Bowl Games, iCarly and WWE Raw lead weekly cable viewing; Nostradamus no match for SpongeBob

Not the most interesting week of cable viewing, and then #13 Oklahoma State being upset by Oregon in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl led all cable airings averaging 6.22 million viewers. iCarly, WWE Raw and LSU's 38-3 beatdown of Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl rounded out the top five. True Jackson VP on Saturday night and an hour of SpongeBob on Sunday scored well for Nickelodeon, and NCIS continues to perform well on USA.

Leverage fans - the show is well off its premiere numbers, but still managed 3.772 million last Tuesday to rank 19th for the week. A rare appearance by the History Channel in the top 20, but it's Armageddon Week on History (I am not making this up!) and the two hour Nostradamus: 2012 documentary ranked 15th, averaging 3.877 million during its initial airing on Sunday. It airs again this Thursday (1/8) at 8pm if you missed it and would rather watch tales of our impending doom than the BCS Championship game. Here's History's description of the documentary:

Nostradamus: 2012

In 2012, a rare and possibly Earth-shattering astrological alignment is due to occur that will precipitate a cataclysmic event. Whatever is in store--a massive cosmic collision, a global environmental disaster, an Armageddon-like religious showdown, or a more subtle transformation--there have been multiple predictions from different times and cultures that December 21, 2012 will mark a major shift in the history of our planet. This explosive two-hour special seeks answers to key critical questions that may loom in just four years: Is there any modern scientific proof that such an alignment will indeed happen? Is any other compelling evidence throughout history that 2012 will be a year of unprecedented, even deadly, upheaval? We'll look for the parallels between the nightmarish daily headlines and the 2012 prophecies from Nostradamus and others. CC HD [TVPG]

SciFi fans, I didn't mean to forget about you, it's just that I wound up watching the two final episodes of Stargate Atlantis before they'd ever aired, and then promptly forgot (no spoilers, but I enjoyed the finale which airs this Friday -- and the very final scene was awesome for me as it involves my favorite city!). Anyway, the penultimate Stargate Atlantis pulled 1.743 million on Friday, and Sanctuary drew 1.85 million.

MTV's spin-off of The Hills, The City drew 1.6 million in its initial airing on 12/29 at 10pm and 1.545 million at 10:30pm. The Hills had been waning, but The City drew significantly less than the 2.6ish million The Hills averaged for its most recent season.

Full Top 20 Cable Results for the week ending 01/04/2009:

Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved