As usual, Monday Night Football took top cable honors, but between multiple airing of Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh and the porous and yellow wonder that is SpongeBob, Nickelodeon took eleven of the top twenty spots.
TNT had a good week, and for all the talk about the success of the new Timothy Hutton series, Leverage (#5), the real kudos go to the movie The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice, which was #3 for the week. The movie was directed by Jonathan Frakes, Commander William Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation! Between TNG, his directing career and marrying Genie Francis ("Laura" of General Hospital fame), Frakes is having a nice run at life! I don't know why, but I'm always happy to see Star Trek alum do well, even behind the camera.
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 12/07/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY | Time | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | JAGUARS/TEXANS | ESPN | Mon | 08:30P-11:43P | 8,897 |
| 2 | MERRY X-MAS, DRAKE & JOSH | NICK | Fri | 08:00P-10:00P | 8,095 |
| 3 | LIBRARIAN:CURSE/JUDAS | TNT | Sun | 08:00P-10:00P | 5,440 |
| 4 | WWE Entertainment | USA | Mon | 10:00P-11:07P | 5,072 |
| 5 | LEVERAGE | TNT | Sun | 10:00P-10:58P | 4,987 |
| 6 | SpongeBob | NICK | Fri | 07:30P-08:00P | 4,932 |
| 7 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 4,881 |
| 8 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 09:30A-10:00A | 4,824 |
| 9 | MERRY X-MAS, DRAKE & JOSH | NICK | Sat | 11:00A-01:00P | 4,763 |
| 10 | SpongeBob | NICK | Fri | 07:00P-07:30P | 4,478 |
| 11 | MERRY X-MAS, DRAKE & JOSH | NICK | Sun | 07:00P-09:00P | 4,315 |
| 12 | MERRY X-MAS, DRAKE & JOSH | NICK | Sat | 07:00P-09:00P | 4,156 |
| 13 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sun | 12:00P-12:30P | 4,123 |
| 14 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sat | 09:00A-09:30A | 4,094 |
| 15 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sun | 12:30P-01:00P | 4,066 |
| 16 | FLIRTING WITH FORTY | LIFE | Sat | 09:00P-11:00P | 4,053 |
| 17 | LIBRARIAN:RTN KNG SOLMON | TNT | Sun | 06:00P-08:00P | 3,963 |
| 18 | HOW THE GRINCH STOLE XMAS | FAM | Mon | 08:00P-10:30P | 3,857 |
| 19 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Fri | 06:30P-07:00P | 3,817 |
| 20 | NCIS | USA | Wed | 07:00P-08:00P | 3,800 |
Other airings of note:
- The Polar Express, Disney: 3.521 million
- House of Payne, TBS: 3.517 million
- The Christmas Choir, Hallmark: 3.394 million
- An Accidental Christmas, Lifetime: 3.011 million
- Back at the Barnyard: The Uddered Avenger, Nickelodeon: 2.915 million
- Hannah Montana, Disney: 2.874 million
- The Librarian: Quest for the Spear: 2.864 million
- Chowder, Cartoon Network: 2.696 million
- Fairly Odd Parents, Nickelodeon: 2.647 million
- Storm Chasers, Discovery: 2.441 million
- Sky High, Disney: 2.438 million
- Ball State/Buffalo, ESPN 2: 2.402 million
- Little People, Big World, The Learning Channel: 2.117 million
- Star Wars: Clone Wars: Cartoon Network: 1.951 million
- Sanctuary, SciFi: 1.538 million
- Stargate: Atlantis, SciFi: 1.489 million
- Ancient Discoveries: History Channel: 1.477 million
- Pardon The Interruption, ESPN (Monday): 1.271 million
- Around the Horn, ESPN (Friday): .968 million
Please note: as of press time, I had only seen data for basic cable (no HBO, Showtime, etc). You can make requests for particular show info in the comments if you wish, but we can't promise to respond with the data.
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
