Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard
NBA playoffs dominated the top five spots led by Sunday night's Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Orlando Magic matchup on TNT. WWE Raw was pushed down to the sixth and seventh spots for the week, followed by NCIS and SpongeBob.
A couple of things to keep in mind. These are the ratings for the week ending Sunday, May 24 so the eye-popping numbers for the return of Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC on May 25 will not show up until next week, when barring basketball magic, it will easily top the list for the week ending 5/31.
Due to the Memorial Day holiday, USA did not run new episodes of In Plain Sight and Law & Order: CI on Sunday night.
Twenty-nine episodes of NCIS averaged over two million. I did not list anything outside of the six that appeared in the top twenty, but USA Network is getting a lot of mileage out of NCIS.
There is no TVbytheNumbers conspiracy against premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime, in fact, they are two of my favorite channels and I just finished up season two of In Treatment on HBO which showcased some outstanding writing and acting.
The reason we don't post any numbers for those networks in these lists is because unless they appear in the top forty (which basically hasn't happened since The Sopranos went dark), we don't see them. If we regularly saw them, we'd regularly post them. But TV Week, Broadcasting & Cable, USA Today and THR will frequently post them so in a few weeks when you're looking to see how True Blood did, those would be some good sites to keep your eyes on.
Update for fans of Cartoon Network (via Cartoon Network):
Cartoon Network's Memorial Day weekend marathon featuring back-to-back episodes of Total Drama Island (Sunday, 12 p.m. - 7 p.m.) earned double-digit increases among several key demos compared to the same week last year. Overall kids 2-11 delivery (513,000) grew by 20%, kids 6-11 delivery (404,000) by 33% and kids 9-14 (348,000) by 47%. Total Drama Island is the popular animated reality series that follows a group of spirited teen competing for a $100,000 grand prize.
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Top twenty cable network television shows for the week ending May 24, 2009:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY | Time | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | CAVALIERS/MAGIC | TNT | Sun | 08:36P-11:45P | 8969 |
| 2 | NUGGETS/LAKERS | ESPN | Tue | 08:57P-11:55P | 8085 |
| 3 | NUGGETS/LAKERS | ESPN | Thu | 08:56P-11:56P | 7886 |
| 4 | MAGIC/CAVALIERS | TNT | Wed | 08:36P-11:34P | 7321 |
| 5 | MAGIC/CAVALIERS | TNT | Fri | 08:35P-11:41P | 6910 |
| 6 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 10:00P-11:06P | 5200 |
| 7 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 5032 |
| 8 | NCIS | USA | Sat | 10:00P-11:00P | 4151 |
| 9 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 11:30A-12:00P | 3917 |
| 10 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 07:00P-08:00P | 3911 |
| 11 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 3911 |
| 12 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 12:00P-12:30P | 3826 |
| 13 | NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM | FX | Sun | 09:00P-11:30P | 3715 |
| 14 | NCIS | USA | Sat | 08:00P-09:00P | 3674 |
| 15 | NCIS | USA | Fri | 07:00P-08:00P | 3653 |
| 16 | SpongeBob | NICK | Sat | 11:00A-11:30A | 3653 |
| 17 | PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR | NICK | Sat | 10:00A-10:30A | 3600 |
| 18 | NCIS | USA | Sat | 09:00P-10:00P | 3557 |
| 19 | INSIDE THE NBA PLAYOFFS | TNT | Wed | 11:34P-12:10A | 3504 |
| 20 | SPORTSCENTER LATE L | ESPN | Thu | 11:56P-01:00A | 3474 |
| Other shows (based on request order, not ranked or sorted) | |||||
| iCarly | NICK | Thu | 06:30P-07:00P | 3144 | |
| CARS | DSNY | Sun | 12:00P-02:05P | 3071 | |
| FAMILY GUY | ADSM | Mon | 11:30P-12:00A | 2819 | |
| NED DECLASSIFIED | NICK | Thu | 08:00P-08:30P | 2673 | |
| FAIRLY ODD PARENTS | NICK | Sun | 08:30A-09:00A | 2657 | |
| BACK AT THE BARNYARD | NICK | Sat | 08:30A-09:00A | 2642 | |
| HOUSE | USA | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 2622 | |
| NBA DRAFT LOTTERY L | ESPN | Tue | 08:30P-08:57P | 2565 | |
| DEADLIEST CATCH | DISC | Tue | 09:00P-10:01P | 2550 | |
| LAW & ORDER | TNT | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 2376 | |
| S PHINEAS & FERB | DSNY | Sun | 11:30A-12:00P | 2292 | |
| HILLS, THE | MTV | Mon | 10:00P-10:30P | 2232 | |
| GEORGE LOPEZ | NAN | Fri | 10:30P-11:00P | 2230 | |
| HOUSE HUNTERS INTL | HGTV | Sun | 09:30P-10:00P | 1985 | |
| CHARM SCHOOL 3 | VH1 | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 1893 | |
| AX MEN | HIST | Mon | 10:00P-11:00P | 1861 | |
| DEADLIEST WARRIOR | SPK | Tue | 10:00P-11:00P | 1816 | |
| OPERATION REPO | TRU | Mon | 10:00P-10:30P | 1789 | |
| NEW YORK GOES TO WORK | VH1 | Mon | 10:00P-10:30P | 1774 | |
| POLAR STORM | SCIF | Sun | 09:00P-11:00P | 1729 | |
| CAROL-PITTS | VS | Thu | 07:30P-10:25P | 1725 | |
| NASCAR NATIONWIDE SRS L | ESP2 | Sat | 07:37P-11:31P | 1722 | |
| CHICA-DETRO | VS | Tue | 07:30P-10:29P | 1717 | |
| RESCUE ME | FX | Tue | 10:00P-11:01P | 1650 | |
| Mythbusters | DISC | Wed | 09:00P-10:00P | 1632 | |
| TOM&JERRY: BLAST OFF/MARS | TOON | Sun | 09:00A-10:30A | 1631 | |
| ECW | SCIF | Tue | 10:00P-11:05P | 1404 | |
| PARANORMAL STATE | A&E | Mon | 10:00P-11:00P | 1524 | |
| TNA: IMPACT | SPK | Thu | 09:00P-11:00P | 1522 | |
| DAILY SHOW | CMDY | Mon | 10:59P-11:30P | 1516 | |
| RW/RR THE DUEL 2 | MTV | Wed | 10:00P-11:00P | 1501 | |
| REAL HSWIVES OF NJ | BRAV | Tue | 10:00P-11:00P | 1489 | |
| JON & Kate Plus 8 | TLC | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 1410 | |
| LIFE AFTER PEOPLE | HIST | Tue | 10:00P-11:00P | 1400 | |
| DINERS, DRIVE INS & DIVES | FOOD | Mon | 10:30P-11:00P | 1312 | |
| BONANZA | TVLD | Mon | 03:06P-04:11P | 1175 | |
| LARRY KING LIVE | CNN | Fri | 09:00P-10:00P | 1128 | |
| DAISY OF LOVE | VH1 | Sun | 12:00P-01:00P | 1100 | |
| COLLEGE LIFE | MTV | Mon | 10:30P-11:00P | 960 | |
| Chelsea LATELY | EN | Thu | 11:00P-11:30P | 905 | |
| THE SOUP | EN | Fri | 10:00P-10:30P | 796 | |
| GREEK | FAM | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 680 | |
| Snapped | OXYG | Sat | 11:30A-12:00P | 494 | |
| HANEY PROJECT | GOLF | Mon | 10:00P-10:30P | 346 | |
| BRIDGETS SEXIEST BEACHES | TTC | Thu | 10:00P-10:30P | 305 | |
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Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
Heyy! I was wondering when do the TOP 20 broadcast shows of the season come out?
You are so cool. Thank you so much for these numbers.
D, technically they are out already for broadcast, but as for when WE will produce such lists, i’m not sure. Nielsen hasn’t provided us with any access to such top twenty lists for the season yet, however, if we took the season-to-date list through 5/24, we could come up with those top twenties on both a household ratings and adults 18-49 ratings basis.
Not surprisingly American Idol tops both lists while House, which is #20 on a household basis was #6 for the season with adults 18-49.
Now back to cable…thanks, Number Cruncher.
Who says small market teams can’t give you good ratings in the NBA? Cavs/Magic hit 9 million viewers on a holiday Sunday for TNT.
Look at the surge in hockey on Versus as both game got nearly 2 million viewers. NBC is going to have themselves a nice scoring series in June.
Nobody repeats better than iCarly and NCIS outside of Spongebob.
Nickelodeon Where iCarly doing better than most network sitcoms Happen!
I’m more interested to see this past Monday’s ratings with the whole WWE/Denver debacle I’m wondering who watched what.
Robert, could you please put there Charmed (TNT) ratings? Thanks!
Nice to see Ned’s Declassified still pulling in some decent numbers for Nick. I’m glad they started running it again.
Man, Greek’s ratings suck.
thanks for posting the duels rating!!
I still think abc family shot themselves in the foot when they cancelled kyle xy!!!
What is with all of this NCIS madness? Repeats are beating a lot of first run shows.
In Canada, “The Hills Aftershow” did better than “The Hills”. Same in the US?
I’m glad NCIS does so well. It’s a great show! It does great in originals and repeats on CBS, and does the same for USA Network. I wouldn’t be at all suprised if USA picks up NCIS:LA if it does well in season 1 on CBS.
Ed, I’m not sure. On Monday 5/18, “The Hills” aired at 9:30p, 10:00p, and 11p (College Life aired at 10:30). The 10pm broadcast listed above was the most-watched and based on the numbers, it appears both the 9:30p and 11p were rebroadcasts. But in terms of the way we receive the data, other than knowing from MTV scheduling that the 10pm edition was the “new episode”, there isn’t anything distinguishing the airings. They are all designated merely “The Hills”.
charmed ratings???
Dario, Charmed has been off the air for 3 years now. It aired 20 times last week on TNT. None of them did as well as the episode of Bonanza listed above. I will not be focusing on those ratings at all, no matter how often you ask.
God particle- Seriously! Doing big numbers on a Friday and Saturday night no less. NCIS does well in the “can’t score a date” demographic.
please!!!!
WWE RAW has been getting worse and worse. They deserve to go down in ratings.
Dario, if you have some need for the numbers beyond satisfying your curiosity, you should reach out to TNT and see if they will provide you with them.
Robert, SORRY! I DIDN’ SEE YOUR COMMENT! I KNOW, CHARMED ENDED IN MAY 2006… I was just curious…Now I see that Charmed air at 8AM…sorry…