After being somewhat overshadowed by kid’s shows last week, adult programming moved up in the rankings this week with Burn Notice, The Closer, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Royal Pains and WWE Raw taking the top 5 spots in the weekly rankings and 12 of the top 20.
Fans of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight can breath easier, both shows found themselves back in the top 20. The Next Food Network Star landed at #18 in a rare appearance for that network in the list.
After last week’s 10th anniversary marathon, SpongeBob was taking it easy this week, absorbing just 4 of the top 20 rankings.
Of course, I will post True Blood results when I see them, there is no need to request them.
Robert is on hiatus for one more week, instead of taking Twitter requests for individual shows, post requests in the comments below. At some point later today I will post a comment with all the requests up until that point and then close the request window. Get your requests in early!
The a la carte cable ratings request window is now closed! Look for your requested numbers in the comments.
Top 20 advertiser supported cable network television shows for the week ending July 26, 2009:
| Rank | Programs | Net | Day | Time | Viewers (Live+SD) (000s) |
| 1 | BURN NOTICE | USA | Thu | 09:00P-10:00P | 6,803 |
| 2 | THE CLOSER | TNT | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 6,601 |
| 3 | NASCAR SPRINT CUP | ESPN | Sun | 02:15P-05:16P | 6,487 |
| 4 | ROYAL PAINS | USA | Thu | 10:00P-11:00P | 6,205 |
| 5 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 10:00P-11:08P | 5,275 |
| 6 | WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE | DSNY | Fri | 08:00P-08:45P | 5,047 |
| 7 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT | USA | Mon | 09:00P-10:00P | 5,036 |
| 8 | NCIS | USA | Mon | 08:00P-09:00P | 4,871 |
| 9 | NATIONWIDE POST RACE | ESPN | Sun | 05:16P-05:45P | 4,869 |
| 10 | HANNAH MONTANA | DSNY | Sun | 07:30P-08:00P | 4,797 |
| 11 | LAW & ORDER: CI (ORIG) | USA | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 4,633 |
| 12 | LAW & ORDER: SVU | USA | Sun | 08:00P-09:00P | 4,172 |
| 13 | IN PLAIN SIGHT | USA | Sun | 10:00P-11:00P | 4,163 |
| 14 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Mon | 12:30P-01:00P | 4,158 |
| 15 | HANNAH MONTANA | DSNY | Tue | 05:00P-05:30P | 4,083 |
| 16 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Tue | 05:30P-06:00P | 4,056 |
| 17 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Mon | 01:00P-01:30P | 4,018 |
| 18 | FOOD NETWORK STAR 5 | FOOD | Sun | 09:00P-10:00P | 4,008 |
| 19 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | Mon | 05:00P-05:30P | 3,834 |
| 20 | SONNY WITH A CHANCE | DSNY | Sun | 08:00P-08:30P | 3,805 |
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Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Just a question. How come you don’t include True Blood in the Top 20 when you get the numbers? I mean The Sopranos were often included in the nielsen top 20. Why not True Blood if it makes the list?
Well I would like to know how the Daisy of Love finale did.
I would like the numbers for Hawthorne and Leverage
Thanks!
What are the ratings of THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER, MAKE IT OR BREAK IT, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU that air on ABC Family?
Thanks!
According to Travis at mediaweek – Hawthorne 3.21 million, Leverage 3.05 million
Wow! That’s a great number of CI. I guess the whole “crossover” stunt worked really well.
and i would like see the numbers for Dark Blue. It’s a great show with amazing cast.
Was there any particular reason LaO:CI was up so much? I could’ve sworn it was only pulling in 3 million or so for the past few weeks.
I’d love to see the ratings for the shows during BBC America’s big sci-fi week last week (Torchwood: Children of Earth each weeknight at 9pm, the Being Human premiere on Saturday at 9pm and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead on Sunday at 8pm). How high was BBCA’s primetime average for the week?
While the launch of BBC America HD was a bust (no providers carried it, so no one got to see Torchwood in HD), I know Torchwood had about 1.4 million viewers on “regular” BBC America for Day One of the miniseries. I wonder if it held the audience through the week?
What are the numbers for ECW, Superstars and Impact?
Thanks!
And i forgotten about Warehouse. What Warehouse did last week?
Thanks!
@Charles:
CI did a “crossover” episode between the two teams where Eames and Nichols worked together. Total ratings stunt, but it clearly worked.
I agree with UKTVFan, the numbers for Torchwood: Children of Earth and the Doctor Who special would be great, please!
Could you post #s for the True Jackson hour-long episode on Saturday, July 25 at 8pm on Nickelodeon. Thanks!
Any word on the latest HUNG numbers?
I would like the numbers for the T.O. Show. Thanks.
@Kara:
Thanks! I don’t follow CI too closely, but apparently 4 million others do! I wonder how far it’ll drop next week?
My Comcast package does not allow me to watch BBC America. However, I was able to catch BBC America’s Torchwood: Children of the Earth through the on-demand
feature. It was truly an amazing miniseries. Count me in as one of those that would love to see the numbers for the 5 part series, if possible.
Secret Life of the American Teenager??
Army Wives??
THANKS!!
Hi, thanks for all the data !
Do you have the numbers for :
- Army Wives (Lifetime, sunday)
- Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime, sunday)
- Eureka (Syfy, friday)
- Raising The Bar (TNT, monday)
- Saving Grace (TNT, tuesday)
Thank you very much
!
Actually, the CI crossover was not just a “Stunt” – it was bred out of necessity, as Julienne Nicholson is pregnant and taking time off for mat leave. Instead of casting another temp (because we all know how well Alicia Witt did last time… NOT!), CI’s PtB decided this time around Eames will team up with Nichols until Nicholson / Wheeler is back.
I would like to know what Torchwood and Doctor Who did on BBC America too.
Law and Order: CI and In Plain Sight are proving to a solid pair, USA would be mad not to renew them. The Closer although not as high as it once was is proving to be solid although I can’t say the same for Raising the Bar which continues to lose 50-60% of its lead in.
Any reason why SVU rated so highly before CI? Was it a new to USA episode?
Jon, it could have been the first time shown on USA. It was preceded on USA by another L&O:SVU episode.
Could you post the info for Warehouse 13 and Eureka, if you please?
Bill, I think that is the most likely reason, don’t new to USA episodes of NCIS and House rate highly as NCIS hit 5m this week with what I presume is a new to USA episode.
I imagine The Mentalist and NCIS: Los Angeles sydicated episodes will be sought after by USA and other cable networks when they become available.
Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva, pretty please??
Saving Grace?
Army Wives?
Raising the Bar?
Drop Dead Diva?
- Real World XXII
- Real World XXII Aftershow
- Daisy of Love Finale
- Charm School 3 Finale
I’m pretty certian that might be a season high for CI.
Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List
Top Chef Masters
QUOTE: “What are the ratings of THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER, MAKE IT OR BREAK IT, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU that air on ABC Family?” END QUOTE
10 Things went back up to 1.6 million this week.
I would like to see numbers for
Hawthorne
Warehouse 13
How about Iron Man: Armored Adventures, 7PM, Friday 6/20 on Nicktoons.
Hawthorne was 3.21 million
So, Raw, the 3 big summer dramas, and a kid show w/5+ mil. I’m mildly curious why it’s Wizards.
Well, maybe True Blood isn’t in the top 20 because its #’s don’t merit it. The Amazingly Rated season premiere, for example, had 3.7 mil, which would put it just below this week’s top 20.
Twin Peaks/Media Fan, the next time you spam the comments complaining about True Blood ratings I will block you.
J, True Blood numbers are not out until tonight. Unless we had an audience drop (unlikely), we’ll make the top 20. Last episode had 3.85 million, and the show is trending up.
And I second the Being Human request.
Although like Bill said, TB’s not advertising supported. (So the FCC can’t touch the content.)
An edit button would come in handy.
J, the Wizards episode Friday night was a vampire-themed crossover episode, so it got the “Twilight bump.”
Individual show requests are now closed!
These numbers are all average viewership (live+SD) for the top airing of the week for each show. In order of request.
Daisy of Love 2.584m
Hawthorne 3.212m
Leverage 3.045m
THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER 3.022m
MAKE IT OR BREAK IT 1.894m
10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU 1.589m
Dark Blue 2.885m
Torchwood: Children of Earth 0.847m
Being Human 0.419m
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead 0.657m
ECW 1.598m
WWE Superstars 0.886m
TNA Impact 1.774m
Warehouse 13 2.869m
True Jackson VP Movie 3.003m
T.O. Show 1.216m
Army Wives 3.805m (Inadvertently left off the top 20 list, it tied with Sonny for #20, but LIFE followed DSNY alphabetically!)
Drop Dead Diva 2.795m
Eureka 2.410m
Raising The Bar 3.202 m
Saving Grace 3.054m
Real World XXII 1.785m
Real World XXII Aftershow 1.264m
Charm School 3 1.095m
Iron Man: Armored Adventures 0.320m
Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List 0.755m
Top Chef Masters 1.552m
I would like to know how leverage did last week.
Thanks, you answered my question while I was typing it.
Torchwood: Children of Earth 0.847m
that’s the average for all five days?? they aired five episodes in a week.
That is the top torchwood episode of the week. I’m not searching for 5 episodes and averaging. Too much trouble!
That Charm School total has to be from last week which was the clip show. The finale aired last night.
Thanks, Bill.
Drew, sadly, Wordpress doesn’t allow unregistered commenters to edit comments. In the grand scheme of things letting people comment unregistered is better than having an edit option.
Cruncher, thanks for the heads up, removed the word “Finale”.
Thanks much, Bill!
“Being Human 0.419 million”
Hmm, right at the network average of 0.411 million. Shoot, I liked it. Let’s see what it does next week.
Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List
Top Chef Masters PLEASE
Yes but registering users would keep that crazy True Blood fan at bay wouldn’t it? He seems to be off his rocker for that show.
sam, sorry missed those first go round. Added to the list.
thanks bill!
James, he is one more spammy comment from blocking. I don’t need registration to accomplish that.
Torchwood did very well as did Being Human although Doctor Who was lower than what it got on Syfy but I think and correct me if I’m wrong that BBC America is not in many homes in comparison to Syfy, AMC etc
Saving Grace and Dark Blue did good keeping the majority of its lead ins, TNT is doing okay but I think one or two shows will be axed.
Latest cable coverage numbers we have:
BBC America 62.6 million HHs
Syfy 94.7 million HHs
For the first time I can recall, a claim of “but the coverage of this cable network is much lower” was actually significant!
My goodness Bill. These people sure do want, want, want. I can’t believe you put up with this. The service you offer here is amazing and people shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. As far as I’m concerned, this is the best website for television ratings. No other site, that I am aware of, posts HH numbers, share numbers and the total viewers. I mean some of the shows people are requesting are not even worth researching (i.e. Real World, Charm School).
Anyways, thank you tvbythenumbers.com for providing a wonderful service to everyone, even if some people don’t appreciate it.
Huddy, I won’t be putting up with it next week. You can count on it
!
huddy….i completely agree thanks so much you guys!!!
Good to see Saving Grace doing more than 3 million. I think it will stay on… Raising the Bar or Dark Blue will probably be the show canceled if TNT has to cancel something.
Royal Pains, Warehouse 13 are both doing well. I think Leverage could do better though. It’s a really good show.
I hope Leverage is able to inch up in ratings. Raising the Bar should be cancelled; 48% retention is awful.
good bye Raising The Bar!!
‘Law Office’ shows seem to be out of popular fashion right now…I wonder why that is? (Not enough vampires?)
I realy hope Dark Blue gets some better ratings it have kinda been falling latley its pretty much the only crime show other then criminal minds that i like
Seriously, am I one of the few commentators ticked off about all of this? There should be like a “1 show per person” or “only shows requested by more than 5 people”. This is really getting insane and people should not think of this as a weekly thing.
- LOOK UP THE NUMBERS YOURSELVES, SOME ARE OUT THERE.
- USE DEDUCTIVE REASONING, IF YOUR SHOW ISN’T IN THE TOP 20, IT HAS LESS THAN THE 20TH’S SHOW VIEWER NUMBERS.
- NOT ALL SHOWS ARE IMPORTANT TO EVEN REPORT NUMBERS ON
- SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU, DON’T RUN AWAY AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR NUMBERS.
The “queue up the a la carte requests, then do them all at once” process really doesn’t cause me problems. Spammy chuckleheads asking mulitple times about non-existent ratings for the exact same shows are more annoying to me (MediaFan/Twin Peaks, and now Twin Peaks fakers!).
However, the top cable show post has historically been Robert’s domain, and today was my last one while he was off for the month of July. He returns on Friday. Be prepared for the rules to change.
I apologize for doing that last week.
Seriously, I agree with Huddy. This is a great site…but many there are some pushy pushy folks here…who go way too nuts for their shows! Patience is a virtue. And would it kill people to say please and thank you?
so are you posting another list because i would also like to see Top Chef Masters and Kathy Griffin….THANKS love the site!
When I was in high school we had an assembly and where the message was…
“No One Wins When You Choose To Drink And Drive”
I’d believed that for over a decade but I think it’s been debunked at this point. In some cases, as it turns out, USA Network wins.
BBC America 62.6 million HHs
Syfy 94.7 million HHs
Wow, I’d say that could make a serious dent in the show’s ratings.
I’m a bit surprised Leverage isn’t doing better. It is getting more viewers than during the regular season against heavier competition, but not many. With most of it’s shows getting similar ratings, it will be interesting to see what TNT does come renewal time.
Bill/Robert,
Do you know or have you heard any word as to when USA might announce if they are renewing In Plain Sight/LO:CI? Just curious.
Cable announcements are not neatly grouped together into a convenient (mostly) one week period like broadcast. It could be just about any time. Absent something really wacky with the producers or the casts, I wouldn’t worry about either of those shows.
You know, it would be interesting if you or Robert could take a screen shot of the spreadsheet with all the cable ratings. I assume it is a spreadsheet. It doesn’t even have to be readable; I’d just like to see what it looks like.
Do u have the ratings for every cable show from 2002 ?
Doghouse, there’s really mot much more to it than what you wind up seeing here (other than there being a lot more rows!). There is an additional column that specifies duration and a lot of columns about P2+ ratings and shares that are fairly meaningless to include since we include viewer numbers. Since the P2+ ratings are not commonly used anywhere else for anything even if we didn’t have space limitations on our site, it would wind up simply confusing most people and require a ton of explanation for data that wouldn’t be of much use to fans. So, it’s not worth including them.
The one number we don’t include that I do find interesting is the P2+ PUT % (percentage of people age 2+ who are watching TV).
Keeping in mind that it’s summer, last week for Sun-Thur primetime it was still generally between 35%-40% of the population watching TV at any given time during prime time. Even in the wee hours of the morning, 7%-10% of the nation is still watching tube.
romo, not even close. We have weekly data for a handful of cable shows for about 2 years, and fairly comprehensive weekly lists for less than one year.
Thanks, Bill!
History has been made as The Closer was finally dethroned by another original scripted series. GO BURN NOTICE GO!
Nothing wanted by me except?
To say THANK for a GREAT site, I really enjoy and appreciate your GREAT WORK site and the work you do.
History’s been made? Burn Notice topped Closer last week (though both were topped by an original scripted crossover on Disney last week). And Closer I don’t think has been on long enough that a show getting better #’s is historical.
Burn Notice has become a hot hit for USA and with Monk ending, I think USA are still in prime position with their shows doing 4-6m and with upcoming shows like White Collar and possibly Covert Affairs, they will number 1 for a while.
I hear that Monk is going to run through its 16 episodes rather than split the season which makes me wonder whether White Collar is going to be given a lead in from Monk.
Looks like Hawthorne has locked into consitant numbers each week. Unless the main star is asking for more money than the net is willing to shell out it should be a no brainer to renew it soon.
Does TNT have a particular day that they have to decide on renewals? They are airing all of their originals this summer… do they have ANY new programs slated for fall?
ROYAL PAINS AND BURN NOTICE HAVE BEEN RENEWED!
I’m surprised that Raising the Bar is doing so poorly this season because it did so well last season, must be the Sophmore Slump. I Love the show and hope it stays on but those numbers are not good
Leverage will get a bump when Jeri Ryan joins the show to replace the pregnant Gina Bellman for a while.
Actually Tom, Raising the Bar did not do well last season. It premiered well behind the Closer, but after the Closer was off lost many millions of viewers. I believe it was averaging between 2-3 million last season.
I just wanna echo the statement of the other readers, thank you for this awesome website, a heaven for ratings geeks like me
Holly hunter and the cast of Saving Grace have been doing lots of press this season. That show deserves a 4th season… I bet if it was after the Closer it would retain more of the audience than Raising the Bar does
Saving Grace does not deserve to go back behind The Closer. It’s time for the show to stand on its own feet. Leverage (or HawtoRNe) never got The Closer to help them, and they are doing fine. TNT just has to put another show behind it.
According to TravisYanan on MediaWeek, True Blood did score 4 million viewers:
“Sunday original finals (will add network viewer numbers when I get them)
True Blood (9:03pm, 50 minutes)
- 4.0 million viewers
- 2.4/4 HH
- 2.0/6 A18-49″
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/387104922/p/5
Gosh, the top cable shows this summer’s demo #’s are much more impressive than the nets’ (I like to directly compare by doubling the cable #’s.).
Esp since the 18-49 demo seems to be well over half the total viewers.
j, where are you getting your 18-49 numbers for cable shows?
j appears to be getting numbers from an alternate universe where 2.5 million 18-49 out of 6.8 million viewers is more than half! In that universe even I might want to be a PR person!
Perhaps j is comparing the HH number to the 18-49 number and doesn’t realize there is not a direct 1-to-1 correlation?
I think what J is saying is that he likes to “double the cable numbers” to compare them to networks. So I BELIEVE he is saying that if Burn Notice getting 2.5 million 18-49 is like getting 5 million on a broadcast net.
James, that doesn’t resolve his second post stating “Esp since the 18-49 demo seems to be well over half the total viewers.”
You’re right. Perhaps just poor at arithmetic.
I don’t even think Bill and Bill like me much, but i’l l still go to bat for them:they are being inundated with demands for the impossible. Everybody wants the numbers for 18-35 and even 18-49 on basic cable. Its a needle in a haystack and it is not their fault. Maybe its Dodge City on laymenwoman basic cable ratings ,but it is what it is and thats the way it is to quote the late dead Cronkite or Robin Willians.
I was talking about True Blood. It has 4 million viewers. A 2.0 in18-49 is more than 2 million 18-49 viewers, yes? Unless the # of 18-49′ers has dropped, like, more than 25% in the last month. I would’ve edited, but we can’t. I thought people would get it and I didn’t want to triplet post.
j, gotcha, now I understand you were writing about True Blood in particular, even though you referred to “the top cable shows this summer” which people might reasonably infer from being in this post to be shows like Burn Notice, The Closer, Royal Pains, etc.
For True Blood’s audience, since 1 rating point for adults 18-49 = 1.32 million viewers, True Blood’s 2.0 would equal 2.64 million adults and that would be > 50% of the entire viewership of 4 million.
But the biggest cable shows like Burn Notice, The Closer, Royal Pains don’t have that high a % of 18-49 year old viewers.
Off the wall, probably, but does anyone know why USA won’t take a risk and go for the 18-35 or 18- 49 audience bigtime, with an innovative reality/game/talent show,or anything more “characters wanted ” than dowdy old Monk or Miami Vice wannabees? ( Psych,by the way ,is my dead grandmothers’ idea of comedy. Any defenders of that painfully supid show?)
I personally like Psych. I think it’s funny and the characters have great chemistry. It’s a bit formulaic–but let’s face it, every USA show is formulaic. It’s like CBS, just a little more creative with the crime genre.
And I don’t think a network like USA has much to gain from a reality or game show.
@jay
I think the reason why they don’t go for the reality/game/talent format is because they know that those shows do nothing but contribute to the idiocracy of the world. They tried it with Nashville Star and it failed. While shows like Burn Notice or Psych may not be “exceptional” programing, they are a hell of a lot smarter and much more entertaining than the crap that other networks turn out.
Law and Order CI will surely be renewed if the final 2 episodes of the season are in the 4 million range of viewers I think.
hopefully they’ll renew it sooner than that.
You can say that again Jeffrey lol…. awesome! I’m so proud that the show has pick up another 4 season glad things are turning around for U so proud of Your work. hope one day that U will host SNL Live I love that show, & get to meet U & the case in person one day soon I miss U last year in Chicago. 1# cable Huggs.
Thank you very much for posting the Top 20, and for reporting the numbers on shows outside the Top 20 that many of us enjoy. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Warehouse 13, for example, and have never missed an episode of Burn Notice, Leverage, L&O:CI or In Plain Sight. For those of us who enjoy scripted hour-long dramas, the cable networks are now the place to be.
I would be interested to find out who the people are that are polled in these ratings. I and no one like me, has ever been polled and I would not be surprised if the polls are done in a certain culture and for certain people and not others. That would complete skew the results in a way that would not fairly represent the entirety of the the American TV viewers and what we do and do not watch.
Dena, Nielsen attempts to create its total sample (demographics — age, gender, race, income, geography) to capture the entirity of American TV viewers based on the makeup of the entire population.
You can find out more about their sampling processes by digging around at Nielsen.com, but they deliberately don’t make you aware of anyone who has been polled and Nielsen families are instructed not to divulge that fact to anyone so they won’t be unduly influenced.
Are there numbers for the latest “Ruby and The Rockits” episode on ABC Family. Thank you.