CBS Television Distribution’s Dr. Phil made it 150 weeks in a row, with five ties, as syndication’s top talker in the week ended July 21.
The talk show managed the feat even though it’s been in repeats for the past eight weeks, holding its ground at a 2.2 live plus same day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Phil could have been number one for 154 straight weeks, but for four weeks of Olympics during Rio 2016 and Pyeongchang 2018 when the show was retitled and broken out. The show last lost the talk race in the week ending Aug. 7, 2016, to Disney’s Live with Kelly.
In daytime’s key demographic of women 25-54, Phil also led with a 0.9.
Syndication in general was stable in the sleepy mid-summer stanza.
Live with Kelly and Ryan, running up a streak of its own, was the silver medalist on the talk-show podium for the 21st straight week with a steady 1.9.
Warner Bros.’ Ellen DeGeneres declined 7% to a 1.4 in repeats. NBCUniversal’s Maury, also in repeats, continued at its season-low 1.2 for a seventh consecutive week, tying Debmar-Mercury’s unchanged Wendy Williams, which aired four originals and one rerun. NBCU’s Steve, nearing the end of its run, stayed at a 1.0, tying NBCU’s Steve Wilkos, which recovered 11%.
Sony Pictures Television’s Dr. Oz and CTD’s Rachael Ray both remained at a 0.9.
CTD’s newcomer Face the Truth, which will end after this season, stayed at its series-low 0.6 for a sixth straight week. CTD’s The Doctors also stayed at its series-low 0.5 for a tenth week in a row, tying Warner Bros.’ The Real, which also held steady.
The syndicated version of NBCU’s out-of-production Jerry Springer sprang back up 33% to a 0.4. Disney’s Pickler & Ben, produced by E. W. Scripps, broke even at a 0.3.
Meanwhile, week two of the six-week test of revamped comedy game show Punchline delivered a 0.3 rating/1 share weighted metered market household average on select Fox stations, down 50% from its lead-ins and off 40% from July 2018 time periods. Among women 25-54, the show logged a 0.2/1, down 33% from both lead-in and year-ago.
Elsewhere, CTD’s Judge Judy, in reruns on two of the five days, topped all of syndication for a second straight week with a steady 6.3.
CTD’s Hot Bench, with three days of repeats, was on par with the prior frame at a 2.0 and ranked as the number-three show in daytime for the fourth straight week behind only Judy and Phil.
Warner Bros.’ People’s Court and Judge Mathis, Twentieth’s Divorce Court and Debmar-Mercury’s freshman Caught in Providence all were flat at a 1.3, 0.9, 0.6 and 0.5, respectively.
Games were mixed. Debmar-Mercury’s Family Feud inched up 2% to a 6.0 to lead the category for a sixth straight week. CTD’s Jeopardy!, which has declined in six of the past seven weeks as things settled down after super-contestant James Holzhauer's run, slipped 2% to a 5.5. CTD’s Wheel of Fortune also fell 2% to a 5.1.
Further back, Disney’s soon-to-end Who Wants to be a Millionaire maintained a 1.5. Entertainment Studios’ Funny You Should Ask remained at a 0.5 for the 19th consecutive week.
Disney’s viral video show RightThisMinute clocked an unchanged 1.2.
Magazines were mostly steady. CTD’s InsideEdition was flat at a 2.6, while sister show Entertainment Tonight gave back 4% to a 2.4. NBCU’s Access, soon to be known as AccessHollywood again, was steady at a 1.1 and for a second straight week was the only magazine to outperform last year, improving 10% from the same frame in 2018.
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Warner Bros.’ TMZ stood pat at a 1.1, tying Access. Warner Bros.’ Extra, CTD’s DailyMailTV, Twentieth’s Page Six TV and Trifecta’s Celebrity Page all held steady at a 0.9, 0.9, 0.5 and 0.2, respectively.
In off-net, NBCU’s Dateline remained the true-crime leader with a steady 1.3. SPT’s off-A&E Live PD Police Patrol detected a 1.1 for the fourth consecutive week, while off-Investigation Discovery’s True Crime Files revealed an unchanged 0.3.
NBCU’s scripted procedural Chicago PD backtracked 11% to a 0.8.
Warner Bros.’ The Big Bang Theory rose 3% to a 4.0 to remain the leader of the off-network sitcoms. Twentieth’s Last Man Standing and Modern Family, SPT’s The Goldbergs and Warner Bros.’ Two and a Half Men all were flat at a 2.1, 1.7, 1.3 and 1.3, respectively. Twentieth’s Family Guy grew 8% to a 1.3, tying Goldbergs and Men. Disney’s newcomer Black-ish banged out a 1.0, tying Warner Bros.’ unchanged Mike & Molly and SPT’s Seinfeld. Warner Bros’ 2 Broke Girls posted a 0.9 for the sixth straight week.
