‘Phil’ Gets Season Off To Strong Start

Metered market overnight ratings for last week are out and Dr. Phil’s exclusive interviews with the parents of Casey Anthony made his show No. 1 among the talkers. Dr. Phil (CTD) scored a 3.6 rating/10 share primary run metered market average for the first week of the new season, getting off to its strongest start since 2004.

The show was up 100% from its lead-in and up 64% from last year at this time. Phil’s best market performance was an 8.7/25 average for the week at 10 a.m. in Dayton, Ohio.

Finishing behind Phil for the week were Live with Regis and Kelly (Disney-ABC), 2.7/10; Dr. Oz (Sony), 2.6/7 and Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD), 2.4/7 in the metered market averages for their primary runs.

Anderson (WBDTD), a new talk show, featuring Anderson Cooper, was the highest rated new strip in first run. It jumped 36% to a best-yet 1.5/4 on Monday, Sept. 19, compared to its 1.1/3 premiere week average for all telecasts. The show was up 25% from its lead-in and 23% from year-ago time period average. In Los Angeles, Anderson’s premiere week was up 167% over last year, while scoring a first-place 3.6/9 in San Diego, its top market.

Premiere week numbers for the other first-run newcomers in daytime included a 0.8/3 for Right This Minute (Cox-Raycom-Scripps), featuring a 3.9/9 in Birmingham, Ala.; and a 0.5/2 for We the People with Gloria Allred (Entertainment Studios), including a 1.4/4 in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Excused (CTD), a new dating in mostly low-rated late night time periods, earned a 0.4/1 for its first week. It did best in Birmingham where it won its 2 a.m. time slot with a 1.2/4 and in Memphis where it was No. 1 at 3 a.m. with a 1.2/4.

On Monday, Sept. 19, two more first-run talkers debuted. The Bill Cunningham Show (Tribune) opened with a 0.9/3, which was down 25% from its lead-in and 18% below its year-ago time periods.

Jeremy Kyle (Debmar) premiered with a 0.6/2, down 25% from both its lead-ins and year-ago time period averages.

Off-net sitcoms bowing on Monday, were Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) with a 1.8/3 in mostly prime access slots; 30 Rock (NBCU), which pulled a 0.8/2 in mostly late fringe time periods; and Till Death (Sony), which averaged a 0.2/1 in various time slots.

Entertainment Tonight (CTD) was easily the top-rated magazine for post-Emmy Award coverage yesterday with a 4.3/8 in the metered markets. It was up 16% from last year at this time. ET was followed by Inside Edition (CTD), 3.2/7; Access Hollywood (NBCU), 2.7/5; The Insider (CTD), 2.1/5; Extra (WBDTD), 2.1/4; and TMZ (WBDTD), 1.8/4.