SYNDIE INSIDER

Ken Jennings' return to King World's Jeopardy! drove the show up 26% to 8.7, a season high in the week ended Oct. 31. Jennings had taken a hiatus during a one-week kids' tournament, which plunged the program's ratings 20%. Jeopardy!'s super-contestant surpassed the $2 million mark in total winnings on Oct. 25. He appears on seven more shows before the two-week college championship Nov. 10-23. Internet rumors have Jennings losing in his 75th game, which will fall on the last day of the November sweeps.

Jeopardy!'s strong ratings also helped King World's Wheel of Fortune; the two are paired in many markets. Wheel was up 6% to 8.9. Compared with the year-ago period, Jeopardy! is up 21%. The only strip up more at Warner Bros. is The Ellen DeGeneres Show, 36% ahead of last year. Wheel is down 5% year-to-year.

King World's The Oprah Winfrey Show has gotten off to a good November sweeps, scoring its second-highest metered-market number of the year, a 9.4 rating/22 share. Winfrey, who has signed through 2011, is hitting her best ratings in eight years.

Twentieth Television is partnering with Clear Channel Entertainment and XM Satellite Radio to promote the off-net run of Malcom in the Middle, which is leading all rookie off-network shows this season. Together, the three are launching a $15.5 million multimedia campaign.