ESPN Monday Night Football (Steelers/Ravens), as it will likely through December, led all cable shows for the week with 11.8 million viewers, followed by Fox News Channel’s airing of the Vice Presidential debate with 11.1 million. The pre-debate and post-debate analysis as well as the VP debate on other networks and ancillary news programs were all over the top twenty this week. Major League Baseball playoff games put 6 games in the top 20 at numbers 7, 10, 11, 12, 16, and 19.
The Force was strong with the two premiere episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars finishing at #27 (the top non-sports, non-news show for the week) and #30 with 3.992 million and 3.924 million viewers. There were only three SpongeBob airings in this week’s top forty - the best at # 35 with 3.739 million. For at least this one week, Yoda > Spongebob.
WWE RAW took the 15th and 17th spots with over 4.4 million viewers in each case. The Wizards of Waverly Place put an episode at #29 with 3.933 million. Suite Life on Deck pulled in 3.822 million at #32 and Army Wives was #39 with 3.319 million.
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 10/5/2008:
| Rank | Programs | Network | Day | Viewers (Live+SD) |
| 1 | NFL (RAVENS/STEELERS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 11,783 |
| 2 | VP DEBATE(S)-10/02/2008 | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 11,098 |
| 3 | SR/VICE PRES DEBATE 2008(S)-10/02/2008 | CNN | THURSDAY | 10,685 |
| 4 | ON THE RECORD W/GRETA | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 9,801 |
| 5 | ANDERSON COOPER 360 | CNN | THURSDAY | 7,961 |
| 6 | VP DEBATE CVG(S)-10/02/2008 | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 7,372 |
| 7 | VP DEBATE ANALYSIS(S)-10/02/2008 | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 6,977 |
| 8 | MLB DIVISION SERIES (ANGELS-RED SOX 3) | TBSC | SUNDAY | 6,199 |
| 9 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 5,624 |
| 10 | MLB DIVISION SERIES (DODGERS-CUBS 1) | TBSC | WEDNESDAY | 5,381 |
| 11 | MLB DIVISION SERIES (RED SOX-ANGELS 2) | TBSC | FRIDAY | 5,268 |
| 12 | MLB DIVISION SERIES (CUBS-DODGERS 3) | TBSC | SATURDAY | 5,224 |
| 13 | HANNITY & COLMES | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 4,935 |
| 14 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | MONDAY | 4,650 |
| 15 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW) | USA | MONDAY | 4,586 |
| 16 | MLB DIVISION SERIES (PHILLIES-BREWERS 3) | TBSC | SATURDAY | 4,573 |
| 17 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW) | USA | MONDAY | 4,493 |
| 18 | ANDERSON COOPER 360 | CNN | THURSDAY | 4,477 |
| 19 | MLB DIVISION SERIES (RED SOX-ANGELS 1) | TBSC | WEDNESDAY | 4,442 |
| 20 | DEBATE | MSNBC | THURSDAY | 4,412 |
——-
Update: More cable ratings from commenter Wyatt:
Last Week
09/29/08 Raising the Bar HH: 1.5/2; A18-49: 0.7/2
10/05/08 True Blood HH: 1.0/2; A18-49: 1.0/2
10/05/08 Entourage HH: 1.0/2; A18-49: 0.9/2
10/05/08 Dexter HH: 0.5/1; A18-49: 0.3/1
10/05/08 Little Britain USA HH: 0.4/1; A18-49: 0.4/1
10/05/08 Californication HH: 0.3/0; A18-49: 0.2/1
Last Monday
10/06/08 Monday Night Football HH: 7.1/12; A18-49: 4.6/12
10/06/08 The Hills HH: 2.2/3; A18-49: 1.9/5
10/06/08 Raising the Bar HH: 1.6/3; A18-49: 0.7/2
- Dexter: 0.786 million viewers
- Little Britain USA: 0.657 million viewers
- Californication: 0.442 million viewers
- The Life & Times of Tim: 0.275 million viewers
Baseball playoff ratings:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/cable-tv/e3i05c8198f5eab4cda85121f7582eedaad
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
October 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Hi, Robert. Can you tell me how many viewers Disney Channel’s Studio DC Almost Live got? It was on Sunday night. Thanks!
October 7th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Tom, we only see the top 40 cable shows each week and that wasn’t on the list. I will keep an eye out for a press release with results.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Is Spongebob’s popularity finally dying?
Or has these past couple of weeks just been a fluke?
October 7th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Hi Robert, Any news on how TNT Raising the Bar did for its 5th episode that aired on Mon 9/29/08? Did it even make it into the Top 40? Thanks.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Alex, my guess, and its just a guess because we have limited cable data, is that Spongebob has been doing as well as Spongebob always does, but other categories of cable shows have moved past it into the top 40 like the baseball playoffs and the debates and associated news programs. When the playoffs are done, and the election is over, those shows will disappear and the yellow absorbent one will remain. Now with the new challenge from Yoda!
TesserT, Raising the Bar wasn’t in the top 40 and I have not been around much today to watch the news flow, but if I get more show data from press releases I will add it to the post.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Tesser I am in the midst of a move and not keeping up as normal, but I believe it was the 9/29 episode of RTB that plummeted to around the 2.5 million range. In any case it definitely did not make the top 40
October 7th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
how did all the baseball playoff game do?
October 7th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Travis, we don’t get overnight cable ratings and I haven’t seen any press releases today on the baseball games.
October 7th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Thanks guys! appreciate the update
October 8th, 2008 at 3:40 am
FX just cancelled The Riches.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:11 am
9/29/08Raising the Bar
October 8th, 2008 at 6:33 am
More cable ratings (sorry, i don’t have viewers :-()
Last Week
09/29/08 Raising the Bar HH: 1.5/2; A18-49: 0.7/2
10/05/08 True Blood HH: 1.0/2; A18-49: 1.0/2
10/05/08 Entourage HH: 1.0/2; A18-49: 0.9/2
10/05/08 Dexter HH: 0.5/1; A18-49: 0.3/1
10/05/08 Little Britain USA HH: 0.4/1; A18-49: 0.4/1
10/05/08 Californication HH: 0.3/0; A18-49: 0.2/1
Last Monday
10/06/08 Monday Night Football HH: 7.1/12; A18-49: 4.6/12
10/06/08 The Hills HH: 2.2/3; A18-49: 0.7/2
10/06/08 Raising the Bar HH: 1.6/3; A18-49: 1.9/5
Baseball playoff ratings:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/cable-tv/e3i05c8198f5eab4cda85121f7582eedaad
October 8th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Thanks Wyatt! Added to the post.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:52 am
any idea how the life and times of tim did? i thought that show was terrific.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:23 am
The Hills and Raising of the Bar A18-49 is wrong. The Hills got 1.9/5 and Raising of the Bar 0.7/2, sorry.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Wyatt, thanks for the update. Changed!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Folks, I’ve just got some HBO and Showtime viewers
- Dexter: 0.786 million viewers
- Little Britain USA: 0.657 million viewers
- Californication: 0.442 million viewers
- The Life & Times of Tim: 0.275 million viewers
October 8th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Life & Times of Tim is practically non-existent. I’m not surprised. It’s somewhat entertaining, but it’s definitely not laugh out loud funny, and probably doesn’t appeal to much of America.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I’ve said this before, but dang. HBO must have a lot of subscribers not watching it. Oh, and if anyone could tell me the approximate of TV households that have cable I’d appreciate it
October 9th, 2008 at 10:59 am
johnthemon,
Here’s the latest numbers we have on how many households receive each “cable” network. Although “cable” isn’t exactly correct, since perhaps 1/3 of the homes get them via satellite.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/06/nielsen-cable-network-coverage-estimates/3659
October 13th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Any information on ratings for Stargate Atlantis seen on SciFi channel? It has been a few weeks now I have seen anything on the First Contact. MGM has canceled Stargate Atlantis and fans are upset to say the least and we are trying to get the show renewed for another season. We are looking for any good news to keep our spirits up.
Thanks,
Elisa
October 13th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Elisa, I think the best thing to do is enjoy that at least with the mid-season cliffhanger they got very creative again, we got to see Daniel Jackson again and it was a great episode — plus we do get the rest of the season. It’s not clear to me that Atlantis was cancelled due to ratings, it seems that MGM wanted to take a different direction with the Stargate franchise. Surely they don’t think Stargate: Universe (or whatever it winds up being called) will perform much differently (or better) than SG: Atlantis.
I think it’s good news is MGM plans to keep the SG franchise going and they’ve already announced plans for SG: Atlantis movies in the same fashion as the SG1 movies (direct to DVD).
October 13th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Robert,
Thank you for your reply. What we have been reading and understanding is that MGM and Brad Wright wanted to take the Stargate franchise into a differet direction. So they decided to cancel “The People’s Choice” for favorite scifi show, SGA and start production on Stargate Universe. SGU will be based on a ship and will be lost and cut off from earth with a crew consisting of young actors (20-25) with the intention of targeting a younger audience. Many are starting to call SGU, Stargate 90210 and Stargate University. Anyway, many fans of SGA were not happy and feel slighted and are letting their feelings be known by sending postcards, emails, and fake lemons to MGM, SciFi, and Brad Wright. We were hoping for better ratings as just another “dart” to throw at TPTB.
-Elisa
October 14th, 2008 at 8:21 am
If anyone ever sees some numbers for Tabitha’s Salon Takeover Thurs on Bravo, it would be highly appreciated. Thanks!
October 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
More numbers:
10/8: South Park: 3.7M, 2.5 adults 18-49 rating
The Sarah Silverman Program: 2.4M viewers, 1.6
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/south-park-prem.html
10/10: Smackdown: 3.5 million, 1.1 rating
Star Wars: Clone Wars: 2.8 million, 0.7/2
October 16th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Man, Little Britain is a brilliant show, it should have a better timeslot.