Lots of "as usual" this week. Monday Night Football, Wizards of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana, WWE Raw, Suite Life on Deck and of course lots of SpongeBob.
We'll see if it continues, but NCIS on USA is starting to look like the adult equivalent of SpongeBob. There were five airings of NCIS in the top 20 and nine in the top 40. The difference is in the number of airings. NCIS aired 25 times last week at various times on USA. There were over sixty airings of SpongeBob on Nickelodeon.
A sampling of some shows not in the top 20:
- iCarly last Wednesday with 3.671 million
- Back at the Barnyard on Saturday with 3.632 million
- The movie "Old Fashioned Thanksgiving" Saturday on Hallmark with 3.506 million
- House on USA (Friday) 3.3 million
- Bengals vs. Steelers (Thursday, NFL Network) 3.226 million
- Holiday in Handcuffs on the Family Channel 3.087 million
- Ghost Hunters on SciFi (9pm Wednesday) 3.081 million
- A repeat of Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas (Comedy, Sunday at 9p) 2.976 million
- Star Wars: Clone Wars (9p Friday on the Cartoon Network) 2.775
- Total Drama Island (9p Thursday on the Cartoon Network) 2.763 million
- Sons Of Anarchy (10pm Wednesday) 2.457 million
- Mythbusters (Discovery, 9pm Wednesday) 2.348 million
- Colbert Christmas (Comedy Central 10pm Sunday) 2.332 million
- South Park (Comedy Central, Thursday 10pm) 2.255 million
- Real Housewives of Atlanta (Tuesday, 10pm on Bravo ) 2.212 million
- It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Thursday, 10:00p on FX) 1.297 million
The True Blood season finale on HBO drew 2.4 million, and the Entourage season finale drew 2.0 million
Nielsen's top cable shows for the week ending November 23, 2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Column1 | Live+SD HH rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | NFL REGULAR SEASON L (BROWNS/BILLS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 8:30 PM | 7.5 | 11,565 |
| 2 | SPORTSCENTER: L | ESPN | MONDAY | 11:56 PM | 4.8 | 6,950 |
| 3 | Wizards of Waverly Place | DSNY | SUNDAY | 8:30 PM | 3.1 | 4,647 |
| 4 | Hannah Montana | DSNY | SUNDAY | 8:00 PM | 3.0 | 4,640 |
| 5 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 7:00 PM | 3.0 | 4,578 |
| 6 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 9:30 AM | 3.0 | 4,572 |
| 7 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 9:00 AM | 2.9 | 4,475 |
| 8 | WWE Entertainment (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 9:00 PM | 2.5 | 4,333 |
| 9 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 6:00 PM | 2.8 | 4,331 |
| 10 | NCIS | USA | THURSDAY | 7:00 PM | 2.7 | 4,272 |
| 11 | WWE Entertainment (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 10:00 PM | 2.4 | 4,250 |
| 12 | NCIS | USA | MONDAY | 7:00 PM | 2.6 | 4,042 |
| 13 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 11:30 AM | 2.4 | 3,978 |
| 14 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 5:00 PM | 2.6 | 3,917 |
| 15 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 8:00 PM | 2.5 | 3,878 |
| 16 | Suite Life on Deck | DSNY | FRIDAY | 8:00 PM | 2.4 | 3,868 |
| 17 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | MONDAY | 5:30 PM | 2.5 | 3,860 |
| 18 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 12:00 PM | 2.3 | 3,849 |
| 19 | FAIRLY ODD PARENTS | NICK | SATURDAY | 8:30 AM | 2.5 | 3,829 |
| 20 | NCIS | USA | WEDNESDAY | 7:00 PM | 2.5 | 3,777 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
