Last week's Monday night matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles set the viewing record for Monday Night Football since it moved to ESPN, and also was the most-viewed advertising cable supported program ever averaging 18.61 million viewers. It was a steep drop to the number two program, TNT's The Closer with 7.63 million viewers.
The Saturday NCAA football matchup between LSU and Auburn was next with 5.56 million for ESPN. Fox News channel had another strong week with two airings of Hannity & Colmes making the top ten and one airing at #34. The O'Reilly Factor captured the #12, 20, 26, 33 and 38 spots. And On The Record With Greta took the #25 and #32 spots.
The Burn Notice finale pulled 4.665 million and a sixth place finish while Army Wives had a strong showing with 4.37 million viewers for the #8 spot and TNT's new Raising the Bar, while well off its premiere numbers took the ninth spot with 4.21 million,
The best SpongeBob could muster this week was #11 but he placed another three airings in the top twenty and a total of nine airings in the top forty. Not in the top twenty list below or previously mentioned:
Monday Night Countdown (#27, 3.45 million), House (#28, 3.397 million), Back at the Barnyard (#29, 3.327 million) Fairly Odd Parents (Saturday, #30, 3.327 million), the FOP Movie, Fairly Odd Baby (also Saturday, #31, 3.320 million), Last Holiday on TNT (#36, 3.08 million), Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney (#37, 3.063 million) and Mighty B! on Nick (#39, 3.035 million).
Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 09/21/2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH Rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | NFL REGULAR SEASON L (EAGLES/COWBOYS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 11.3 | 18,608 |
| 2 | CLOSER, THE | TNT | MONDAY | 5.0 | 7,627 |
| 3 | COLL FTBALL-SAT PRIME L (LSU/AUBURN) | ESPN | SATURDAY | 3.5 | 5,562 |
| 4 | Hannity & COLMES | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 3.2 | 4,921 |
| 5 | NFL SPORTSCENTER L | ESPN | MONDAY | 3.1 | 4,759 |
| 6 | Burn Notice | USA | THURSDAY | 3.0 | 4,665 |
| 7 | Hannity & COLMES | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 3.1 | 4,589 |
| 8 | Army Wives | LIF | SUNDAY | 2.9 | 4,374 |
| 9 | RAISING THE BAR | TNT | MONDAY | 2.9 | 4,210 |
| 10 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.3 | 4,209 |
| 11 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 4,207 |
| 12 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 2.8 | 4,092 |
| 13 | WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE | DSNY | SUNDAY | 2.5 | 4,022 |
| 14 | COLL FTBALL-THUR NIGHT L (WEST VIRGINIA/COLORADO) | ESPN | THURSDAY | 2.7 | 4,018 |
| 15 | Project Runway | BRVO | WEDNESDAY | 2.6 | 3,989 |
| 16 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE Raw) | USA | MONDAY | 2.2 | 3,966 |
| 17 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,954 |
| 18 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,905 |
| 19 | SpongeBob | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.6 | 3,866 |
| 20 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 2.6 | 3,839 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved