Syndie Insider

After one week on the air, Warner Bros.' The Sharon Osbourne Show was one of only two new first-run strips to outperform its year-ago time periods, averaging a 1.6 rating/5 share in the metered markets. That's up 14% from shows that ran in its time period a year and even with its lead-in share.

Warner Bros.' other syndie offering, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, also was up, averaging a 2.1/6 in the metered markets after two weeks in syndication. That outpaces its stations' September 2002 time periods by 17%.

Last Monday, the show hit its highest marks in the two-plus weeks it has been on the air, scoring a 2.4/7 in the metered markets. Those numbers improved its year-ago time-period averages by 33% in rating and 17% in share and bumped its lead-in by 9%. In its first full week of national household ratings, Ellen's numbers were less encouraging, with a 1.4, suggesting that it's not doing very well in smaller markets.

King World's Living It Up With Ali & Jack in its first week averaged a 1.3/5 in the metered markets, falling 28% from its year-ago time-period average and losing two share points from its lead-in.

NBC Enterprises' Starting Over, after two weeks, has a weighted metered-market average of 1.0/3 for its primary runs. That's 29% off last year's time-period average and down two share points from its average lead-in. Starting Over fared even worse in the national household numbers, with a 0.8 after its first week on the air.

Kicking off its 18th season on Sept. 15, King World's The Oprah Winfrey Show had its best premiere week since 1997, improving its performance over last season by 27% with a 7.1 weighted metered-market average vs. last September's 6.2. The show also was up in all top-10 markets, increasing 28% on WABC-TV New York, 58% on KABC-TV Los Angeles and 30% on WLS-TV Chicago.

Shows featuring such celebrities as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Madonna, and pop diva Beyoncé Knowles helped drive Oprah's strong performances in its season-opening week.