Looks like Oprah will
be spending its last year on broadcast TV battling with Judge Judy for the title of queen of daytime.
In the week ended Sept. 26, Oprah's second week of its final season, the show averaged a 4.4
live plus same day household average, down 17% from premiere week and down 15%
from this time last year. Those also mark the biggest weekly and yearly
declines of any daytime strip.
Judge Judy,
meanwhile, beat Oprah by one-tenths
of a ratings point to hit a 4.5, gaining 5% on the week and 7% over last year. Judge Judy has been the top show in
daytime for 25 out of the past 28 weeks, but last week was the first time in
recent months that the two top daytime shows had gone head to head in
originals. Both shows are distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
Meanwhile, CTD's Dr.
Phil remained solidly in second place among the talkers, holding steady at
a 2.5. Disney-ABC's Live with Regis and
Kelly climbed 4% to a 2.4, while Sony's Dr.
Oz fell 4% to a 2.3. NBC Universal's
Maury gained 5% to a 2.0, tying
Warner Bros.' Ellen DeGeneres, which dropped
5% to a 2.0. CTD's The Doctors
remained at a 1.6, while CTD's Rachael
Ray rallied 7% to a 1.5. NBCU's Steve
Wilkos was talk's most improved, climbing 8% for the week and 27% for the
year to a 1.4. NBCU's Jerry Springer
sank 8% to a 1.2. Debmar-Mercury's Wendy
Williams trailed the pack at an unchanged 1.0.
Among the court shows, Judy
was the only strip to improve week to week. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis was the only strip to decline, losing 12% to a fourth
place 1.5. Everything else held steady -- CTD's Judge Joe Brown at a 2.0, Warner Bros.' People's Court at a 1.9, Twentieth's Judge Alex at a 1.3 and Twentieth's
Divorce Court at a 1.2. Warner Bros.'
Judge Jeanine Pirro, also flat, came
in last at a 1.0.
Game shows were lively, with Twentieth's Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader spiraling
up 30% on its season premiere week to a 1.3. Wheel of Fortune, syndication's top show in households, and CTD's Jeopardy! were each up 8% to a 6.4 and 5.5,
respectively. Wheel improved 18%
among men 18-49, while Jeopardy!gained 22% among women 18-34. Disney-ABC's Who Wants to be a Millionaire edged up
5% to a 2.2. Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud,
with new host Steve Harvey and a new shooting location at Universal Studios in
Orlando, gained 7% to a 1.5.
Returning off-net sitcoms were a mixed bag. Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men remained the leading
comedy, inching up 2% to a 5.3. Twentieth's Family
Guy was flat at a 2.8, but held off CTD's Everybody Loves Raymond which had been challenging for second place
but dipped 4% to a 2.6. Disney-ABC's My
Wife and Kids fell 4% to a 2.5. Warner Bros.' George Lopez grew 9% to a 2.4, tying Sony's Seinfeld, which was flat. NBCU's The Office declined 8% to a 2.3. Twentieth's King of the Hill was flat at a 2.1. Warner Bros.' Friends added 6% to a 1.8.
Remaining in access, magazines all were up or steady week to
week, but only Warner Bros.' Extra,
now shooting out of Hollywood's The Grove shopping complex, improved year to
year, gaining 6% to a 1.7, the show's highest rating in 12 weeks. Week to week,
Extra jumped 13% in households and
20% among women 18-34.
CTD's talk leader Entertainment
Tonight improved 8% to a 3.9, continuing its more-than-14-year run as syndication's
top magazine.
CTD's Inside Edition
added 7% to a 2.9. NBCU's Access Hollywood
was flat at a 1.9, tying Warner Bros.' TMZ,
which gained 6%. CTD's The Insider
spiked 13% to a 1.8, with a lead story on ABC's Dancing with the Stars' Bristol Palin taking ratings up 25% to a
2.0 on Sept. 21.
Among the rookies, CTD's Swift
Justice with Nancy Grace continued to lead the first-run freshman class,
despite a 7% dip from its premiere week to a 1.3. In second place, Sony's Nate Berkus remained flat at a 1.0.
Twentieth's Don't Forget the Lyrics
debuted at a 0.9. Entertainment Studios' America's
Court with Judge Ross opened at a 0.4. Litton's Judge Karen, which is not yet nationally rated, declined 14% in its
second week to a 0.6 rating/2 share weighted average in 35 metered markets,
after premiering with a 0.7/2 for the week of Sept. 20.
NBCU's Access
Hollywood Live, a daytime news magazine that began Sept. 13 in a limited
number of markets, gained 14% from the prior week to a 0.8 rating/3 share
weighted metered market household average in its third week, while its women
18-49 and women 25-54 demographics both jumped 43% over its year-ago time
period averages.
Among the new off-net sitcoms, Twentieth's How I Met Your Mother was unchanged at a
2.1, remaining the top-rated syndicated rookie. Debmar-Mercury's Meet the Browns opened at a 1.3. Warner
Bros.' The New Adventures of Old
Christine eased 8% to a 1.2. Warner Bros.' Curb Your Enthusiasm and Disney-ABC's Ugly Betty each were up 14% to a 0.8. Warner Bros.' Entourage was flat at a 0.7.
Debmar-Mercury's off-cable reality strip The E! True Hollywood Story launched at
a 0.8, while NBCU's off-Bravo Real
Housewives was unchanged at a 0.5, but up 33% among women 18-49.
