AMC's Walking Dead and MTV's Jersey Shore remain at the top of the cable ratings chart this week, although both are down a few tenths from last week. Nevertheless, each program remains the top-rated program with young adults in their respective time periods, beating all broadcast and cable competition. Sunday at 9:00: #1 Walking Dead (3.5), #2 Once Upon a Time (3.4). Thursday at 10:00: #1 Jersey Shore (2.7), #2 Awake (2.0).
Click "read more" to see the updated cable chart.
The top two programs on cable this week aired on Sunday against the not-what-it-used-to-be but still very big Academy Awards on ABC. Most notable was Walking Dead on AMC at 9:00 pm, just when the awards ceremony was getting rolling. Facing the huge entertainment special, Walking Dead actually was up over last week, from a 3.6 to a 3.8 rating this week with Adults 18-49. The zombie drama scored a very credible second place to the Oscars (11.7) and far ahead of NBC's Celebrity Apprentice original episode (1.8), FOX's Family Guy repeat (1.6) and CBS's Mentalist repeat (0.9).
Earlier in the evening, the NBA All-Star Game faced off mostly against the Red Carpet arrivals shows on ABC and E!. The offense-heavy game (final score 152-149) scored a 3.3 rating from 7:16 pm on, ahead of the first half hour of ABC's Red Carpet arrivals (2.8 from 7:00-7:30) but falling to a solid second place to ABC's 7:30 (4.0) and 8:00 (6.2) Red Carpet half hours. The 7:30 portion of the Red Carpet arrivals on E! peaked at a 1.5 rating, a very good number for the second-tier cable network but nothing close to what ABC was able to deliver at the same time.
Personally, I never understood why broadcast networks, which pay huge license fees to the movie, music and TV academies (as well as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), don't demand exclusive rights to broadcast live from the Red Carpet. Yes, it's only a 1.5 rating that E! is delivering, but most of that rating could be added directly to the network's own arrival show. Of course, Comcast owns both NBC and E! -- so let's put the Golden Globes aside because there is a corporate interest to allow E! at the Beverly Hilton. But for what ABC pays the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, they should own the event entirely. If E! wants a live camera, let them set up on a public sidewalk on the other side of Hollywood Blvd.
Jersey Shore has bottomed out a 2.9 rating Thursday at 10, still enough to make it #1 in the time period this week (ahead of the 2.6 for The Mentalist on CBS). The 2.0 for Gold Rush on Discovery Friday at 9 pm also puts it comfortably in first place in that hour, ahead of second place Grimm on NBC (1.5). As we move down the list, the numbers start to fall behind the broadcast competition. For example, Pawn Stars on History (1.8 Monday at 10:00 and 1.9 at 10:30) falls just behind ABC's Castle (2.1) for fifth place in the hour.
AMC's Walking Dead remains the top-rated cable program with Adults 18-49 this past week, settling down from its lofty season premiere rating the week before. Jersey Shore on MTV also drifted down (losing a tenth of a rating point to a 2.9), and Teen Mom 2 (also on MTV) tumbled half a rating point to a 2.0. Still good numbers, but like the broadcast competition, even top shows are eroding this mid-season at an alarming rate, well before the more expected swoon when the weather warms up and Daylight Saving Time hits.
Click "read more" to see the updated weekly cable chart.
AMC's Walking Dead is the new king of the weekly cable ratings chart, with a terrific 4.2 Adult 18-49 rating for Sunday's season premiere. Read more on the Walking Dead premiere here. The rest of the top-rated cable programs are pretty much unchanged. While Jersey Shore continues its downward trend, the other MTV hit, Teen Mom 2, ticked up nicely. Pawn Stars (History) and Gold Rush (Discovery) continue to deliver their reliably solid audience levels.
Also, new to the chart is History's Swamp People. While a 1.9 rating is very solid for a cable show, I'm not sure it justifies advertisement in the Super Bowl. Click "read more" for the complete chart.
Not much change at the top of the weekly cable ratings chart, with Jersey Shore, Pawn Stars and Teen Mom 2 leading the pack. However, all three shows were down from recent highs as we enter the February sweep and these shows face nothing but original episodes on the broadcast networks.
Tosh.0 returned to Comedy Central for another burst of original episodes and score a very good 1.9 rating with young adults. As it hits all-time series highs on CBS Thursd, Big Bang Theory is also performing extremely well for TBS in the 10 pm hour weeknights.
Taste, elegance and intelligence tops the weekly cable programming chart. The parade starts with the young adults of Jersey Shore, moves across the Hudson River as Kourtney & Kim Take New York, touches the LA area with Pawn Stars, and one it goes through Teen Mom, WWE wrestling, Real Housewives, etc. It's not the classiest bunch of programs, but it is what viewers are choosing to distract themselves from the real world.
Full chart available by clicking "read more".
Updated weekly cable rating chart below. More of the same, fine shows such as Jersey Shore and Pawn Stars and Storage Wars top the list.
Most shows that are highly rated on cable are found in the 10 pm hour, but it is interesting to note the success ABC Family has in the 8 pm hour on Monday. Pretty Little Liars has built to a 1.4 rating with Adults 18-49 (with most of that rating concentrated with females under 35).
Complete chart after the jump.
With the NFL and college football bowl games off cable for the season, Jersey Shore has returned to its usual spot atop the weekly cable program ratings chart. Not far behind at an impressive 2.8 rating with Adults 18-49 is BET's The Game. Both numbers are what most broadcast network programs at 10 pm can only dream about these days. At 11 pm on Tuesday after The Game, Let's Stay Together also delivers a fairly impressive 1.9 rating, creating a very solid block for BET.
Pawn Stars on History Mondays is incredibly consistent -- a 2.4 rating for three straight weeks at 10:30 pm.
Finishing just below the chart's 1.0 young adult rating cutoff, Monday's Presidential Debate on FOX News at 9 pm averaged a 0.9 18-49 rating and a very old-skewing 5.5 million viewers 2+. At the other end of the age spectrum, iCarly on Nick at 7:30 pm (also on Monday) also averaged a 0.9 with a very kid-skewing 4.3 million viewers 2+. First Lady Michelle Obama appeared in the episode as herself.
ESPN's coverage of the BCS National Championship for college football Monday tops the cable ratings chart for the week of January 3-9. This year's 8.7 rating for the title game is down from a 10.1 last year -- not surprising because LSU was shut out.
MTV's Jersey Shore season premiere was the top entertainment program for the week, while Pawn Stars and Storage Wars continue to do well one notch below. The honors for the top scripted show goes to the finale of Disney Channel's Wizards of Waverly Place, scoring a 1.9 18-49 rating and almost 10 million viewers 2+ (especially good for a Friday night).
Weekly chart is available after the jump.
ESPN's Monday Night Football this week was down from a 6.9 to a 5.0 rating this week. Blame AFC teams and a lopsided score. Jersey Shore was down a tenth of a rating point and pushed into third place by a very good season premiere of Walking Dead on AMC. BET's Hip Hop Awards scored a 2.1 and edged the best baseball could do on cable this week, a 1.9 for Sunday's concluding Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. It's going to be a tough World Series for FOX.
Jersey Shore's reign at the top of the weekly cable chart is over. The NFL double-header on ESPN's Monday Night Football saw to that. The early game started at 7:00 ET and scored a 6.3 demo rating, down from last year's ESPN opener but still potent. The later game, featuring a late start time for the vast majority of the country (remember about 78% of the US population lives in the Eastern or Central time zone), included teams with less national appeal. 
With Jersey Shore in repeat Sunday and the Video Music Awards now a distant memory, MTV was less dominant this week among viewers under 50. However, MTV can take solace in a repeat Jersey Shore ranking fourth among all cable telecasts and Teen Mom almost hitting a 2.0 rating with the coveted Adult 18-49 group. The two-night season finale of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! also came close to the 2.0 rating level.
In addition to the tacky and trashy shows mentioned above, the trashy and junk-filled genre also did well: two Pawn Stars episodes almost tied for #1 on cable for the week and don't forget Storage Wars (back in originals this week), American Pickers and American Chopper. Well, at least True Blood, a quality scripted drama on a network available in a minority of homes, manages to hold on to the top spot.
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.