For the weekly overall top cable network rankings, click here.
The Rose Bowl on New Year's Day topped all cable viewing for the week and edged out the Saints-Falcons Monday Night Football contest. NFL, College Bowls and college pregame shows grabbed the first 8 spots on the list and 13 out of the top 25 spots. Last Monday's The Closer was the cable's most-watched scripted show for the week ranking ninth overall with 6.5 million viewers.
Five NCIS airings on Saturday all averaged over 4.8 million, with two of them averaging over 5 million. Despite all the football, SpongeBob was not to be denied either, with two Tuesday morning episodes with making the top 25 with more than 4.5 million viewers.
All numbers below are live plus same day DVR viewing up to 3am after the initial telecast.
Top 25 Basic cable shows for the week ending January 2, 2011:
| Rank | Program | Network | Day | Time | Viewers (000) |
| 1 | ROSE BOWL L (WISCONSIN/TCU) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 5:07 PM | 20,558 |
| 2 | NFL REGULAR SEASON L (SAINTS/FALCONS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 8:29 PM | 19,137 |
| 3 | BCS BOWL STUDIO L | ESPN | SATURDAY | 8:15 PM | 14,551 |
| 4 | BCS BOWL SHOWCASE L (FIESTA BOWL) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 8:30 PM | 12,440 |
| 5 | BCS BOWL SHOWCASE L (ROSE BOWL) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 4:57 PM | 11,887 |
| 6 | FIESTA BOWL L (CONNECTICUT/OKLAHOMA) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 8:37 PM | 10,819 |
| 7 | COLL FTBL BOWL GAME L (SOUTH CAROLINA/FSU) | ESPN | FRIDAY | 7:30 PM | 7,492 |
| 8 | COLL FTBL BOWL GAME L (UNC/TENNESSEE) | ESPN | THURSDAY | 6:40 PM | 7,107 |
| 9 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 9:00 PM | 6,514 |
| 10 | COLL FTBL BOWL GAME L (ALABAMA/MICHIGAN ST) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 1:00 PM | 6,045 |
| 11 | TOY STORY 2 | DSNY | MONDAY | 11:30 AM | 5,941 |
| 12 | COLL FTBL BOWL GAME L (NEBRASKA/WASHINGTON) | ESPN | THURSDAY | 10:46 PM | 5,653 |
| 13 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 9:00 PM | 5,412 |
| 14 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 8:00 PM | 5,266 |
| 15 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 7:00 PM | 4,953 |
| 16 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 6:00 PM | 4,950 |
| 17 | SPORTSCENTER: L | ESPN | MONDAY | 11:51 PM | 4,830 |
| 18 | NCIS | USA | SATURDAY | 10:00 PM | 4,822 |
| 19 | COLL FTBL BOWL GAME L (GEORGIA/CENTRAL FLORIDA) | ESPN | FRIDAY | 3:30 PM | 4,755 |
| 20 | American Pickers | HIST | MONDAY | 9:00 PM | 4,722 |
| 21 | SpongeBob | NICK | TUESDAY | 11:00 AM | 4,692 |
| 22 | WWE Entertainment (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 10:00 PM | 4,676 |
| 23 | COLL FTBL BOWL GAME L (OKLAHOMA ST/ARIZONA) | ESPN | WEDNESDAY | 9:31 PM | 4,643 |
| 24 | SpongeBob | NICK | TUESDAY | 11:30 AM | 4,599 |
| 25 | BCS BOWL STUDIO L | ESPN | SATURDAY | 12:19 AM | 4,565 |
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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: ©2011 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. All ratings above Live+SD (live viewing plus same day DVR viewing)
