‘Live’ Moves Up To Top The Talkers

The game show race got quite a bit tighter in the session ending Jan 24. Jeopardy, with a second go-round for guest host Ken Jennings, lost 5% of its momentum from the week before to a 5.9 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, but still clung to a diminishing lead in the category.

Jeopardy’s companion Wheel of Fortune, also dipped, falling 2% to a second-place 5.7, while Family Feud forged into contention, climbing 4% to a six-week high 5.6.

In daytime, shows were riddled with pandemic-related preemptions and largely blown out by wall-to-wall coverage of President Biden’s inauguration.

Live with Kelly and Ryan rallied 6% to a 1.9 and took over sole possession of first place in talk, just ahead of Dr. Phil, which gave back 6% to a 1.7.

Court show champ Judge Judy demolished everything else in the daypart with a 5.1, despite being heavily preempted in the Martin Luther King Holiday frame, and season-to-date continued to outperform all syndicated shows in the household ratings for its 25^th and final first-run season.

Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight topped the magazines with Edition edging up 4% and ET growing 5% to a 2.5 and a 2.3, respectively.

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

• Live with Kelly and Ryan (0.8, +14% from the week before)
• Dr. Phil (0.6, unchanged)
• Kelly Clarkson (0.5, unchanged), tied with Ellen DeGeneres (0.5, unchanged) and Maury (0.5, 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) 1.9 +6%

Dr. Phil (CMV) 1.7 -6%

Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD) 1.1 +10%

Maury (NBCU) 1.0 NC

Wendy Williams (Debmar-Mercury) 0.9 NC

The Kelly Clarkson Show (NBCU) 0.9 -10%

Rachael Ray (CMV) 0.8 -11%

Steve Wilkos (NBCU) 0.8 NC

Tamron Hall (Disney-ABC) 0.8 NC

Dr. Oz (Sony) 0.7 NC

The Real (WBDTD) 0.4 NC

The Doctors (CMV) 0.2 NC

Jerry Springer (NBCU) 0.2 NC

FIRST-RUN ROOKIE

Drew Barrymore (CMV) 0.5 NC

COURT SHOWS

Judge Judy (CMV) 5.1 -6%

Hot Bench(CMV) 1.6 NC

People’s Court (WBDTD) 1.0 +11%

Judge Mathis (WBDTD) 0.7 NC

Judge Jerry (NBCU) 0.7 NC

Divorce Court (20th Television) 0.6 NC

Protection Court (Trifecta) 0.3 +50%

GAME SHOWS

Jeopardy (CMV) 5.9 -5%

Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 5.7 -2%

Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury/FMNA) 5.6 +4%

25 Words or Less (CMV) 0.7** -13%

Funny You Should Ask(Entertainment Studios) 0.4 NC

MAGAZINE SHOWS

Inside Edition (CMV) 2.5 +4%

Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.3 +5%

Access Hollywood (NBCU) 1.0 NC

TMZ (WBDTD) 0.9 +13%

Extra (WBDTD) 0.7 NC

Daily Mail TV (CMV) 0.6 NC

Dish Nation (Trifecta) 0.3 NC

OFF-NET SITCOMS

Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 2.8 +8%

Last Man Standing (Disney-ABC) 2.0 +5%

Modern Family (Disney-ABC) 1.2 NC

Two and a Half Men (WBDTD) 1.1 +10%

The Goldbergs(Sony) 1.0 NC

Family Guy (Disney-ABC) 0.9 -10%

Seinfeld (Sony) 0.9 NC

Mike and Molly (WBDTD) 0.8 NC

Black-ish (Disney-ABC) 0.7 +17%

Two Broke Girls (WBDTD) 0.8 NC

Mom (WBDTD) 0.7 NC

OFF-NET WEEKLY HOURS

Dateline Weekly (NBCU) 4.1 +28%

Law & Order: SVU (NBCU) 1.6 NC

Chicago P.D. (NBCU) 1.3 NC

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBCU) 1.0 +11%

NCIS (CMV) 1.0 -9%

NCIS: New Orleans (CMV) 0.9 -10%