Answer: This game show led all of syndication in households for a second straight week.
Question: What is Jeopardy!?
In the week ended April 28, which included the first four days of the May sweep, CBS Television Distribution's Jeopardy! hit a 7.5 live plus same day household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, up 12% from the prior week. Powered by the record-setting performance of professional gambler James Holzhauer, that’s the game show’s best performance since the week ending Feb. 8, 2015.
Meanwhile, longtime host Alex Trebek was awarded the Daytime Emmy on Sunday for outstanding game show host, his fifth time claiming that honor.
Related: James Holzhauer Becomes Second-Winningest Jeopardy! Contestant with Win 21
Jeopardy! will hold off on airing shows featuring Holzhauer from May 6 - May 17, choosing instead to slot a two-week teacher’s tournament. Holzhauer returns on Monday, May 20. By May 3, Holzhauer’s earnings had grown to just under $1.7 million, while winning 22 consecutive games, a record only behind all-time Jeopardy! champ, Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight games.
Related: CBS, ABC Tie with Five Wins Each at 46th Annual Daytime Emmys
Debmar-Mercury’s Family Feud, which was named outstanding game show at the Daytime Emmys, fell 2% to a 6.0 and second place in the genre. Jeopardy!’s stablemate Wheel of Fortune slowed down 2% to a 5.8.
Disney’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire recovered 7% to a 1.6, while Entertainment Studios’ Funny You Should Ask was unchanged at a 0.5 for the seventh straight week.
Disney’s viral video show RightThisMinute clocked a constant 1.2.
CTD’s Judge Judy, the season-to-date household ratings leader, spiked 8% to a seven-week high 7.0. The show’s star and namesake, Judge Judy Sheindlin, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, along with French chef Jacques Pepin, at the Daytime Emmys.
CTD’s Hot Bench, Warner Bros.’ People’s Court and Judge Mathis and Twentieth’s DivorceCourt all settled for an unchanged 2.1, 1.5, 1.0 and 0.7, respectively.
Like the gavelers, most of the talkers were flat.
CTD’s Dr. Phil extended its winning streak to 138 with five ties, holding steady at a 2.7. Among daytime’s key demographic of women 25-54, Phil led with a 1.1.
Disney’s Live with Kelly and Ryan — the hosts of which, Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest, were named outstanding entertainment talk-show hosts at the Daytime Emmys — captured second place for a ninth straight week, easing 4% to a 2.2.
Warner Bros.’ Ellen DeGeneres — which was named outstanding entertainment talk show for the seventh time since the talk category was divided into entertainment and informational in 2008 — was stable at a 1.9 for the fourth straight week. DeGeneres herself has not entered the host competition since 2009 after having won five times in a row from 2004 - 08.
Debmar-Mercury’s Wendy Williams, amid the host’s apparently acrimonious divorce with her former husband, manager and executive producer Kevin Hunter, weakened 7% to a 1.4, tying NBCUniversal’s Maury, which moved up 8%. NBCU’s Steve was steady at a 1.2.
CTD’s Rachael Ray, which won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding informative talk show, rose 10% to a 1.1, tying NBCU’s Steve Wilkos, which was flat at a 1.1 for a seventh straight week.
SPT’s Dr. Oz was unchanged at a 1.0 for a sixth straight week. Warner Bros.’ The Real, CTD’s The Doctors, Disney’s Pickler & Ben and NBCU’s out-of-production Jerry Springer all stayed at a 0.7, 0.6, 0.4 and 0.4, respectively. For Pickler & Ben, it was the 14th straight week at a 0.4, while it was the 33rd straight week for Springer.
Among the rookies, CTD’s cancelled Face the Truth confronted a consistent 0.7, while Debmar-Mercury’s renewed court show, Caught in Providence, rebounded 20% to a 0.6.
Related: It’s One and Done for ‘Face the Truth’
Among magazines, everything was flat to down.
CTD’s Inside Edition slumped 4% to a 2.7, matching its season low. CTD’s EntertainmentTonight eased 7% to a 2.6 and second place. Warner Bros.’ TMZ was on par with the prior week’s 1.3. NBCU’s Access gave back 8% to a 1.1. Warner Bros.’ Extra held its ground at a 1.0.
CTD’s renewed sophomore DailyMailTV, named outstanding entertainment news show at the Daytime Emmys, delivered a steady 0.9. Twentieth’s recently canceled PageSixTV and Trifecta’s Celebrity Page both were unchanged at a 0.6 and 0.2, respectively.
NBCU’s Dateline led the true-crime shows for the 33rd consecutive week at a stable 1.3. SPT’s off-A&E Live PD Police Patrol slid 9% to a 1.0, while off-Investigation Discovery True Crime Files was steady at a 0.3.
NBCU’s scripted off-net procedural, Chicago PD, surged 22% to a 1.1, equalling its season high.
Warner Bros.’ The Big Bang Theory, which ends its primetime run on CBS on May 16, inched up 2% to a 4.4. Twentieth’s Last Man Standing and Modern Family, SPT’s TheGoldbergs, Warner Bros.’ Two and a Half Men, Twentieth’s Family Guy and Warner Bros.’ Mike& Molly all were unchanged at a 2.1, 1.8, 1.5, 1.4, 1.2, 1.1, respectively.
Disney’s Black-ish bounced back 10% to a 1.1, tying Mike & Molly. Warner Bros.’ 2 Broke Girls earned a 1.0 for the 14th consecutive week, tying SPT’s Seinfeld, which avoided ratings shrinkage for an eighth straight week.
