The two newest syndication entries, Twentieth Television’s Classmates and
Ambush Makeover, kicked off the first two days of their slow rollouts
with something of slow starts, according to Nielsen Media Research’s weighted metered-market
averages.
Classmates earned a 2.2 rating/5 share on 25 Fox owned-and-operated
stations. Classmates is cleared mostly in daytime but also in some early
fringe, pre-access and late-fringe slots. Classmates was down 27% from
its lead-in average and off 12% from its year-ago time-period average.
Ambush Makeover also underperformed both its lead-in and July 2002 time-period average, with a 1.7 rating/5 for the two days on 19 Fox O&Os, with
primarily daytime clearances. This represented a 23% decline from the show’s
average lead-in and a 29% drop from year-ago time periods.
Twentieth was pleased with Classmates’ performance in Austin, Texas;
Milwaukee; and St. Louis, where it won its time periods.
Ambush Makeover was No. 1 in only one market, Cleveland, but No. 2 in
five other markets.
On the national stage, only two of the seven court shows gained ground for
the week. Twentieth’s Texas Justice surged 14% to 2.5 and Warner Bros.’
Judge Greg Mathis was up 6% to 1.9. Leading the pack was Paramount Television’s
Judge Judy, which was down 2% to 4.7.
Elsewhere in daytime, five of the 13 talk shows were winners. Universal Television’s
Maury remained in third place for a second week with a 9% jump to 3.5.
Buena Vista Television’s Live with Regis and Kelly rebounded 6% to 3.3. Universal’s
The Jerry Springer Show was up 4% to 2.7. Sony Pictures Television’s Ricki Lake leaped
12% to 1.9, and Twentieth’s Good Day Live added 10% to 1.1.
The biggest loser among the major talk shows was Paramount Television’s Montel
Williams, which sank 15% to a sixth-place 2.3. The top talker remained King
World Productions’ Oprah, which was down 2% to 5.5, followed by King World’s rookie,
Dr. Phil, which fell 4% to 4.4.
In other rookie news, Twentieth’s Ex-Treme Dating, in its third week
on the national chart, was up 10% to 1.1, its best number yet.
In off-net action, Warner Bros.’ Friends was the top sitcom after
trailing Sony’s Seinfeld for the past four weeks. Friends was up
3% to 6.2, while Seinfeld was down 3% to 6.1.
Also in access, Paramount’s Entertainment Tonight was the No. 1
magazine, unchanged at 4.5, with King World’s Inside Edition down 10% to
2.8 in second place.
King World’s Wheel of Fortune topped the game shows at 7.8, down 6%.
King World’s Jeopardy! was also down 6% to a second-place 6.4.
