Family Feud was syndication’s highest rated game in the week ended Feb. 21, beating Wheel of Fortune for the first week since Dec. 28.
Even though Debmar-Mercury’s Feud was down 4% for the week to a 7.0 live plus same day household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, that was still good enough to beat CBS Television DIstribution’s Wheel, which deflated 8% to a 6.8. CTD’s Jeopardy!, in third place, sank 6% to a 6.5. Debmar-Mercury’s Celebrity Name Game and Disney-ABC’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire each sagged 7% to a 1.4.
Year to year, every game show was down as well, with Feud dipping 3%, the category’s smallest loss, to Millionaire’s 22%, the genre’s biggest decline.
Across the board, most of syndication was flat or down in the second full week of the February sweep, as much of the country basked in warm weather.
CTD’s Entertainment Tonight dipped 3% to a 3.5. CTD’s Inside Edition also declined 3% to a 3.1. Warner Bros.’ TMZ was flat at a 1.8. NBCUniversal’s Access Hollywood yielded 6% to a 1.7. Warner Bros.’ Extra relinquished 7% to a 1.4. CTD’s The Insider held steady at a 1.3. Twentieth’s Dish Nation remained at a 0.9. Trifecta’s OK! TV was unchanged at a 0.3 for the eighth straight session.
Meanwhile, next-day coverage of the 88th annual Academy Awards, which saw the third-lowest viewership since Nielsen began tracking more than 40 years ago, was a big day for the entertainment magazines.
Entertainment Tonight led the pack with a 4.0 rating/7 share weighted metered-market household average for its primary runs on Monday, Feb. 29, an 18% increase over its year-ago time period average. Access Hollywood also shot up 18% to a 2.6/5. Warner Bros.’ Extra grew the most of any show, surging 22% to a 2.2/5. The Insider joined the after-party with a 14% leap to a 1.6/4.
Inside Edition and TMZ, which are not traditional entertainment magazines, both were unchanged on Feb. 29 compared to their year-ago time-period averages of 2.8/6 and 1.6/3.
Leading the talk shows for the seventh week in a row, CTD’s Dr. Phil dipped 3% to a 3.4. Phil also led among daytime’s key demographic of women 25-54 with a steady 1.7.
In second place, Disney-ABC’s Live with Kelly and Michael was steady at a 3.2 for the week. The show also hitting its second-highest individual day rating for the season in the overnight metered market household ratings on Monday, Feb. 29, with the show’s fifth annual post-Oscars broadcast scoring a 3.8/13. Live topped its time periods in all of the top-ten markets.
Warner Bros.’ Ellen DeGeneres came in third with a flat 2.8. NBCU’s Steve Harvey gave back 5% to a 1.9.
NBCU’s Maury rounded out the top five, holding firm at a 1.8.
Debmar-Mercury’s Wendy Williams, CTD’s Rachael Ray, NBCU’s Steve Wilkos, CTD’s Dr. Oz, NBCU’s Jerry Springer and CTD’s The Doctors all were unchanged at a 1.7, 1.6, 1.5, 1.5, 1.3, 1.1, respectively.
Warner Bros.’ The Real weakened 9% to a 1.0, while NBCU’s Meredith Vieira stood pat at 0.9.
Warner Bros.’ Crime Watch Daily remained the top rookie, holding steady at a 1.0. Disney-ABC’s FABLife and NBCU’s Crazy Talk also were on par with the prior session with a 0.8 and 0.5, respectively. Crime Watch was tops among women 25-54 with a first place 0.6, followed by FABLife and Crazy Talk both at a 0.4.
At the top of the overall chart, CTD’s Judge Judy dipped 4% to a 7.8, which was still good enough to lead all of syndication. Judy also was up 7% from last year at this time.
In second place, CTD’s Hot Bench cooled off 4% from its series high set in the previous week to a 2.6, but was up 44% from last year.
Warner Bros.’ People’s Court was flat at a 1.9. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis added 7% to a 1.6. Twentieth’s Divorce Court was unchanged at a 1.3. Trifecta’s Judge Faith was flat at a 0.9 for the eighth straight week.
Meanwhile, MGM’s RightThisMinute slowed down 8% to a 1.2, which put it down 29% from last year at this time.
Warner Bros.’ off-net sitcom leader The Big Bang Theory was off 3% to a 6.1. Twentieth’s Modern Family was flat at a 3.3. Warner Bros.’ Two and a Half Men moved down 3% to a 2.8. Warner Bros.’ 2 Broke Girls dropped 9% to a 2.1, tying Warner Bros.' Mike & Molly and Twentieth’s Family Guy, both of which fell 5% to a 2.1. SPT’s Seinfeld stayed at a 1.9. Twentieth’s The Cleveland Show climbed 6% to a 1.7, tying Twentieth’s How I Met Your Mother, which was steady. Twentieth’s King of the Hill was flat at a 1.3.
