Update: The Dexter season finale drew a series high 1.5 million viewers on Showtime on Sunday.
As usual, the NFL was dominant, at least when it aired on ESPN via Monday Night Football. WWE RAW placed all three Monday night airings in the top twenty for USA. Suite Life on Deck placed twice in the top ten for Disney. The Heisman Trophy Presentation, Wizards of Waverly Place and a holiday movie on Hallmark also squeezed into the top ten. And of course the yellow, porous glorious cable wonder that is Spongebob.
I added some miscellaneous show data for shows outside of the top 20, though they are sorted in descending order, they are not ranked. There may have been dozens of other shows between the shows listed. My selections outside the top 20 were somewhat random. Please note we only saw data for basic cable so don’t have any data for HBO, Showtime, etc. I’m not sure how the Dexter final did Sunday night on Showtime and as of this writing (11:00am PST Tuesday, 12/16) I haven’t seen the data anywhere else either.
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 12/14/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY | Time | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | BUCCANEERS/PANTHERS | ESPN | Mon | 08:30P-11:43P | 11,582 |
| 2 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 4,839 |
| 3 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 10:00P-11:03P | 4,745 |
| 4 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sat | 09:30A-10:00A | 4,508 |
| 5 | SUITE LIFE ON DECK | DSNY | Fri | 08:00P-08:30P | 4,287 |
| 6 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 4,194 |
| 7 | S SUITE LIFE ON DECK | DSNY | Fri | 07:30P-07:55P | 4,183 |
| 8 | HEISMAN TROPHY PRESENT L | ESPN | Sat | 08:00P-09:02P | 4,151 |
| 9 | WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE | DSNY | Sun | 08:30P-09:00P | 4,125 |
| 10 | MOST WONDERFUL TIME-YEAR | HALL | Sat | 09:00P-11:00P | 4,037 |
| 11 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sun | 09:30A-10:00A | 4,004 |
| 12 | S SUITE LIFE ON DECK | DSNY | Fri | 06:30P-07:00P | 3,955 |
| 13 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sat | 11:30A-12:00P | 3,916 |
| 14 | S SUITE LIFE ON DECK | DSNY | Fri | 07:00P-07:30P | 3,910 |
| 15 | S SUITE LIFE ON DECK | DSNY | Fri | 06:00P-06:30P | 3,909 |
| 16 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sat | 09:00A-09:30A | 3,872 |
| 17 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Sat | 11:00A-11:30A | 3,853 |
| 18 | NCIS | USA | Wed | 07:00P-08:00P | 3,849 |
| 19 | HANNAH MONTANA | DSNY | Sun | 08:00P-08:30P | 3,817 |
| 20 | SANTA CLAUSE 2, THE | DSNY | Mon | 08:00P-09:55P | 3,788 |
| Miscellaneous Shows (unranked) | |||||
| SANTA CLAUS/COMING TO TWN | FAM | Wed | 08:00P-09:00P | 3,656 | |
| 2008 – SAINTS VS. BEARS | NFLN | Thu | 08:16P-11:40P | 3,558 | |
| BACK AT THE BARNYARD | NICK | Sun | 10:00A-10:30A | 3,556 | |
| TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND | TOON | Thu | 09:00P-09:30P | 3,459 | |
| HOUSE OF PAYNE | TBSC | Wed | 10:30P-11:00P | 3,335 | |
| ICARLY | NICK | Wed | 07:00P-07:30P | 3,268 | |
| LEVERAGE | TNT | Tue | 10:00P-11:00P | 3,114 | |
| TOP CHEF | BRAV | Wed | 10:00P-11:15P | 3,021 | |
| GEORGE LOPEZ | NAN | Fri | 10:00P-10:30P | 2,934 | |
| FAIRLY ODD PARENTS | NICK | Sat | 08:30A-09:00A | 2,863 | |
| JEFF DUNHAM: ARGUING | CMDY | Fri | 10:30P-11:30P | 2,831 | |
| GHOST HUNTERS | SCIF | Wed | 09:00P-10:00P | 2,813 | |
| SUNS/LAKERS | ESPN | Wed | 10:36P-01:07A | 2,294 | |
| HILLS, THE | MTV | Mon | 10:00P-10:30P | 2,281 | |
| TRUE JACKSON, VP | NICK | Thu | 06:30P-07:00P | 2,187 | |
| STAR WARS:CLONE WARS | TOON | Fri | 09:00P-09:30P | 2,145 | |
| GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED | ESPN | Sat | 09:02P-10:55P | 1,811 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
Woo hoo! Total Drama Island did good. Go Owen!
Hello,
Any numbers on Stargate Atlantis and Sanctuary? Thank you!
Marc, SGA 1.655 million (Fri@9p), Sancturary 1.703 million (Fri@10p)
Hey Robert,
Thank you! The two shows seem to be pulling in similar numbers. It’s a shame Atlantis is being cancelled with such Steady numbers.
Awesome week for SpongeBob! Thanks guys.
Marc, my understanding is that SGA wasn’t cancelled because of ratings, but rather the producers wanted to go with SG: Universe and go the direct to DVD movie route with SGA here and there as they have done w/SG1. On a guess, the numbers for Universe will not be all that different than SGA.
Hey Robert,
Yeah the producers and MGM wanted to move onto SGU. I am pretty sure the network would of greenlighted a 6th season. There has been some excellent eps this season, but sadly there has been some eps to start new story arcs. I think the current showrunners felt there would be a 6th season. Heck, the numbers have been going up since Season 3, so it’s common sense to assume that.
How are you feeling about SGU? They just announced Robert Carlyle as one of the leads on the show. I am still not convinced but will give the show a chance. I do hope there will be multiple SGA DVD movies. It truly has been an entertaining show, and from looking at the numbers, people are still into this show.
Thanks again for the numbers!
Best,
Marc