‘Wendy Williams’ Shines In Lackluster Week

With thousands of power outages due to a massive East Coast blizzard, PUT levels plunged and most syndicated shows were flat to down slightly in the week ending Jan. 31.

One notable exception was rookie champ Crime Watch Daily, which jumped 10% to a new series high 1.1 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and topped the season’s first-run newcomers for the 20^th consecutive week. The other freshman — FABLife and Crazy Talk — were unchanged at 0.8 and 0.6, respectively.

Among the established strips, Wendy Williams was the only talk show moving up week to week, adding 6%, and landing in a tie for fifth place with Maury, at a 1.8.

Dr. Phil finished first for the fourth week in a row, despite dipping 3% to a 3.3. Live with Kelly & Michael was right behind, maintaining its strong 3.2 for a second straight stanza. Among women 25-54, however, Live was No. 1 in talk with a 1.6 in the key demo.

Top gaveler by a mile Judge Judy was easily the No. 1 strip in all of syndication for the 31^st time in the last 32 weeks, downticking 1% to a 7.8, but still growing 10% from last year.

Hot Bench, which has been the No. 2 court show for the past 45 weeks, remained at its series high first hit in the prior session, and rose 44% from last year, which was the greatest annual increase for any syndicated strip.

In access, game shows were soft:

• Wheel of Fortune skidded 5% to a 7.4.
• Family Feud fell 3% to a 7.3.
• Jeopardy declined 3% to a 7.0.
• Celebrity Name Game was unchanged at a 1.5.
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire sank 7% to a 1.4.

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

• Live with Kelly & Michael (1.6, +7% from the week before)
• Dr. Phil (1.5, -6%), tied with Ellen DeGeneres (1.5, unchanged)
• Maury (1.3, unchanged), tied with Wendy Williams (1.3, +8%)
• Steve Harvey (1.0, -9), tied with Steve Wilkos (1.0, 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. Dr. Phil (CTD) 3.3 -3%

2. Live with Kelly & Michael (Disney-ABC) 3.2 NC

3. Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD) 2.7 -4%

4. Steve Harvey (NBCU) 2.1 -9%

5. Maury (NBCU) 1.8 -5%

5. Wendy Williams (Debmar-Mercury) 1.8 +6%

7. Rachael Ray (CTD) 1.6 -7%

8. Dr. Oz (Sony) 1.5 -6%

8. Steve Wilkos (NBCU) 1.5 NC

10. Jerry Springer (NBCU) 1.3 -7%

11. The Real (WBDTD) 1.1 NC

11. The Doctors (CTD) 1.1 NC

13. Meredith Vieira (NBCU) 1.0 -9%

DAYTIME ROOKIE SHOWS

1. Crime Watch Daily (WBDTD) 1.1* +10%

2. FABLife (Disney) 0.8 NC

3. Crazy Talk (NBCU) 0.6 NC

COURT SHOWS

1. Judge Judy (CTD) 7.8 -1%

2. Hot Bench (CTD) 2.6 NC

3. People’s Court (WBDTD) 2.0 +5%

4. Judge Mathis (WBDTD) 1.6 NC

5. Divorce Court (Twentieth) 1.4 +8%

6. Judge Faith (Trifecta) 0.9 NC

MAGAZINE SHOWS

1. Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 3.4 -11%

2. Inside Edition (CTD) 3.2 -3%

3. TMZ (WBDTD) 1.9 NC

4. Access Hollywood (NBCU) 1.8 -5%

5. Extra (WBDTD) 1.5 NC

6. The Insider (CTD) 1.3 -7%

7. Dish Nation (Twentieth) 1.0 NC

8. OK! TV (Trifecta) 0.3 NC

GAME SHOWS

1. Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 7.4 -5%

2. Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury/FMNA) 7.3 -3%

3. Jeopardy (CTD) 7.0 -3%

4. Celebrity Name Game (Debmar-Mercury/FMNA) 1.5 NC

5. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) 1.4 -7%

INTERNET VIDEO

1. Right This Minute (MGM) 1.2 NC

OFF-NET SITCOMS

1. Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 6.6* +3%

2. Modern Family (Twentieth) 3.6* +3%

3. Two and a Half Men (WBDTD) 2.8 -7%

4. Two Broke Girls (WBDTD) 2.3* +5%

5. Family Guy (Twentieth) 2.2 +5%

5. Mike and Molly (WBDTD) 2.2 -4%

7. Seinfeld (Sony) 2.0 -5%

8. How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth) 1.8 +6%

9. The Cleveland Show (Twentieth) 1.6 -6%

10. King of the Hill (Twentieth) 1.3 -7%

10. The Middle (WBDTD) 1.3 NC

OFF-NET WEEKLY HOUR DRAMAS

1. Law & Order: SVU (NBCU) 5.3 +2%

2. The Closer (WBDTD) 2.6 -4%

3. Blue Bloods (CTD) 2.1 NC

4. Castle (Disney-ABC) 1.8 NC

5. Scandal (Disney-ABC) 1.7 +6%

6. The Mentalist (WBDTD) 1.5 NC