As is typical this time of year, Monday Night Football on ESPN led all cable viewing for the week. Last Monday's matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans averaged 11.6 million viewers. A distant second for the week was Miley Cyrus led Hannah Montana which averaged 5.5 million viewers Sunday at 8pm. Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor took the third and fourth spots on the list last Thursday and Tuesday respectively for FNC, with both airings averaging 4.4 million. A Saturday noontime airing of SpongeBob also averaged 4.4 million to take the fifth spot. How's that for a diverse top five?
In a presidential election politically fueled week, coverage from the news networks splattered the list. Two more airings of The O'Reilly Factor (#6, and #18), Countdown With Keith Olbermann (#10) for MSNBC and two airings of Hannity and Colmes (#12 & #13) made the top 20 for FNC.
WWE Raw on USA took the eight and eleven spots with over four million viewers on average, and the season finale of Army Wives on Lifetime drew 3.9 million on Sunday. A rerun of NCIS on USA and iCarly on Nick rounded out the top twenty (see full list below).
Not in that list, but in the top 40 was more Hannah Montana, Hannity & Colmes, The O'Reilly Factor, NCIS, iCarly and of course, SpongeBob. NCIS which is a stud for CBS even in reruns on Friday -- at least in total viewers (sadly we don't see demo numbers for the cable shows) placed four airings in the top 40 for USA.
A rare, rare appearance by The Daily Show in the top 40, which pushed at least one of the 1,087 weekly airings of SpongeBob off the list. Jon Stewart's little show came in at number twenty-six for its Wednesday airing with 3.58 million viewers. Need you ask? Barack Obama was interviewed in that airing.
Wizards of Waverly Place (#24) made the list for Disney and our friends at Back at the Barnyard appeared twice (#27 and #37) with 3.57 million viewers in its best airing for Nick. Fairly Odd Parents (#35, 3.34 million) also made the list for Nick.
Nielsen's top cable shows for the week ending November 2, 2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | NFL REGULAR SEASON L (COLTS/TITANS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 7.3 | 11,604 |
| 2 | Hannah Montana | DSNY | SUNDAY | 3.4 | 5,530 |
| 3 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 3.1 | 4,706 |
| 4 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | TUESDAY | 3.0 | 4,419 |
| 5 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.9 | 4,408 |
| 6 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 2.9 | 4,388 |
| 7 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 4,286 |
| 8 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.5 | 4,267 |
| 9 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 4,242 |
| 10 | COUNTDOWN W/ K. OLBERMANN | MSNBC | WEDNESDAY | 2.5 | 4,230 |
| 11 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.4 | 4,129 |
| 12 | Hannity & COLMES | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 2.7 | 4,001 |
| 13 | Hannity & COLMES | FOXNC | TUESDAY | 2.6 | 3,977 |
| 14 | Army Wives | LIF | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,942 |
| 15 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 3,937 |
| 16 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.7 | 3,917 |
| 17 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,852 |
| 18 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | MONDAY | 2.6 | 3,827 |
| 19 | NCIS | USA | TUESDAY | 2.5 | 3,821 |
| 20 | iCarly | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.3 | 3,703 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
