Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 08/17/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH Rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 4.3 | 6,419 |
| 2 | NASCAR SPRINT CUP L (MICHIGAN) | ESPN | SUNDAY | 3.3 | 5,300 |
| 3 | NATIONWIDE POST RACE L | ESPN | SUNDAY | 3.1 | 5,037 |
| 4 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW) | USA | MONDAY | 2.7 | 4,812 |
| 5 | MONK | USA | FRIDAY | 2.9 | 4,654 |
| 6 | LAW & ORDER: CI (ORIG) | USA | SUNDAY | 3.2 | 4,644 |
| 7 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW) | USA | MONDAY | 2.5 | 4,533 |
| 8 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.8 | 4,483 |
| 9 | NFL PRE-SEASON FOOTBALL L (BENGALS/PACKERS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 2.8 | 4,143 |
| 10 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,999 |
| 11 | BURN NOTICE | USA | THURSDAY | 2.7 | 3,881 |
| 12 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.5 | 3,861 |
| 13 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | WEDNESDAY | 2.4 | 3,848 |
| 14 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | TUESDAY | 2.2 | 3,801 |
| 15 | IN PLAIN SIGHT | USA | SUNDAY | 2.8 | 3,780 |
| 16 | SECRET LIFE/AMERICAN TEEN | FAM | TUESDAY | 2.3 | 3,704 |
| 17 | PSYCH | USA | FRIDAY | 2.2 | 3,660 |
| 18 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | WEDNESDAY | 2.2 | 3,646 |
| 19 | BACK AT THE BARNYARD | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.2 | 3,621 |
| 20 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.3 | 3,593 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
Up against Olympics coverage on NBC last Monday, The Closer took an 18% hit versus the previous week when it did not face-off with the Olympics, but even still it was the most watched cable show of the week. NASCAR Sprint Cup racing and post-race coverage took the second and third spots with WWE RAWMonk coming in fourth. rounded out the Top 5.
In Plain Sight took a bigger hit the second Sunday of Olympic coverage than the first, down about 10% from last week. Law & Order: CI was actually up week over week on Sunday, but we ascribe that, as ever, to the Goran/Eames team having better ratings Mojo than the Logan/Wheeler team. Whoops. Got that wrong, Turns out that was wrong, and rather that it was the swan-swong appearance of Chris Noth as Detective Logan that drew the better ratings. Thanks to commenter stefanl (who definitely knows more about CI than I do — and won are Law & Order: CI giveaway to boot!).
Burn Notice also took a haircut up against the Olympics, losing around 15% of its viewers from the previous week. SpongeBob took seven of the top twenty slots, and nineteen out of the top 40.
Notably, while both Monk and Psych suffered somewhat versus the opening ceremonies, they performed better the second Friday of Olympic coverage. Notably, the Friday Olympic coverage on NBC was the lowest rated of all seven days of Olympic coverage last week.
The Monk and Psych effect? Perhaps, but USA is in the NBC Universal family so they’ll get over it.
Secret Life of an American Teen continued to perform well for ABC Family reaching 3.7 million last Tuesday. Nick’s Back in the Barnyard made the top twenty at #19.
Saving Grace was actually number fifteen based on household rating but fell to number 23 when ranked by total viewers. Similarly, Army Wives was number twelve by household rating but fell to number 24 when ranked by viewers. Project Runway was #25 by household rating and #31 by viewers. A re-airing of High School Musical 2 on Disney made the top 40 at #24 and an airing of Hannah Montana, another airing of Back at the Barnyard and a whole lot of SpongeBob rounded out the top forty.
Please remember the only reason we don’t publish all forty shows is because Nielsen limits us to lists of 20. Sorry.
This week's high Law & Order Criminal Intent ratings weren't because of the higher Goren/Eames ratings but because it was the final episode for Chris Noth's Det. Mike Logan. Next week will be the season seven finale and should (hopefully) be quite high if viewer buzz has anything to do with it.<br><br>Something I have noticed though about In Plain Sight's ratings is that they tend to go up and down following the Goren/Eames vs. Logan/Wheeler episodes. Higher lead in equals higher numbers for Marshall Shannon.
Cannot believe Spongebob is still getting viewers with barely any new episodes in the past year. Nick needs new shows.
Congrats to Monk for that shows continuing strong showing. Last week was one of their better shows ever..