THE tween TV wars went nuclear last week, with a “High School Musical 2“-powered Disney Channel pouring cold water all over arch-rival Nickelodeon.
For the first time in memory, one single network managed to snare nine out of 10 of the most-watched shows on cable last week. The only non-Disney program to sneak onto the Nielsen list was an episode of TNT’s “The Closer.”
With more than 17 million viewers, the premiere of “HSM2” became the most-watched basic cable program in history, drawing ratings similar to that of first-run episodes of “CSI” or “American Idol.”
Typically, the top 10 cable list includes several mentions of Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” a pro-wrestling show and ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.”
This time, the list was topped by “HSM2” and featured three editions (including repeats) of “Hannah Montana” – at No. 2 with more than 10 million viewers. The list also included “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.”
Here’s the list:
1. “High School Musical,” 17.2 million
2. “Hannah Montana,” 10.7 million
3. “The Closer,” 7.4 million
4. “Hannah Montana” (repeat), 8.05 million
5. “The Suite Life of Zach & Cody,” 8.01 million
6. “HSM2” (repeat), 8.4 million
7. “HSM2” (repeat), 7.5 million
8. “High School Musical” (the original movie), 6 million
9. “The Suite Life of Zach & Cody” (repeat), 5.8 million
10. “Hannah Montana” (repeat), 5.4 million