Syndie Insider

Nose Jobs Are Magic for ET Weekend

The week ended Nov. 10 was a good one for syndicated weekend shows, particularly Paramount's ET Weekend: The nostalgia fest, focused on the history of celebrity plastic surgery, scored a 4.0. That's the show's highest rating since early April, an increase of 18% week-to-week and 11% year-to-year. ET Weekend was the only syndicated weekend hourly out of the top 10 to show a year-to-year bump.

The No. 2 weekly hour, NBC Enterprises/MGM's Stargate SG-1, was up 17%, to a season-high 2.7, although the show is down 10% year-to-year. And NBC/MGM's rookie hour She Spies also was up 33% in its seventh week, to a 2.4. Other weekend gainers: Warner Bros.'Extra Weekend, up 24%, to a 2.1; NBC's Providence, up 13%, to a new high of 1.7; and Western International's Starhunter, up 33%, to a 0.8. Among weekend half-hours, NBC Enterprises rookie The Chris Matthews Show was up 25%, to a new high of 1.5. Paramount's Hot Ticket, with hosts Leonard Maltin and Joyce Kuhalwik, was up 6%, its new season high of 1.7 a 13% increase over last year.

Rob Nelson, in the Buff

Last time Rob Nelson stunted for ratings—putting up a billboard of himself in September over Los Angeles's new outdoor mall, The Grove—it didn't really help much. But maybe his choice of stunts for the November sweeps will prove more effective. On today's program, Nelson is hosting his talker in the nude, which goes with his show's theme for the week: Nude in America. (Naughty parts will be blurred or obscured, of course.) The Rob Nelson Show has held steady at around a 1.0 for four weeks after debuting at a 0.8.

Who Are the Weakest DJs?

Radio deejays faced off in a Nov. 19 special edition of NBC Enterprises' Weakest Link, competing for $100,000 in prize money to be given to charity. Deejay "Valentine," of KIIS-FM Los Angeles, playing for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, ultimately beat out AJ Machado, of KHTS(FM) San Diego, playing for Operation Save Our Youth's Lives; Tracy Lea, of KZON(FM) Phoenix, for the Multiple Sclerosis Society; Orlando, of WLLD(FM) Tampa Bay, Fla., for The Boys & Girls Club of the Suncoast; Lee Ann Trotter, of US99-FM Chicago, for PAWS Chicago; and Gina Martell-Pereros, of WLVE(FM) Miami, for the Gloria M. Silverio Foundation.