On the rebound
Susanne Ault -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2001
Several syndicated court shows got a boost the week Al Gore conceded the presidential election. As viewers were settling back into their normal TV habits, steering away from the cable news channels, some court shows rebounded from season lows.
For the week ended Dec. 17 (Gore conceded on Dec. 13), Judge Judy (6.7 rating) and Judge Joe Brown (3.9) jumped 6% and 15%, respectively, to recover from the previous week's season lows, according to Nielsen Media Research. People's Court (2.0, up 18%) and Judge Mills Lane (1.7, up 13%) also rebounded from their worst marks of the season. In fact, none of the court shows dropped from the previous week; also registering improvement were Divorce Court (3.3, up 3%), Power of Attorney (2.6, up 8%), Judge Greg Mathis (2.4, up 20% to a new season high) and Curtis Court (1.7, up 13%). Judge Hatchett (2.1) and Moral Court (0.8) were flat.
In other good news for an otherwise slumping syndicated season, a crowd of daytime strips logged season bests. Included in that bunch were Family Feud (2.6, up 18%), Real TV (1.9, up 12%), Jenny Jones (3.8, up 9%), Maury (3.6, up 20%), Jenny (2.3, up 21%), Martha Stewart (1.8, up 20%), Queen Latifah (1.3, up 18%) and Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (1.0, up 43%).
Elsewhere, ET Weekend soared 42%, nabbing a 4.4, its best rating in five years and good for a first-place finish among all weekly hours. The rest of the weekly crew had less to cheer about, except for rookie reality strip Maximum Exposure (2.3), which leapt 21% to a season high. Following ET Weekend , the top weekly efforts were The X-Files (3.8, down 15%), Andromeda (3.5, down 15%), Stargate SG-1 (3.0, down 3%), ER (3.0, down 6%), Xena (2.6, down 24%), V.I.P. (2.5, down 14%), Sheena (2.3, up 5%) and Beastmaster (2.3, down 8%).
Magazines looked solid. Entertainment Tonight (6.2, up 3%) was top dog as usual, followed by Extra (3.2, up 3%), Inside Edition (3.2, up 3%), Access Hollywood (2.5, flat) and National Enquirer: Uncovered (1.2, flat).
