Ranking 25 Of Your Favorite Cable Shows Based On Their Nielsen Ratings

As we like to do every six or nine months here, we’ve ranked below the ratings for the 25 cable shows most frequently discussed around these parts. The rating numbers themselves don’t mean a ton. They do not include DVR viewership, nor re-airs, which typically bring in significantly more viewers on cable. The ranking is only meant to give you an idea of where certain cable series stand in relation to one another, and so that you can appropriately complain because most of your favorite cable shows are getting trounced by True Blood.

Ratings reflect either the most recent premiere episode, or the most recent finale episode, where available, to give you an idea of where the series stand on their better nights. As you can see, there’s a wide gap between the number one and number two show (and not listed in between them is actually The Talking Dead.) Given the amount of press it received, you may also be slightly surprised to see what is at the bottom of the list.

1. The Walking Dead — 15.6 million viewers

2. Game of Thrones — 6.64 million viewers

3. Sons of Anarchy — 5.2 million viewers

4. True Blood — 3.9 million viewers

5. True Detective — 3.5 million viewers

6. Vikings — 2.9 million viewers

7. Mad Men — 2.7 million viewers

8. Justified — 2.36 million viewers

9. Boardwalk Empire 2.1 million viewers

10. Silicon Valley – 1.98 million viewers

11. Shameless — 1.93 million viewers

12. Homeland — 1.85 million

13. Rick & Morty — 1.7 million viewers

14. The Newsroom — 1.6 million

15. The Killing — 1.5 million viewers

16. Helix — 1.3 million viewers

17. The Americans — 1.2 million viewers

18. Workaholics — 1.2 million viewers

19. Masters of Sex — 1.05 million viewers

20. Veep — 955,000 viewers

21. Archer — 918,000 viewers

22. Cougar Town — 868,000 viewers

23. The League — 786,000 viewers

24. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia — 757,000 viewers

25. Girls — 670,000 viewers

×