RATINGS CHARTS: Click here to view and download weekly primetime and syndication ratings charts
Talk shows heated up the week ending Apr. 25, the last full
week before the May sweeps period, with all of the top seven established talkers
gaining ground from the week before or holding steady.
CBS Television's (CTD) Oprah Winfrey Show saw its
first week-to-week increase since Apr. 4, picking up 11% to 4.2. The
show's biggest draw was its Apr. 20 episode with controversial "octomom" Nadya
Suleman, which pulled nearly a million more viewers than Oprah's No. 2
show of the week, which featured actress Mo'nique's brother admitting he
molested his sister for years as a child.
Meanwhile, CTD's Dr. Phil grew 4% to 2.5.
Disney/ABC's Live With Regis & Kelly also advanced 4% to
2.5.Warner Bros.' Ellen DeGeneres climbed 5% to 2.2. NBC Universal's Maury,
CTD's The Doctors and CTD's Rachael Ray all held firm at 1.9, 1.7
and 1.5, respectively. NBCU's Jerry Springer slipped 7% to
1.3. At the back of the pack, Warner Bros.' Bonnie Hunt and NBCU's Martha
Stewart were flat at 0.8 and 0.5, respectively.
In the race for daytime leadership, CTD's Judge Judy
defeated Oprah for the sixth week in a row with a 4.4, holding steady
week-to-week while improving 5% from last year at this time. Oprah
was down 11% year-to-year.
Following Judy in the court genre wasCTD's
Judge Joe Brown, which dipped 5% to 2.0. After that, Warner Bros.' People's
Court sank 10% to 1.8. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis was down 7% to a
new season-low 1.4. Twentieth's Judge Alex was flat at 1.4, tying Mathis
andTwentieth's Divorce
Court , which was up 8% to 1.4, and Warner
Bros.' Judge Jeannine Pirro dropped further back, losing 10% to 0.9.
In rookie action, NBCU's The Office was down 6% to
2.9, while the first-run Sony's Dr. Oz lost 4% of its ratings and tied
its season-low 2.3. Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader was
unchanged at 1.4. Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams eroded 8% to 1.2.
Litton's Street Court plummeted 17% to 0.5.
Magazine shows were all flat to slightly lower. Leader
CTD's Entertainment Tonight eased 2% to 4.0. CTD's Inside
Edition dropped 3% to 2.9. Warner Bros.' TMZ and NBCU's Access
Hollywood tied for third at 1.9, with TMZ losing 5% and Access
staying even with the week before. Warner Bros.' Extra was unchanged at
1.7. The Insider was down 6% to 1.6.
Game shows all remained at week-earlier levels except for
CTD's Wheel of Fortune, which was down 3% to 6.3. CTD's Jeopardy,
Disney/ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Debmar-Mercury's Family
Feud logged a 5.4, 2.3 and 1.4, respectively.
Off-net sitcoms also hovered near the flat line except for Frasier,
which fell 13% to a new season-low 1.3. Warner Bros.' Two and a Half Men
down-ticked 2% to 4.5. Twentieth's Family Guy was up 3% to 3.3.
Twentieth's Everybody Loves Raymond slipped 3% to 2.9. Sony's Seinfeld
faded 4% to 2.7. Warner Bros.' George Lopez, Twentieth's King of the
Hill, Warner Bros.' Friends, House of Payne andSony's
King of Queens were all unchanged at 2.7, 2.3, 2.2, 1.7, and 1.4,
respectively.
