For the week ending April , 5 2009, USA Network grabbed the top five spots between WWE Raw and NCIS . Nick grabbed the next three spots with the Penguins of Madagascar and, SpongeBobsqueaked into the top 10 at #10. The O'Reilly Factor placed four airings in the top twenty for FOX News, with its best at #9.
Outside of the top 20, ESPN's kickoff of the baseball season and Sunday Night Baseball with a matchup featuring the World Series champions, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves scored well with 3.3 million viewers. South Park had over 3 million viewers for Comedy Central and SCI FI's most watched show was Ghost Hunters with over 2.76 million.
Saving Grace dipped below two million (note this was for Monday, March 30th, not the episode on April 6, which won't show up until next week) and again had fewer viewers than it's lead-in, a rerun of The Closer.
The ninety minute plus Damages season finale scored 1.048 million for FX in its initial airing. Again it had fewer viewers than Breaking Bad which had 1.213 million on AMC.
Update: for those wanting premium cable data for Sunday night's season debuts of Showtime's, The Tudors and HBO's In Treatment, here it is.
Top 20 cable shows for the week ending April 5, 2009:
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING, THANK YOU!
Please note, all shows outside of the top twenty are sorted by viewers but ARE NOT ranked. If you don't see a show listed here, the only thing you can conclude for sure is that it wasn't in the top twenty. The top twenty would include premium cable, if any of those shows ever made the top twenty. But the additional show list is for advertising supported basic cable networks only. We do not see data directly for premium cable channels. But if I see anything I'll post it here and if you see anything, please post a link in the comments.
There are over 14,000 shows. I'm not taking requests as it would be impossible to please everyone. Sorry! If you make a request in the comments anyway, I will ignore it, sorry.
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY | Time | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 10:00P-11:12P | 5,396 |
| 2 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 4,999 |
| 3 | NCIS | USA | Tue | 07:00P-08:00P | 4,257 |
| 4 | NCIS | USA | Wed | 07:00P-08:00P | 4,252 |
| 5 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 07:00P-08:00P | 4,049 |
| 6 | PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | NICK | Sat | 10:00A-10:30A | 4,036 |
| 7 | PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | NICK | Sun | 10:00A-10:30A | 4,024 |
| 8 | PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | NICK | Sun | 10:30A-11:00A | 3,998 |
| 9 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXN | Wed | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,939 |
| 10 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 09:30A-10:00A | 3,910 |
| 11 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sun | 09:30A-10:00A | 3,812 |
| 12 | PARENT TRAP, THE (1998) | DSNY | Sun | 09:00P-11:20P | 3,718 |
| 13 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 09:00A-09:30A | 3,703 |
| 14 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXN | Thu | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,684 |
| 15 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,665 |
| 16 | PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | NICK | Sun | 11:00A-11:30A | 3,643 |
| 17 | NCIS | USA | Thu | 07:00P-08:00P | 3,640 |
| 18 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXN | Tue | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,598 |
| 19 | NCIS | USA | Wed | 06:00P-07:00P | 3,588 |
| 20 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXN | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,543 |
| Other shows (sorted, but not ranked) | |||||
| BRAVES/PHILLIES | ESP2 | Sun | 08:00P-10:35P | 3,313 | |
| NORA ROBERTS HIGH NOON | LIFE | Sat | 09:00P-11:00P | 3,313 | |
| BACK AT THE BARNYARD | NICK | Sat | 10:30A-11:00A | 3,061 | |
| HOUSE | USA | Fri | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,046 | |
| FAMILY GUY | ADSM | Wed | 11:30P-12:00A | 3,025 | |
| FAIRLY ODD PARENTS | NICK | Sat | 08:30A-09:00A | 3,022 | |
| iCarly | NICK | Wed | 06:30P-07:00P | 3,007 | |
| SOUTH PARK | CMDY | Wed | 10:00P-10:30P | 3,005 | |
| LOVE TAKES WING | HALL | Sat | 09:00P-10:45P | 2,847 | |
| WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE | DSNY | Sun | 08:30P-09:00P | 2,772 | |
| GHOST HUNTERS | SCIF | Wed | 09:00P-10:01P | 2,764 | |
| Hannity | FOXN | Wed | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,729 | |
| NCAA WMN BSKT CHAMP SPL L | ESPN | Sun | 09:07P-09:31P | 2,704 | |
| STANFORD/UCONN | ESPN | Sun | 09:31P-11:31P | 2,664 | |
| SUITE LIFE ON DECK | DSNY | Fri | 08:00P-08:30P | 2,588 | |
| WWE HALL OF FAME | USA | Sat | 10:00P-11:05P | 2,582 | |
| GLENN BECK | FOXN | Thu | 05:00P-06:00P | 2,477 | |
| I LOVE MONEY 2 | VH1 | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,452 | |
| OKLAHOMA/LOUISVILLE | ESPN | Sun | 07:00P-09:07P | 2,424 | |
| GEORGE LOPEZ | NAN | Fri | 10:30P-11:00P | 2,419 | |
| ROCKETS/LAKERS | ESPN | Fri | 10:31P-01:07A | 2,381 | |
| SPECIAL AGENT OSO | DSNY | Sat | 08:30A-09:00A | 2,336 | |
| NORA ROBERTS HIGH NOON | LIFE | Sun | 09:00P-11:00P | 2,283 | |
| LAW & ORDER: SVU | USA | Sun | 11:00P-12:00A | 2,172 | |
| CLOSER, THE | TNT | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,133 | |
| DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER | A&E | Wed | 10:00P-10:30P | 2,058 | |
| SAVING GRACE | TNT | Mon | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,998 | |
| DAILY SHOW | CMDY | Wed | 10:59P-11:30P | 1,978 | |
| TNA: IMPACT | SPK | Thu | 09:00P-11:00P | 1,970 | |
| UFC FIGHT NIGHT LIVE | SPK | Wed | 08:00P-10:13P | 1,874 | |
| ECW | SCIF | Tue | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,838 | |
| THE FIRST 48 | A&E | Thu | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,808 | |
| OPERATION REPO | TRU | Mon | 09:30P-10:00P | 1,740 | |
| CAVALIERS/WIZARDS | TNT | Thu | 08:17P-10:49P | 1,701 | |
| REAL WORLD XXI | MTV | Wed | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,698 | |
| REAL WORLD XXI REUNION | MTV | Wed | 11:00P-12:00A | 1,668 | |
| THATS SO RAVEN | DSNY | Wed | 06:00P-06:30P | 1,665 | |
| ROCK OF LOVE 3 | VH1 | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,660 | |
| HOUSE HUNTERS | HGTV | Sun | 09:00P-09:30P | 1,627 | |
| EXTERMINATORS, THE | A&E | Wed | 10:30P-11:00P | 1,623 | |
| WONDER PETS | NICK | Fri | 10:30A-11:00A | 1,604 | |
| SEINFELD | TBSC | Tue | 07:30P-08:00P | 1,603 | |
| WHO WAS JESUS | DISC | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,584 | |
| MORAL OREL | ADSM | Wed | 12:15A-12:30A | 1,553 | |
| COLBERT REPORT | CMDY | Wed | 11:30P-12:00A | 1,471 | |
| AX MEN | HIST | Mon | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,427 | |
| DINERS, DRIVE INS & DIVES | FOOD | Mon | 10:30P-11:00P | 1,425 | |
| MAKING THE BAND 4 | MTV | Thu | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,422 | |
| BREAKING BAD | AMC | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,213 | |
| IRON CHEF AMERICA | FOOD | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,213 | |
| PARDON THE INTERRUPTION | ESPN | Thu | 05:30P-06:00P | 1,184 | |
| DAMAGES | FX | Wed | 10:00P-11:32P | 1,048 | |
| AROUND THE HORN | ESPN | Thu | 05:00P-05:30P | 862 | |
| BRIDGETS SEXIEST BEACHES | TTC | Thu | 10:00P-11:00P | 644 | |
| HANEY PROJECT | GOLF | Mon | 09:00P-09:30P | 356 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
