THE SKED: Cable Ratings August 2-8

An interesting week on cable.  MTV's Jersey Shore rocketed to a 4.3 18-49 rating in its season premiere, with a repeat of the same episode immediately following registering an impressive 1.8 rating.  A Friday program made our list this week (Disney Channel's premiere of a Phineas & Ferb animated movie).  The 1.3 rating with young adults is fairly impressive for a Friday night, but note that the movie drew over 7.6 million viewers.  A high proportion of them were under 18; in fact, in the core Kids 6-11 demo, the movie averaged a 13.8 rating.  Now that's a demographic bulls eye.


On the scripted front, the season finale of Falling Skies on TNT scored a very good 1.9 young adult rating, while USA's Royal Pains did a 1.7.  Most of the other dramas are at the 1.3 rating level.  Speaking of 1.3, we have expanded our weekly cable ranking to that level to expand the variety of shows and increase the amount of information.

In sports, NASCAR and WWE wrestling make their usual appearances on the list, while ESPN Sunday Night Baseball made an appearance thanks to the Yankees-Red Sox match-up.  Baseball usually just misses the ranking, but a marquee team or two always makes a difference.