TNT 's Monday night dramas once again topped the weekly cable viewing chart, this time with The Closer edging out newcomer Rizzoli & Isles. History's Pawn Stars took the third and fourth slots, with a preseason Monday Night Football game in fifth. Jersey Shore was sixth, though it set series highs with adults 18-49.
USA's best performer on this chart was Burn Notice, followed by Covert Affairs and Royal Pains.
Though Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer have been topping the charts with viewers, USA still has been winning the primetime war both with adults 18-49 and total viewers.
HBO's True Blood was 8th and HBO is only available in about 1/3rd the homes of USA and TNT, so that's pretty impressive.
I'm not sure what aired during the break between True Blood and Hung (another Boardwalk Empire promo?) but for some reason HBO included the 5 minutes between 9:56p and 10:01p on Sunday as a separate item, so you'll see "Break" as the week's 12th most-watched program.
please note: the numbers below for Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer and any Monday show referenced here are for Monday August 16, not August 23.
As usual, we have already posted almost all of this data separately, as well as quite a bit of data for shows that aren't on the list below. Give our site's search feature near the top right of the site a try or our Overnight Cable TV Show Ratings category.
Top 25 Basic cable shows for the week ending August 22, 2010:
| Rank | Program | Network | Day | Time | HH Rating | Viewers (000) |
| 1 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 9:00 PM | 4.4 | 6,818 |
| 2 | RIZZOLI & ISLES | TNT | MONDAY | 10:00 PM | 4.2 | 6,494 |
| 3 | PAWN STARS | HIST | MONDAY | 10:30 PM | 3.8 | 6,238 |
| 4 | Pawn Stars | HIST | MONDAY | 10:00 PM | 3.7 | 6,082 |
| 5 | NFL PRE-SEASON FOOTBALL L (GIANTS/JETS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 8:00 PM | 3.6 | 5,614 |
| 6 | Jersey Shore 2 | MTV | THURSDAY | 10:00 PM | 3.5 | 5,504 |
| 7 | BURN NOTICE | USA | THURSDAY | 9:00 PM | 3.4 | 5,503 |
| 8 | True Blood | HBOM | SUNDAY | 9:02 PM | 3.0 | 5,394 |
| 9 | COVERT AFFAIRS | USA | TUESDAY | 10:00 PM | 3.4 | 5,362 |
| 10 | Royal Pains | USA | THURSDAY | 10:00 PM | 3.4 | 5,271 |
| 11 | AMERICAN PICKERS | HIST | MONDAY | 9:00 PM | 3.2 | 5,199 |
| 12 | WWE Entertainment (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 10:00 PM | 2.9 | 4,920 |
| 13 | BREAK | HBOM | SUNDAY | 9:56 PM | 2.6 | 4,716 |
| 14 | KEEPING UP KARDASHIANS | ENT | SUNDAY | 10:00 PM | 3.0 | 4,678 |
| 15 | HANNAH MONTANA FOREVER | DSNY | SUNDAY | 8:00 PM | 2.8 | 4,631 |
| 16 | WWE Entertainment (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 9:00 PM | 2.8 | 4,619 |
| 17 | WHITE COLLAR | USA | TUESDAY | 9:00 PM | 2.8 | 4,481 |
| 18 | Swamp People | HIST | SUNDAY | 10:00 PM | 2.4 | 4,232 |
| 19 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 10:00 AM | 2.7 | 4,181 |
| 20 | PSYCH | USA | WEDNESDAY | 10:00 PM | 2.5 | 4,107 |
| 21 | NCIS | USA | WEDNESDAY | 8:00 PM | 2.6 | 4,074 |
| 22 | NCIS | USA | MONDAY | 8:00 PM | 2.6 | 4,072 |
| 23 | NCIS | USA | WEDNESDAY | 9:00 PM | 2.7 | 4,064 |
| 24 | Suite Life on Deck | DSNY | FRIDAY | 8:00 PM | 2.2 | 4,026 |
| 25 | MEMPHIS BEAT | TNT | TUESDAY | 10:00 PM | 2.5 | 3,937 |
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We always post whatever specific show data we received directly and see via press release or other trade publications. You can subscribe to our RSS feed and we have created a special category (Overnight Cable TV Show Ratings) to group the data we typically post each weekday from @TravisYanan on Twitter. During the week Travis usually posts selected cable results for each weekday, usually late in the afternoon on the east coast (and Friday night data isn't posted until Monday) and he posts the links to that info on his Twitter account to the info on Marc Berman's PI Forums.
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Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2010 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. All ratings above Live+SD (live viewing plus same day DVR viewing)
True Blood is always impressive ;=)
HBO showed a short True Blood ‘post-mortem’ thing, I believe, in that few minute ‘break’
not for me — at least I don’t think so. I watched it live on the east coast feed and it said to go online for this week’s “post-mortem” so I switched over to AMC for Mad Men.
not for me — at least I don’t think so. I watched it live on the east coast feed and it said to go online for this week’s “post-mortem” so I switched over to AMC for Mad Men.
Whats Break?
Go Psych! It’s slowly making it’s way back on to the top 20 list.
Why cant we get the 18-49 here too ?
we don’t always see those rankings and almost never see them as quickly as we see the rankings for viewers. I haven’t seen those rankings yet. Also we only see the 18-49 rankings (when we see them) for basic cable. On top of that, the times I’ve posted 18-49 rankings haven’t drawn much interest.
Yes!!! Psych made it back in the top 25! It seems to do better in the summer, so I’m curious to see what in does in November. Hopefully the holidays treat Psych and Burn Notice well.
What about “Rubicon”? Not that I’d expect it in the Top 25, but were any ratings released for last Sunday? I’m still hoping for a small increase, at least….magnificent show, that one.
More Sunday ratings will be posted soon. Rubicon was basically flat w/last week (it was down ~40K viewers). It will be interesting to see whether AMC is patient with it.
True Blood top 10!!! impressed by Pawn Stars, especially being on the history channel
True Blood top 10!!! impressed by Pawn Stars, especially being on the history channel
Any ratings info for the season finale of HGTV’s Design Star? Just wondering.
Glad to see The Closer continues to rock the ratings charts. Its having a good season, especially when Mary McDonnell guests. The plots are still a bit convoluted but the show is still entertaining.
I really wanted to like Rubicon but gave up after the third episode. Did it pick up at all?
Hum, USA’s block: Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, Royal Pains and White Collar slipped this week. They were down at least one place…
True Blood is still on fire and it is ranked on the TOP10.
Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer are still in the lead and it’s good.
SPONGEBOB??????
any info on the season premiere of Pitchmen 2 on Discovery?
I like it. It’s rather slow, but building nicely.