Most syndicated shows lost ground in the holiday week ending
Apr. 4, which included Easter, Passover and Good Friday. In addition, some programs were preempted for
NASCAR coverage on Mar. 29. Among
talkers, CBS Television Distribution's (CTD) Oprah was slightly higher week-to-week with a 5% gain to 4.0. The chat leader was still down sharply from
last year at this time, sliding 31%, which was the worst year-to-year decline
of any talk show.
CTD's Dr. Phil was
unchanged at 2.5. Disney/ABC's Live With Regis and Kelly was up 4% to
2.4. Warner Bros.' Ellen Degeneres dropped 5% to 2.1.
NBCU's Maury was flat at 1.9. CTD's The
Doctors dipped 6% to 1.7. CTD's Rachael Ray remained at 1.6. NBCU's Jerry
Springer and Steve Wilkos were
flat at 1.3 and 1.2, respectively.
Warner Bros.' Bonnie Hunt lost
13% to 0.7. NBCU's Martha Stewart trailed the field with an unchanged 0.6.
In court, CTD's Judge
Judy topped all day time shows in first run with a 4.4, though that was
down 4% week-to-week. Judy was 2% higher than last year at
this time and ranked first among all syndicated shows with a 6.7 GAA
rating. CTD's Judge Joe Brown slipped 5% to 2.1.
Warner Bros.' People's Court
lost 5% to 1.9. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis was down 6% to 1.6. Twentieth's Judge Alex sank 7% to 1.3.
Twentieths' Divorce Court
fell 14% to 1.2. Warner Bros.' Judge Jeannine Pirro slid 9% to 1.0.
Among syndication newcomers, NBCU's The Office was doing brisk business with a 3% improvement to 3.0,
while in first-run, Sony's Dr. Oz
matched its season low with an 8% decline to 2.3. That was followed by Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader,
which was flat at 1.5. Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams tumbled 17% to a new
season-low 1.0. Litton's Street Court was unchanged at 0.6.
Magazines came back down to earth after a big run up in the
prior session, which was sparked by viewer fascination with the Sandra Bullock
marriage scandal. CTD's Entertainment Tonight gave back 13% to
4.1. CTD's Inside Edition was flat at 3.0.
NBCU's Access Hollywood fell
9% to 2.0. Warner Bros.' TMZ was unchanged at 2.0. CTD's The
Insider shed 15% to 1.7. Warner
Bros.' Extra eroded 11% to 1.7.
Game shows were also stalled except for CTD's Jeopardy, which inched up 4% to
5.6. CTD's Wheel of Fortune was flat at 6.4.
Disney/ABC's Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire eased 4% to 2.3.
Debmar-Mercury's Family Feud
was unchanged at 1.3. NBCU's Deal Or No Deal was down 9% to 1.0.
Off-net sitcoms were mixed.
Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men
slipped 2% to 4.7. Twentieth's Family Guy gained 3% to 3.4. CTD's Everybody
Loves Raymond rose 3% to a new season-high 3.1. Sony's Seinfeld
was down 4% to 2.7. Warner Bros.' George Lopez was flat at 2.7. Twentieth's King of the Hill faded 8% to 2.3.
Warner Bros.' Friends advanced
10% to 2.2. House of Payne was up 7% to 1.6.
Frasier saw its ratings fizzle
6% to 1.5.
