Ellen Says Goodbye With A Flourish

Ellen DeGeneres saved the best for last. Her eponymous talk show came to a glorious end after a 19-year run in the session ending May 29 as the sole syndicated show to hit a new season high. The final scorecard for the popular program, which has been honored with more than 60 Emmys, was an 18% increase from the prior week to a 1.3 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, Ellen’s biggest number of the year.

Over the previous two weeks, the show’s rating leapt 44% and it added an average 568,000 viewers each day. Ellen’s emotional farewell episode blew past everything in the category on May 26, climbing 64% from the previous Thursday to a monster 1.8.

For the week Live with Kelly and Ryan rose to the top of the talk shows with a 7% spike to a 1.6. Live hit it out of the park with a boffo 1.8 rating on May 23 thanks in part to a performance by Noah Thompson who had just won American Idol the night before.

Dr. Phil, which had led for the previous two sessions, went into repeats for part of the week and gave back 6% to a still-strong second-place 1.5.

The magazine race saw Entertainment Tonight tie sister show Inside Edition for the lead with ET holding its ground at a 2.0 and Edition easing 5%. Access Hollywood had the category’s hottest increase, surging into sole possession of third place with a 14% flourish.

The top talk shows for the week among women 25-54 were:

• Live with Kelly and Ryan (0.6, +20% from the week before)
• Dr. Phil (0.5, unchanged)
• Ellen DeGeneres (0.4, 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 means not applicable.

TALK SHOWS

Live with Kelly and Ryan (Disney-ABC) 1.6 +7%

Dr. Phil (CMV) 1.5 -6%

Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD) 1.3* +18%

The Kelly Clarkson Show (NBCU) 0.8 NC

Maury (NBCU) 0.7 NC

Wendy Williams (Debmar-Mercury) 0.7 +17%

Rachael Ray (CMV) 0.7 NC

Tamron Hall (Disney-ABC) 0.7 NC

Steve Wilkos (NBCU) 0.6 NC

Drew Barrymore (CMV) 0.5 NC

The Good Dish (Sony) 0.3 -25%

Nick Cannon (CMV) 0.3 -25%

Jerry Springer (NBCU) 0.3 NC

The Real (WBDTD) 0.3 NC

The Doctors (CMV) 0.2 NC

COURT SHOWS

Judge Judy (CMV) 4.4 -2%

Hot Bench(CMV) 1.3 -7%

People’s Court (WBDTD) 0.8 NC

Judge Mathis (WBDTD) 0.5 -17%

Judge Jerry (NBCU) 0.4 NC

Divorce Court (Fox First Run) 0.4 NC

Relative Justice (EW Media Group) 0.4 +33%

GAME SHOWS

Jeopardy (CMV) 5.2 -2%

Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury/FMNA) 5.0 -2%

Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 4.6 -2%

You Bet Your Life (Fox First Run) 0.8 NC

25 Words or Less (Fox First Run) 0.7 NC

Funny You Should Ask(Entertainment Studios) 0.3 NC

MAGAZINE SHOWS

Inside Edition (CMV) 2.0 -5%

Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.0 NC

Access Hollywood (NBCU) 0.8 +14%

TMZ (Fox First Run) 0.7 NC

Extra (WBDTD) 0.6 NC

Daily Mail TV (CMV) 0.5 NC

Dish Nation (Fox First Run) 0.2 NC

OFF-NET SITCOMS

Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 1.9 NC

Last Man Standing (Disney-ABC) 1.1 -8%

Young Sheldon (WBDTD) 0.9 NC

Family Guy (Disney-ABC) 0.8+33%

Modern Family (Disney-ABC) 0.7 NC

Two and a Half Men (WBDTD) 0.7 NC

The Goldbergs(Sony) 0.7 NC

Seinfeld (Sony) 0.6 NC

Mom (WBDTD) 0.5 NC

Mike and Molly (WBDTD) 0.4 NC

Black-ish (Disney-ABC) 0.4 -20%

Schitt’s Creek (CMV) 0.4 +33%

OFF-NET WEEKLY HOURS

Dateline Weekly (NBCU) 3.7 +3%

Law & Order: SVU (NBCU) 1.5 +15%

Chicago Fire (NBCU) 1.2 NC

Chicago P.D. (NBCU) 0.9 -36%

Monk (NBCU) 0.8 -20%

Castle (Disney-ABC) 0.8 NC