-By Anthony Crupi

USA Network last week won the overall cable ratings crown, averaging 3.2 million viewers in prime time, but for the second consecutive week the general-entertainment channel couldn’t top ESPN among the core demos.

For the week ended Nov. 8, ESPN retained its hold on adults 25-54 (1.46 million), viewers 18-49 (1.47 million) and viewers 18-34 (709,000), as Monday Night Football helped fend off another USA challenge.

While ESPN once again walked away with the week’s most-watched program on cable, averaging 12.4 million viewers with the Nov. 2 Saints-Falcons NFL matchup, MNF took a hit from the World Series. Game 5 of the Yankees-Phillies tilt drew 17.1 million viewers to Fox, per Nielsen ratings data.

Faced with what would prove to be the most-watched World Series Game 5 since 2003, the Saints-Falcons game drew the second lowest-rated MNF telecast of the year. That said, MNF still accounted for the week’s biggest demo deliveries, serving up 6.77 million viewers 18-49 and 6.63 million adults 25-54.

USA saw a profound drop in interest with its newest original drama, White Collar, as episode three drew 3.85 million viewers Friday, Nov. 6, at 10 p.m. That delivery represents a decline of 24 percent from the prior-week average (5.08 million) and a 29 percent drop from the premiere episode, which drew 5.4 million viewers.

A week after drawing 1.63 million viewers 18-49, the third installment of White Collar failed to finish among the top 50 in the TV demo. Among adults 25-54, Friday’s Collar drew 1.39 million viewers, a drop of 24 percent from the prior week’s 1.82 million.

All told, USA was sustained by WWE Raw, Monk and NCIS repeats. On the week, USA averaged 1.33 million adults 25-54, 1.2 million viewers 18-49 and 532,000 18-34s, the latter delivery tying FX for third place among ad-supported cable nets. (TBS took second with 592,000.)

Fox News Channel retained third place, serving up 2.56 million total viewers, while moving up to sixth place among the core news demo with an average nightly draw of 695,000 adults 25-54. FNC boasted its biggest delivery with Thursday night’s O’Reilly Factor, which drew 4.96 million viewers in the wake of the Fort Hood killings.

TBS moved up to fourth place, drawing 1.77 million viewers, notching its best demo showing among viewers 18-49 (1.06 million).

Nick at Nite held onto fifth place (1.74 million viewers), thanks in large part to Friday night’s doubleheader of SpongeBob SquarePants and new series Fanboy & Chum Chum. The one-hour SpongeBob event (“Truth or Square”) scared up 7.66 million viewers Nov. 6 at 8 p.m., while lead-out Fanboy & Chum Chum drew 5.78 million.

The SpongeBob special was also TV’s most-watched program among kids 2-11 (4.4 million) and kids 6-11 (3 million).   

Last week’s top 10 ad-supported cable nets among the core TV demo were: ESPN, averaging 1.47 million viewers 18-49; USA (1.2 million); TBS (1.06 million); FX (950,000); TNT (772,000); Comedy Central (684,000); TLC (651,000); A&E (612,000); Syfy (590,000) and Discovery Channel (566,000).

The list of individual programs that drew the largest concentration of viewers 18-49 was a weird stew of sport, drama and unscripted curiosities. ESPN’s MNF drew 6.78 million members of the core TV demo, good for first place on the week. Next up was FX’ Sons of Anarchy, which drew 2.32 million viewers 18-49, edging TLC’s latest Gosselin spectacle, Kate: Her Story. The one-hour interview/tell-all (one wag dubbed it Kate Gosselin and the Chamber of Secrets) delivered 2.3 million viewers Monday at 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, USA’s WWE Raw took fourth among the demo (2.29 million 18-49s), followed in short order by: ESPN’s post-NFL SportsCenter (2.28 million); E!’s two-hour [!] Keeping Up with the Kardashians wedding special (2.19 million); Comedy Central’s South Park (1.99 million); Bravo’s The Real Housewives of the OC (1.98 million) and Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter (1.88 million).

Non-ad-supported Disney Channel slipped to a fourth-place finish among all basic-cable nets, averaging 2.5 million viewers. The Mouse dominated the youth demos, drawing 1.06 million kids 6-11, 1.39 million viewers 6-14 and 926,000 ‘tweens 9-14.