Comments on: Cable Show Ratings For Fan Favorites We Rarely See

By: Tyson

Tyson — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:25:02 +0000

FX is doing great in my opinion, all except Testees. It’s sort of funny but not something I would speed home to watch. SOA and Sunny are awesome shows though.

By: Max F

Max F — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:57:22 +0000

SoA is an awesome show. It is smart, brutal and very well acted. After I finished The Wire and watched Heroes fall apart, I figured there was nothing good left to watch on TV. If you haven’t seen Sons of Anarchy, do yourself a favor and check it out. The episodes come out on Hulu.com after they air and the quality is excellent.

By: Bob Burns

Bob Burns — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:23:26 +0000

Son’s of Anarchy is a bore it could be so much better who is watching this crap,watching pig bundy as a tough biker chick?Yeah right when is Al,Kelly,and Bud going to show up?The production values are terrible.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:50:37 +0000

Kat, MAGNA numbers all come from Nielsen. As for the differences you’re seeing, are you sure that you’re comparing apples to apples? There are so many different kind of numbers reported/measured (particularly with this MAGNA report which shows some things we otherwise never see/report) that it’s easy to get caught up comparing different numbers.

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:47:53 +0000

I was looking at this report from MAGNA and I noticed that most of the ratings listed in it are much lower than those released in the Nielsen Galaxy Report and by the networks.

Do you know where MAGNA got its ratings numbers? And if they did get them from Nielsen, why are they so much lower?

By: Vader

Vader — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:56:45 +0000

http://www.poptower.com/images/db/1067/420/300/spongebob-squarepants.jpg

Sure he does Bill! You are definately correct…Spongebob is a ratings juggernaut (or as close as we’re going to get) when it comes to the cable ratings. The number of spots he has in the top 40 every week is astounding. Nickalodeon has got to be above and beyond thrilled about how it’s done.

By: Outlander

Outlander — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:54:09 +0000

Robert — it looks like our instincts about “Sanctuary” were right. The show is off almost 50% from its series premiere, although somewhat less so in the 18-49 demo.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:46:00 +0000

Vader, Mad Men definitely has the buzz. Robert drew parallels between Mad Men and Gossip Girl earlier. Of course, none of them is fit to shine SpongeBob's ratings shoes. Edit: Does he even wear shoes?

By: jay

jay — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:44:10 +0000

I don’t get FX ( is that where Sons of Anarchy is? ) but was in Sante Fe for a month and the folks there did get it. Sons of Anarchy is the best new show on cable. The same updated Barnaby Jones/ Rockford crime shows ( ” upgraded” for 2008 with female leads) like Closer, Saving Grace etc are dull. Ron Perleman, the great Katie Sagal, etc … this is exactly what FX has needed all along. Too bad I’m back in Kansas again. I miss that show.

By: Vader

Vader — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:34:14 +0000

I find it hilarious that Clone Wars and Sanctuary (a pretty good show so far) both outperform best drama winner Mad Men, stuck on Friday nights. The Force may not be greater than Oprah, but it’s surely greater than Mad Men and its Emmys!

By: PeNN_CaGe

PeNN_CaGe — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:25:28 +0000

Thank you for the SoA numbers. I love that show and I am so glad that there will be a season 2

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:05:54 +0000

Mandi (who’d have figured sequential comments from different Mandy(i)s),

FX’s average prime-time household average rating this season has been 0.8. Since SoA is well above that, plus note the MAGNA comments, I’d say its a keeper.

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:02:22 +0000

Mandy, We have the list of the top 20 cable shows each week here (or via the Cable Top 20 link at the top of the page:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/nielsen-top-cable-tv-show-ratings

Most of the shows in this report are not usually in our top 20 list however.

By: Mandi

Mandi — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:57:47 +0000

Thanks so much for this! I’ve been wondering about Sons of Anarchy because the show rocks. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. It has fantastic acting and I expect it to get a couple acting nods come awards time.

Any analysis you can share Robert? SOA seems to be doing pretty damn well since its getting better ratings than Always Sunny, but who knows what’s considered ‘good’ for FX? Any insight would be really appreciated cause I want to see this show make it to S3. Thanks!

By: Mandy

Mandy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:50:40 +0000

What are “good” ratings for cable tv shows?

By: Bill Gorman

Bill Gorman — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:58:06 +0000

I plead guilty to over-cropping! Header included.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:52:20 +0000

We do have the full season ratings for Mad Men, but only because AMC is good to us. BTW, those table clips above are fairly worthless because you neglected to include the table header (that the numbers are only for households on the left, and specific demos in the other columns)