An expanding array of original cable series continued to fuel interest among viewers last year, but big growth for top cable networks is getting harder to come by.  'Pawn Stars': Austin "Chumlee" Russell, left, Richard Harrison, Rick Harrison and Corey Harrison helped History's ratings climb 18% over last year.  'Pawn Stars': Austin "Chumlee" Russell, left, Richard Harrison, Rick Harrison and Corey Harrison helped History's ratings climb 18% over last year.  Final ratings for 2011, out this week, reveal that No. 1, USA Network, held steady, and most other top networks had modest gains or losses. Exceptions: History, which climbed 18% in 2011, knocking Fox News out of cable's top five, with three series —Pawn Stars, American Pickers and Swamp People— ranking among cable's top 20 originals; and FX, up 19%, helped by a better mix of movies and repeats, Sons of Anarchy and American Horror Story.  Among young adults, MTV ranked among the biggest gainers, rising 21% in prime time thanks to two huge series. "The driving engines are Jersey Shore and Teen Mom," says MTV research chief Nick Shore. Jersey (returning Thursday, 10 ET/PT) was again the top-rated cable series, averaging 9.3 million viewers (6.6 million young adults), enough to easily beat many broadcast shows. "But really, over the last two to three years, we've been in a reinvention mode," he says, diversifying with scripted series, some working (Awkward), some not (Skins).  Smaller networks with outsized percentage gains include Investigation Discovery (up 48%), BBC America, IFC, Nat Geo Wild and Hallmark Movie Channel; big decliners include Teen Nick, ESPN2 and G4.  Still-dominant Fox News fell 5% in prime time, even as MSNBC (+3% without former star Keith Olbermann) and third-place CNN (+15% from 2010 lows) grew in prime time. Among women 18 to 49, TLC overtook Lifetime, which is still struggling to find traction, although Bravo beat both. The Oprah Winfrey Network, in its first year, managed only to remain flat vs. predecessor Discovery Health, a big disappointment.  And on an all-day basis, when both compete head to head, Disney Channel overtook Nickelodeon among kids 6 to 11 for the first time. "The Nick decline is a concern because they had been the dominant player," says Lloyd Schwartz of ad firm GroupM. (Disney's gains don't help ad buyers because it doesn't air traditional commercials.)  Top cable shows - Average viewers (millions)Jersey Shore (MTV) 9.3The Walking Dead (AMC) 8.9Rizzoli & Isles (TNT) 8.1The Closer (TNT) 8.1Pawn Stars (History) 7.0  Source: Nielsen Co.; prime-time series, excluding sports  , visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to  USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the
While most cable networks, including No. 1 USA, saw modest gains or losses, History spiked 18% and FX 19%.