Sad News Brings Big Numbers For Magazines

The suicide of beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams sent ratings for all of the top-tier syndicated magazines through the roof in the week ending Aug. 17 with four of the top six scoring double-digit increases.

Entertainment Tonight ruled the category, jumping 21% from the prior session and hitting its highest rating in 19 weeks.

The other double-digit gainers were: Access Hollywood, which grew 14% and posted its best ratings since the May sweep; Extra, which notched the largest week-to-week and year-to-year increases of any top-six magazine, surging 25% to its strongest rating since early June; and The Insider, which spiked 18% and recorded its biggest rating in seven weeks.

Other categories did not fare nearly as well as tepid late summer PUT levels were a major drag on syndies. For example, only one of the 17 talkers was up from the week before, namely Steve Wilkos, which rose 8% in households and 13% among women 25-54.

Live with Kelly & Michael dipped slightly but still finished first in the category for the ninth time in the past 10 weeks with a 2.5 rating. Dr. Phil, which was entirely in repeats, also put up a steady 2.5 and tied Live for the lead. This marked the 44^th time in past 55 weeks that Phil has finished first or tied for first among the talk shows.

Well behind the leaders, Maury and Ellen tied for third place at a 1.7.

An encore week of Judge Judy, which earned a 6.6, was the overall Nol. 1 syndicated show for the 21^st consecutive week.

The metered-market test of Laughs after four weekends lost 50% of its lead-in and was off 33% from its year-ago time period average to a 0.4 rating/1 share.

Hollywood Today Live, after finishing its six-week trial run, averaged a 0.5/2, falling 37% from lead-in and dropping 28% from its year-ago time periods. Among households, the show rose 20% from its premiere week to the final week of the test.

The Daily Helpline reported a modest 0.1/0 for its six-week tryout, ending down 66% from its lead-in and 75% from its year-ago time period average.

The week’s top-rated daytime talk shows in the women 25-54 demo were:

• Live with Kelly & Michael (1.3, -7% from the week before)
• Dr. Phil (1.2, unchanged), tied with Maury (1.2, unchanged)
• Dr. Oz (1.0, unchanged)
• Steve Wilkos (0.9, +13%), tied with Ellen DeGeneres (0.9, unchanged)
• Jerry Springer 0.7, unchanged), tied with Steve Harvey (0.7, +17%) and Wendy 0.7, 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. Live with Kelly & Michael (Disney-ABC) 2.5 -4%

1. Dr. Phil (CTD) 2.5 NC

3. Maury (NBCU) 1.7 -6%

3. Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD) 1.7 NC

5. Dr. Oz (Sony) 1.6 NC

6. Steve Harvey (NBCU) 1.4 -7%

7. Steve Wilkos (NBCU) 1.3 +8%

8. Katie (Disney-ABC) 1.2 NC

9. Rachael Ray (CTD) 1.1 -8%

9. Jerry Springer (NBCU) 1.1 NC

11. Wendy Williams (Debmar-Mercury) 1.0 -9%

11. The Doctors (CTD) 1.0 NC

13. Queen Latifah (Sony) 0.8 -11%

14. The Test (CTD) 0.5 -17%

14. Bethenny (WBDTD) 0.5 NC

14. Arsenio (CTD) 0.5 NC

17. Trisha (NBCU) 0.4 NC

18. The Better Show (Meredith) 0.2 NC

FRESHMEN TALKERS

1. Queen Latifah (Sony) 0.8 -11%

2. The Test (CTD) 0.5 -17%

2. Bethenny (WBDTD) 0.5 NC

2. Arsenio (CTD) 0.5 NC

COURT SHOWS

1. Judge Judy (CTD) 6.6 -1%

2. People’s Court (WBDTD) 1.8 NC

3. Judge Mathis (WBDTD) 1.4 NC

3. Divorce Court (Twentieth) 1.4 +8%

5. Judge Alex (Twentieth) 1.3 NC

6. Paternity Court (Orion Television) 0.9 -10%

MAGAZINE SHOWS

1. Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 3.5 +21%

2. Inside Edition (CTD) 2.9 +7%

3. TMZ (WBDTD) 1.8 +6%

4. Access Hollywood (NBCU) 1.6 +14%

5. Extra (WBDTD) 1.5 +25%

6. The Insider (CTD) 1.3 +18%

7. Right This Minute (MGM) 1.1 +10%

8. Dish Nation (Twentieth) 1.0 +11%

9. OK! TV (Trifecta) 0.4 +33%

10. America Now (Trifecta) 0.3 NC

GAME SHOWS

1. Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 5.7 +4%

2. Jeopardy (CTD) 5.5 NC

3. Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury) 4.6 +5%

4. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) 1.9 NC

OFF-NET SITCOMS

1. Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 5.6 +4%

2. Modern Family (Twentieth) 3.3 NC

3. Two and a Half Men (WBDTD) 3.2 +7%

4. Family Guy (Twentieth) 2.6 -4%

5. Seinfeld (Sony) 1.8 -5%

5. The Cleveland Show (Twentieth) 1.8 NC

7. Friends (WBDTD) 1.7 NC

8. King of the Hill (Twentieth) 1.6 NC

9. The Middle (WBDTD) 1.6 NC

10. How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth) 1.5 -12%

11. Rules of Engagement (Sony) 1.2 -8%

OFF-NET WEEKLY HOURS

1. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBCU) 3.6 +3%

2. Law & Order: SVU (NBCU) 3.2 -3%

3. House (NBCU) 2.6 -10%

4. Castle (Disney-ABC 2.2 NC

5. CSI: Miami (CTD) 2.1 +11%

6. Criminal Minds (CTD) 1.9 -5%