TNT's The Closer held off new episodes of USA favorites Royal Pains and Burn Notice to move into the top spot for the week's most viewed cable show. While CNN's Tuesday coverage of the Michael Jackson Memorial put 5 shows (of various lengths) in the top 20, nearly squeezing SpongeBob off the list entirely.
I've got to admit I thought that with 10 new episodes for his 10th anniversary celebration that SpongeBob would put more shows in the top 20, but clearly for TV ratings the gloved one > the absorbent one.
Update: or I was confused about the timing of the SpongeBob episodes and they are 7/17 not 7/10.
WWE Raw saw both its viewership and rankings fall this week down to #5 and #10. The NASCAR race and its post race show on TNT were #10 and #13 for the week. Once again, Lifetime's Army Wives managed to squeeze onto the list at #19.
Here are the HBO numbers from Sunday night, although I didn't include them in the table below: Entourage: 3.4 million, Hung: 3.6 million, True Blood: 3.9 million.
Robert is on hiatus until late July, I am on my own till then, so we will not be handling Twitter (or other) requests for ala carte show numbers.
Top 20 advertising supported cable network television shows for the week ending July 12, 2009:
| Rank | Programs | Net | Day | Time | Viewers (Live+SD) (000s) |
| 1 | The Closer | TNT | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 6,053 |
| 2 | Royal Pains | USA | Thu | 10:00P-11:00P | 5,733 |
| 3 | JACKSON MEMORIAL SERVICE | CNN | Tue | 03:00P-03:48P | 5,720 |
| 4 | Burn Notice | USA | Thu | 09:00P-10:00P | 5,505 |
| 5 | WWE Entertainment | USA | Mon | 10:00P-11:06P | 5,399 |
| 6 | JACKSON MEMORIAL SERVICE | CNN | Tue | 02:00P-03:00P | 5,386 |
| 7 | iCarly | NICK | Sat | 08:00P-08:30P | 5,226 |
| 8 | JACKSON MEMORIAL SERVICE | CNN | Tue | 01:33P-02:00P | 5,125 |
| 9 | M JACKSON MEMORIAL CVG | CNN | Tue | 03:48P-04:00P | 4,967 |
| 10 | WWE Entertainment | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 4,891 |
| 11 | SPRINT CUP RACING/CHICAGO | TNT | Sat | 07:59P-11:22P | 4,814 |
| 12 | M JACKSON MEMORIAL CVG | CNN | Tue | 01:00P-01:33P | 4,709 |
| 13 | NASCAR POST RACE SHOW | TNT | Sat | 11:22P-11:33P | 4,408 |
| 14 | PARENT TRAP, THE (1998) | DSNY | Sun | 09:00P-11:20P | 4,314 |
| 15 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 4,238 |
| 16 | HARRY POTTER/GOBLET | FAM | Sun | 07:30P-11:00P | 4,089 |
| 17 | IN PLAIN SIGHT | USA | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 3,915 |
| 18 | Situation Room | CNN | Tue | 04:00P-05:00P | 3,851 |
| 19 | Army Wives | LIFE | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 3,829 |
| 20 | SpongeBob | NICK | Wed | 01:30P-02:00P | 3,728 |
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Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
