprised it wasn’t in the Top 20.
Have you seen any numbers on how many people watched the 3rd ep of True Blood on Sept 21st?
E Online reports True Blood did 1.8 million last Sunday.
So still no news on Entourage, eh? I have a friend who asks me every other day if I’ve seen anything. Not looking good.
Also, while on the subject, have you seen anything on It’s Always Sunny? I’m not overly concerned, since it’s already been given a couple more seasons, but I’m still curious if the numbers are around.
I didn’t see anything on Entourage recently. As for ‘Always Sunny’, from USA Today (for last week):
Less Sunny. The season opener of FX comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia racked up 1.7 million viewers Thursday, down from 2.3 million for last fall’s start.
Thanks for the update on True Blood! So good so far, as the show keeps getting more viewers each week.
Thanks for the True Blood ratings! Appreciate the quick response.