Syndication Ratings: Syndies Find Lump of Coal in Christmas Stockings

Holiday leads to reruns and preemptions, which resulted in fewer viewers

By David Tanklefsky -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/7/2010 2:25:13 PM

Many syndicated shows found lumps of coal in their Nielsen stockings for the Christmas week ending Dec. 27.  Of course, most strips were in reruns and were subjected to heavy preemptions in the holiday frame.  In addition, show-to-show rating comparisons were somewhat misleading since some strips counted the full five days while other dropped the low-rated Christmas Eve and Christmas day from their averages.

Christmas ratings for talkers were mixed blessings.  CBS Television Distribution's (CTD) Oprah suffered her third straight weekly loss, sliding 3% to 3.6.  Disney/ABC's Live With Regis and Kelly inched up 4% to 2.9.  CTD's Dr. Phil went into repeats and dropped 18% to 2.3.  Warner Bros.' Ellen Degeneres skidded 19% to 2.1.  NBCU's Maury was up 11% to 2.0.  CTD's Rachael Ray rose 6% to 1.8.  CTD's The Doctors fell 12% to 1.5.  NBCU's Jerry Springer rebounded 8% to 1.3.  NBCU's Steve Wilkos climbed 9% to 1.2.  Warner Bros.' Bonnie Hunt bounced back with a 13% gain to 0.9.  NBCU's Martha Stewart cooked up another 0.7, remaining at her season high.

Court shows continued to be ruled by CTD's Judge Judy, which topped the first-run daytime standings for the fifth week in a row, beating Oprah by 17%.  Week-to-week Judy was down 5% to 4.2, although it was the sole courtroom to outperform last year's deliver, growing 2%.  CTD's Judge Joe Brown slipped 5% to 2.0.  Warner Bros.' People's Court was flat at 1.9.  Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis was up 7% to 1.6.  Twentieth's Judge Alex tumbled 13% to 1.3.  Twentieth's Divorce Court faded 7% to 1.3.  Warner Bros.' Judge Jeannine Pirro advanced 10% to a new season-high 1.1.

Among newcomers, Sony's Dr. Oz had its rating reprocessed and withheld by Nielsen, leaving Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader as the rookie champ in first run with a 7% promotion to a 1.6.  Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams plunged 15% to 1.1.  Litton's Street Court trailed with a flat 0.6. 

The Office was the new off-net sitcom leader, despite a 10% decline to 2.7.  My Name Is Earl and Everybody Hates Chris tied at a 1.8 with Earl sliding 10% and Chris shedding 5%. 

Elsewhere, there were no first-run access strips up week-to-week.  CTD's Entertainment Tonight was the highest-rated show on the magazine rack, losing 18% to a 3.7 but still improving 16% over last year at this time.  CTD's Inside Edition weakened by 18% to 2.8.  NBCU's Access Hollywood was down 5% to 2.1.  Warner Bros.' TMZ tumbled 14% to 1.8.  CTD's The Insider gave back 17% to 1.5.  Warner Bros.' Extra deteriorated 21% to 1.5. 

CTD's Wheel of Fortune hung on to the lead among game shows but skidded 8% to 6.6.  CTD's Jeopardy was down 5% to 5.6.  Disney/ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire fell 8% to 2.4.  Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud and NBCU's Deal Or No Deal were flat at 1.3 and 1.2 respectively.

Off-net sitcoms were mostly lower, with Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men shrinking 14% down to 4.2.  Twentieth's Family Guy declined 9% to 3.2.  Warner Bros.' George Lopez slipped 4% to 2.7.  Sony's Seinfeld was down 7% to 2.5.  CTD's Everybody Loves Raymond and Twentieth's King of the Hill were unchanged at 2.5 and 2.3 respectively.  Warner Bros.' Friends fizzled 10% to 1.9.  House of Payne was up 6% to 1.8.  Frasier was off 6% to 1.5.  Sony's King of Queens dropped 12% to 1.5.