Syndies stabilized in their first session in weeks without strong competition from sports, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer tournament and the NHL and NBA Finals.
In the week ended July 14, CBS Television Distribution’s court leader Judge Judy also led all of syndication with a 13% increase to a five-week high 6.3 live plus same day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, despite airing a repeat during the week.
This is the first time since the week ended May 19 that Judy has grabbed the syndication lead due to soccer and solid competition from CTD’s game show Jeopardy!, which was burning up the charts with the performance of super-contestant James Holzhauer, whose run ended on June 3. Holzhauer will return to the show with November’s Tournament of Champions.
Related: Holzhauer, Boettcher Returning to 'Jeopardy!' with Tournament of Champions
All of the other gavelers were steady compared to the prior week. CTD’s Hot Bench was in reruns on three of the five days but held at a 2.0 and ranked as the number-three show in daytime for the third straight week behind only Judy and CTD’s Dr. Phil. Warner Bros.’ People’s Court and JudgeMathis and Twentieth’s Divorce Court all were unchanged at a 1.3, 0.9 and 0.6, respectively.
Magazines were all steady to higher. CTD’s Inside Edition rebounded 8% from a season low set in the prior week to a 2.6 to take the magazine lead. Just behind, CTD’s Entertainment Tonight added 5% to a 2.5. NBCU’s Access, which just announced Mario Lopez as host and is changing its name back to Access Hollywood, added 10% to a 1.1 and also was the only magazine to outperform last year, improving 10% from the same week in 2018. Warner Bros.’ TMZ was unchanged at a 1.1, tying Access.
Related: Mario Lopez to Join 'Access Hollywood'
Warner Bros.’ Extra -- which is moving to Fox stations in major markets, adding Billy Bush as host and changing its name to ExtraExtra -- and CTD’s DailyMailTV both jumped 13% to a 0.9.
Related: Billy Bush to Host Rebranded 'Extra Extra'
Twentieth’s Page Six TV remained at a 0.5 for a fifth consecutive week. Trifecta’s CelebrityPage stayed at a 0.2.
Games, like magazines, recovered from lower viewership over the long Fourth of July weekend. Debmar-Mercury’s Family Feud led for a fifth straight week with a gain of 4% to a 5.9. CTD’s Jeopardy!, which had lost steam for five straight weeks after the end of Holzhauer’s run, climbed 10% to a 5.6. CTD’s Wheel of Fortune accelerated 11% to a third-place 5.2.
Further back, Disney’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which will end after this season, appreciated 7% to a 1.5. Entertainment Studios’ Funny You Should Ask remained at a 0.5 for the 18th consecutive week.
Related: 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' to Conclude After This Season
Meanwhile, Disney’s viral video show RightThisMinute moved up 9% to a 1.2.
Dr. Phil extended its talk winning streak to 149 weeks, including five ties, with five days of reruns, holding steady at a 2.2. Among daytime’s key demographic of women 25-54, Phil tied Disney’s Live with Kelly and Ryan for first at a 0.8.
Live also came in second in households for a 20th straight week at a 1.9.
Warner Bros.’ Ellen DeGeneres, with encore episodes, regained most of its prior week’s loss with a 15% increase to a 1.5.
NBCU’s Maury, in repeats, remained at its season-low 1.2 for a sixth consecutive week. Debmar-Mercury’s Wendy Williams tied Maury after it returned to original episodes on four of the five days and ballooned 33% compared to its retitled Wendy Williams World Cup reruns of the previous five weeks.
NBCU’s Steve, which is wrapping its run, improved 11% to a 1.0. NBCU’s Steve Wilkos and CTD’s Rachael Ray both were flat at a 0.9 tying Sony Pictures Television’s Dr. Oz, which perked up 13%.
CTD’s The Doctors delivered a series-low 0.5 for a ninth consecutive week, tying Warner Bros.’ The Real, which recovered 25%. Disney’s Pickler & Ben backed up 25% to a 0.3, tying the out-of-production syndicated run of NBCU’s Jerry Springer, which also dwindled 25%.
Related: Here Comes Judge Jerry Springer
Among the rookies, CTD’s Face the Truth, which is in its final weeks, saw a series-low 0.6 for a fifth straight week, while Debmar-Mercury’s renewed court Caught in Providence remained at a 0.5 for a fourth straight week.
In tryout news, the premiere week of a six-week test for comedy game show Punchline, starring comedian Melissa Peterman, which began July 15, bowed at a 0.4 rating/1 share weighted metered market average on select Fox stations. That was down 33% from both its lead-ins and July 2018 time periods. Among women 25-54, the show earned a 0.3/1, even with both its lead-in and year-ago time periods.
Related: 'Punchline' Returning to Fox Stations for a Six-Week Test
NBCU’s true-crime leader, Dateline, darted ahead 8% to a 1.3. SPT’s off-A&E Live PD Police Patrol posted a 1.1 for the third consecutive tour, while off-Investigation Discovery’s True Crime Files exposed a steady 0.3.
NBCU’s scripted hour-long strip, Chicago PD, collared a 13% increase to a 0.9.
Warner Bros.’ The Big Bang Theory bounced back 8% from a new series low set in the prior week to a 3.9 to lead the off-network sitcoms. Twentieth’s Last Man Standing stayed at a 2.1. Twentieth’s ModernFamily forged ahead 6% to a 1.7. SPT’s TheGoldbergs remained at a series-low 1.3 for a fourth straight week, tying Warner Bros.’ Two and a Half Men, which moved up 8%. Twentietih’s Family Guy stood pat at a 1.2. Disney’s newcomer Black-ish backtracked 9% to a 1.0, tying Warner Bros.’ Mike & Molly, which managed an 11% increase, and SPT’s Seinfeld, which was steady for a fourth straight week. Warner Bros.’ 2 Broke Girls was unchanged at a 0.9 for a fifth consecutive week.
