The Labor Day week ending Sept. 7 had a mix of new and repeat episodes. Many talkers were up; courtrooms were all in the plus column; magazines were a mixed bag; while games were either flat or down.
WEEKLY SYNDICATED RATINGS REPORT
Strong Showings By ‘Live,’ ‘Divorce,’ ‘Access’
The first talk show to open its 2014-15 season, Live with Kelly & Michael, got off to a strong start in the Labor Day holiday session ending Sept. 7, with its most-watched premiere week in seven years.
Live jumped 4% week to week and 17% year to year to a 2.7, tying Dr. Phil for first place in talk. Phil, which didn’t have its season premiere until Sept. 9, was up 8% for the week and 13% from last year.
Well behind the top two talkers, Maury, Ellen DeGeneres and Dr. Oz rounded out the top five, even though all three shows were still in reruns.
Also in daytime, Hot Bench, the new strip created by Judge Judy, opened Sept. 15 with the highest first-day ratings of any court show in three years. Bench scored a 0.8 rating/2 share, which improved 14% over its year-ago time periods. Rival rookie courtroom, Justice with Judge Mablean, debuted on the same day with 0.4/1, which was flat compared to year-ago time periods.
Among returning court shows, Divorce Court’s 2.0 rating was up 67% from the previous frame and 54% from a year ago (for its highest premiere week rating in five years), boosting it to the No. 2 slot in the genre.
Freshman talker The Real bowed Monday with a first-day preliminary primary run 0.9/3 average, losing 40% from its lead-in and dropping 10% from the shows it replaced in its time slots last year.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Closely watched talk show newcomer Meredith Vieira averaged a 1.4/5 after its first week in the overnights, winning its time slot in Sacramento, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Charlotte, N.C.; Baltimore and Birmingham, Ala. Meredith also posted top-market increases over year-ago time periods of 85% in New York, 100% in Los Angeles, 33% in Philadelphia, 20% in Dallas and 100% in San Francisco.
The metered market test of Laughs remained at a 0.4/1 average after seven weekends.
In other talk show news, Rachel Ray got significant upgrades in four of the top 10 markets as it began its ninth season, climbing from its year-ago performance by 125% in Los Angeles, 81% in Chicago, 1,100% in San Francisco and 2,200% in Houston.
Among magazines, leader Entertainment Tonight, which grew 7%, and Access Hollywood, which surged 23%, had the largest increases of the week, which was marked by the death of comedy legend Joan Rivers.
Judge Judy, while still in repeats all week, was the overall No. 1 syndicated show for the 24th straight week, winning by the widest margin in the program’s 18-year history.
The week’s top-rated daytime talk shows in the women 25-54 demo were:
- Dr. Phil (1.4, +17% from the week before)
- Live with Kelly & Michael (1.3, unchanged)
- Maury (1.2, +9%)
- Ellen DeGeneres (1.0, +11%)
- Steve Wilkos (0.9, +13%)
- Dr. Oz (0.8, -11%)
- Steve Harvey (0.7, unchanged), tied with Jerry Springer (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) 2.7 +4%
1. Dr. Phil (CTD) 2.7 +8%
3. Maury (NBCU) 1.8 +6%
3. Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD) 1.8 +6%
5. Dr. Oz (Sony) 1.5 NC
6. Steve Harvey (NBCU) 1.4 NC
7. Steve Wilkos (NBCU) 1.3 +8%
8. Rachael Ray (CTD) 1.2 NC
9. Jerry Springer (NBCU) 1.1 NC
10. The Doctors (CTD) 1.0 +11%
11. Wendy Williams (Debmar-Mercury) 0.9 NC
12. Queen Latifah (Sony) 0.8 -11%
13. The Better Show (Meredith) 0.2 NC
COURT SHOWS
1. Judge Judy (CTD) 6.8 +3%
2. Divorce Court (Twentieth) 2.0 +67%
3. People’s Court (WBDTD) 1.8 +13%
4. Judge Mathis (WBDTD) 1.5 +15%
5. Paternity Court (Orion Television) 1.0 +11%
MAGAZINE SHOWS
1. Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 3.2 +7%
2. Inside Edition (CTD) 2.5 -7%
3. TMZ (WBDTD) 1.7 NC
4. Access Hollywood (NBCU) 1.6 +23%
5. Extra (WBDTD) 1.3 -7%
6. The Insider (CTD) 1.2 NC
7. Dish Nation (Twentieth) 1.0 NC
8. OK! TV (Trifecta) 0.3 NC
8. America Now (Trifecta) 0.3 NC
INTERNET VIDEO
1. Right This Minute (MGM) 1.0 NC
GAME SHOWS
1. Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 5.5 -2%
2. Jeopardy (CTD) 5.1 -4%
3. Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury) 4.7 NC
4. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) 1.7 -11%
OFF-NET SITCOMS
1. Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 5.4 NC
2. Modern Family (Twentieth) 3.6 +9%
3. Two and a Half Men (WBDTD) 3.2 NC
4. Family Guy (Twentieth) 2.6 +13%
5. How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth) 2.0 +18%
6. Seinfeld (Sony) 1.8 +6%
7. The Cleveland Show (Twentieth) 1.7 +6%
7. The Middle (WBDTD) 1.7 +6%
9. Friends (WBDTD) 1.5 NC
10. King of the Hill (Twentieth) 1.4 +8%
11. Rules of Engagement (Sony) 1.2 NC
OFF-NET WEEKLY HOURS
1. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBCU) 3.8 +15%
2. Law & Order: SVU (NBCU) 3.2 +23%
3. House (NBCU) 2.9 +16%
4. Criminal Minds (CTD) 2.1 +11%
5. CSI: Miami (CTD) 2.0 +5%
6. Castle (Disney-ABC 1.8 NC
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