Most talk shows take a tumble in the first week of the Sochi games, with a number of shows deciding not to count the week. Judge Judy remains in the overall No. 1 spot, with Live with Kelly and Michael and Dr. Phil tying for top honors among the chat fests.
WEEKLY SYNDICATION RATINGS ROUNDUP
Syndies Take A Beating From Olympics
The Winter Olympics severely disrupted syndication in the week ending Feb. 16, helping a few shows, but hurting many others and completely preempting some syndies on NBC affiliates. In fact, several shows elected to not count their ratings for the week at all (they are indicated in the chart below as “N/A”).
On the positive side, Access Hollywood, which profiled many of the athletes and covered breaking Olympics news, scored its highest ratings in two years and surged 22% from last year at this time. Access Hollywood Live also came up big, improving 25% from last year in the metered markets. And Arsenio jumped 14% and posted its best ratings in 20 weeks despite airing up against the games.
On the other hand, not a single daytime talk show was up from the week before. Season-to-date talk leader Dr. Phil, which was bumped from its regular time slot or totally preempted 83 times in the metered markets alone during the week, lost 24% of its ratings and landed in a first-place tie with Live with Kelly and Michael, the No. 2 talker this season.
Live was also preempted in numerous markets, although mainly by weather-related special programming, and slipped 14% week to week, but still grew 19% from last year, the second largest year-to-year improvement of any talk show.
Further down the list, Wendy Williams was up 23% from last year, although off 6% from the prior week.
Elsewhere in first run, Judge Judy was the highest rated show in syndication for the 23rd time in the past 25 weeks, despite competing with the Sochi games and being preempted 58 times in the metered markets. Week to week, Judy slipped 12% to a 7.6, but was still up 3% from last year at this time.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
In off-net, newcomer Community grew 25% from the prior session and matched its season high while Modern Family continued to lead the rookies, although slipping 10%.
The week’s top nationally rated daytime talk shows in the women 25-54 demo were:
- Dr. Phil (1.7, down 26% from the week before)
- Live with Kelly and Michael (1.6, -16%)
- Maury (1.4, -13%)
- Wendy Williams (1.3, unchanged)
- Steve Wilkos (1.1, unchanged)
In the household rating rankings that follow, % change is from the previous week; * indicates a new season high rating; ** indicates a new season low; NC indicates no change from the previous week; NA mean not applicable.
TALK SHOWS
1. Dr. Phil (CTD) 3.1 -24%
1. Live with Kelly and Michael (Disney-ABC) 3.1 -14%
3. Maury (NBCU) 2.2 -4%
4. Wendy Williams (Debmar-Mercury) 1.6 -6%
5. Rachael Ray (CTD) 1.5 -12%
5. Steve Wilkos (NBCU) 1.5 -6%
7. Jerry Springer (NBCU) 1.3 -7%
8. The Doctors (CTD) 1.2 -14%
9. Bethenny (WBDTD) 0.9 -10%
10. Arsenio (CTD) 0.8 +14%
11. The Test (CTD) 0.7 NC
12. Trisha (NBCU) 0.6 -14%
13. The Better Show (Meredith) 0.2 NC
14. Ellen (WBDTD) N/A
15. Dr. Oz (Sony) N/A
16. Steve Harvey (NBCU) N/A
17. Katie (Disney-ABC) N/A
18. Queen Latifah (Sony) N/A
FRESHMEN TALKERS
1. Bethenny (WBDTD) 0.9 -10%
2. Arsenio (CTD) 0.8 +14%
3. The Test (CTD) 0.7 NC
4. Queen Latifah (Sony) N/A
COURT SHOWS
1. Judge Judy (CTD) 7.6 -12%
2. People’s Court (WBDTD) 2.0 -5%
3. Divorce Court (Twentieth) 1.8 NC
3. Judge Alex (Twentieth) 1.8 NC
3. Judge Mathis (WBDTD) 1.8 +6%
6. Paternity Court (Orion Television) 1.1 -8%
MAGAZINE SHOWS
1. Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 3.5 -15%
2. Inside Edition (CTD) 2.8 -20%
3. Access Hollywood (NBCU) 2.2* +5%
4. TMZ (WBDTD) 2.1 NC
5. The Insider (CTD) 1.3 -13%
6. Right This Minute (MGM) 1.2 +9%
7. Dish Nation (Twentieth) 1.1 NC
8. America Now (Trifecta) 0.4 NC
9. OK! TV (Trifecta) 0.2 -33%
10. Extra (WBDTD) N/A
GAME SHOWS
1. Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 7.2 -5%
2. Jeopardy (CTD) 6.7 -8%
3. Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury) 5.7 -5%
4. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) 2.2 -8%
OFF-NET SITCOMS
1. Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 6.4 -9%
2. Modern Family (Twentieth) 4.7 -10%
3. Two and a Half Men (WBDTD) 3.9 -3%
4. Family Guy (Twentieth) 2.9 -6%
5. How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth) 2.3 NC
6. Friends (WBDTD) 1.9 NC
6. The Cleveland Show (Twentieth) 1.9 NC
6. Seinfeld (Sony) 1.9 NC
9. Rules of Engagement (Sony) 1.7 NC
10. King of the Hill (Twentieth) 1.6 NC
11. The Middle (WBDTD) 1.5 -6%
12. Community (Sony) 0.5 +25%
OFF-NET WEEKLY HOURS
1. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBCU) 4.3 +8%
2. Law & Order: SVU (NBCU) 3.8 -10%
3. House (NBCU) 2.8 -26%
4. Criminal Minds (CTD) 2.4 NC
5. Castle (Disney-ABC) 2.2 +5%
6. CSI: Miami (CTD) 1.9 NC
Comments (0)