WWE Raw again captured the top two spots, followed by Nick's iCarly, an NCIS rerun and the controversial sponginess that is SpongeBob rounded out the top five.
People are showing NCIS the love, with it taking nine of the top twenty spots. And while Penguins of Madagascar only showed up once in the top 20, like SpongeBob, there are a zillion episodes and many of them that performed much better than shows I list that are outside of the top twenty.
The first two rounds of The Masters golf tournament fared well for ESPN. Rescue Me returned after about a year and a half hiatus to decent numbers for FX. Let's get to the numbers...
Top 20 cable shows for the week ending April 12, 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-11:03P | 6,140 |
| 2 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 5,743 |
| 3 | iCarly | NICK | Sat | 08:00P-08:30P | 5,051 |
| 4 | NCIS | USA | Tue | 07:00P-08:00P | 4,394 |
| 5 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 09:30A-10:00A | 4,210 |
| 6 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,997 |
| 7 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXN | Wed | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,977 |
| 8 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 07:00P-08:00P | 3,967 |
| 9 | NCIS | USA | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 3,966 |
| 10 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 09:00A-09:30A | 3,879 |
| 11 | PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | NICK | Sat | 10:00A-10:30A | 3,766 |
| 12 | NCIS | USA | Wed | 07:00P-08:00P | 3,703 |
| 13 | NCIS | USA | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 3,701 |
| 14 | TRUE JACKSON, VP | NICK | Sat | 08:30P-09:00P | 3,654 |
| 15 | NCIS | USA | Sun | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,590 |
| 16 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXN | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,513 |
| 17 | MASTERS GOLF TOURNAMENT L | ESPN | Fri | 04:00P-07:34P | 3,503 |
| 18 | NCIS | USA | Tue | 06:00P-07:00P | 3,493 |
| 19 | NCIS | USA | Sun | 07:00P-08:00P | 3,475 |
| 20 | NORA ROBERTS TRIBUTE | LIFE | Sat | 09:00P-11:00P | 3,430 |
| Other shows (sorted, but not ranked) | |||||
| MASTERS GOLF TOURNAMENT L | ESPN | Thu | 04:00P-07:30P | 3,366 | |
| ROCK OF LOVE 3 | VH1 | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 3,239 | |
| FOR THE LOVE OF RAY J | VH1 | Mon | 10:00P-11:00P | 3,164 | |
| SOUTH PARK | CMDY | Wed | 10:00P-10:30P | 3,106 | |
| S Hannah Montana | DSNY | Mon | 06:00P-06:30P | 2,998 | |
| HOUSE OF PAYNE | TBSC | Wed | 10:30P-11:00P | 2,979 | |
| HILLS, THE | MTV | Mon | 10:30P-11:00P | 2,970 | |
| CUBS/BREWERS | ESPN | Sun | 08:00P-11:36P | 2,961 | |
| FAMILY GUY | ADSM | Sun | 11:00P-11:30P | 2,960 | |
| BACK AT THE BARNYARD | NICK | Sat | 10:30A-11:00A | 2,946 | |
| MIGHTY B! | NICK | Sat | 11:00A-11:30A | 2,832 | |
| UCONN/LOUISVILLE | ESPN | Tue | 08:30P-10:43P | 2,668 | |
| GHOST HUNTERS | SCIF | Wed | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,654 | |
| LOVE FINDS A HOME | HALL | Sat | 09:00P-11:00P | 2,532 | |
| MAX AND RUBY | NICK | Fri | 10:00A-10:30A | 2,634 | |
| I LOVE MONEY 2 | VH1 | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,551 | |
| SAVING GRACE | TNT | Mon | 10:00P-11:00P | 2,539 | |
| NUGGETS/LAKERS | TNT | Thu | 10:50P-01:35A | 2,510 | |
| RESCUE ME | FX | Tue | 10:00P-11:00P | 2,297 | |
| HOUSE HUNTERS INTL | HGTV | Thu | 10:00P-10:30P | 2,001 | |
| Mythbusters | DISC | Wed | 09:00P-11:00P | 1,981 | |
| DAILY SHOW | CMDY | Wed | 10:59P-11:30P | 1,888 | |
| ECW | SCIF | Tue | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,883 | |
| RIVER MONSTERS | APL | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,886 | |
| LIFE WITH DEREK-LN | DSNY | Fri | 12:00A-12:30A | 1,875 | |
| THE FIRST 48 | A&E | Thu | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,790 | |
| RENO 911! | CMDY | Wed | 10:30P-10:59P | 1,786 | |
| DINERS, DRIVE INS & DIVES | FOOD | Fri | 09:30P-10:00P | 1,767 | |
| THATS SO RAVEN - LN | DSNY | Thu | 11:30P-12:00A | 1,767 | |
| REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NYC | BRAV | Tue | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,737 | |
| DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER | A&E | Wed | 10:00P-10:30P | 1,637 | |
| BATTLES BC | HIST | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,626 | |
| DIRTY JOBS | DISC | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 1,602 | |
| COLBERT REPORT | CMDY | Wed | 11:30P-12:00A | 1,446 | |
| RL HSWVS OF NJ PREV SP | BRAV | Tue | 11:00P-11:30P | 1,432 | |
| BREAKING BAD | AMC | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 1,407 | |
| COUNTDOWN W/ K. OLBERMANN | MSNB | Wed | 08:00P-09:00P | 1,332 | |
| THE SOUP | EN | Fri | 10:00P-10:30P | 1,244 | |
| NANCY GRACE | HLN | Wed | 08:00P-08:54P | 1,170 | |
| Chelsea LATELY | EN | Wed | 11:00P-11:30P | 911 | |
| GREEK | FAM | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 834 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
The best show is at the top… WWE reigns supreme again.
So few Spongebobs in the top 20. And the top 20 isn’t even that high this week.
there were another six not listed that did over 3 million though. And for Bob, how high the top 20 is at the high end doesn’t really matter so much, it’s how the top 20 is at the low end. Still, the range for the top 20 was a bit lower than a month ago or so when the Burn Notice finale aired. That week the range of the top 20 was 3.7-6.3 million (with iCarly the #1 show that week).
Unfortunately I am so clueless about how/when new episodes for the kid shows are rolled out, it’s difficult for me to do any meaningful comparisons.
Saving Grace and Breaking Bad were higher than last week, was Saving Grace the second season finale?
Rescue Me did well too, it must attract a decent sized 18-49 demo although I think Nip/Tuck tops it.
Robert, Is that a series low for Greek?
Greek very low… But Penguins very high! Great, I love Penguins ;P
Tribute was the last one for this year’s Nora Roberts Collection on Lifetime. The first one aired (Northern Lights) remains the most warched one (4.5million) followed by the second aired (“Midnight Bayou”) with 3.8 million viewers. Tribute (the 4th one) with 3.4m and High Noon (third one aired) with 3.3 million.
bad for greek!!!! Obv it only does well when it follows secret life!!
I wonder how King of the Hill is doing on Adult Swim. Its not as popular as Family Guy, but it does have a decent-sized following.
“Robert, Is that a series low for Greek?”
This makes me think Roommates is doing TERRIBLE. Roommates is a very funny comedy.
greek is such an awful show.
Jimmy, just because they hit you where it hurts doesn’t mean it’s a bad show.
disappointed for Greek, especially sice the crappy Secret Life got 4+ million viewrs a couple of weeks ago
it doesnt hit me where it hurts, they are completely wrong on how greek life is. the whole show is based on a stereotypical lie.
Could you be extremely nice and tell us about Moonlight (Sci-Fi). There was a marathon on 04/09 and the regular scheduled show on 04/10. Thank you! We would just like to know.
Greak had half the audience of Kyle XY, yet Greek is renewed.
Hey…I heard that The Newlywed Game and Catch 21 premiers on Monday were the highest premiers for a game show on GSN in a very long while. Can you give me those numbers if you have them?
It’s not a docummentary. Stereotypical or not it’s a good show. Roommates as well. Clearly both shows will be canceled
Robert, Greek is already renewed.
robert, incorrect, sorry try again later.