Weekend series had a good run in the latest national syndication ratings.
ET's hour-long weekend edition, the next-to-last episode of Xena: Warrior Princess and off-net runs of ER led the charge during the week of June 18-24, according to Nielsen Media Research. ET Weekend jumped 24% during the week to a 3.6 national household rating. ET's weekend edition is up 29% from last year. Xena's second to last episode averaged a 3.2 rating, up 10% from year-ago numbers. ER's weekend run averaged a 3.1 rating, up 19% from the previous week.
The top new weekend series, Gene Rodenberry's Andromeda jumped 14% to a 2.5 and Maximum Exposure went up 18% to a 2.0. Court shows were up for the most part (Judge Hatchett was lone court show to decline week-to-week) and Judge Judy was again on top with a 5.3 rating.
The Oprah Winfrey Show was tops in the talk show world with a 5.6 rating, down only 5% from the previous year and flat from the week before. Among game shows, Hollywood Squares scored its lowest rating since its 1998 debut-a 3.0 rating. Squares was off 6% from the previous week and its down 21% from last year. - Joe Schlosser
