Weekly syndicated ratings roundup

Big Week Propels Off-Net 'Big Bang'

The freshman off-net sitcoms tops usual leader Two and a Half Men to grab the No. 1 spot in the genre for the week ending Dec. 11. Dr. Phil remained the top talker.
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Dr. Phil (CTD) extended its streak as the No. 1 talk show in the week ending Dec. 11, topping the closely watched category for the 10th time in 13 weeks this season. Phil was the only talker to reach the 3 level, holding steady week to week at a 3.0 and growing 11 year to year.

Some daytime shows were hurt as viewers went out Christmas shopping and prepared for the holidays. Live with Kelly (Disney-ABC), which had been second, dropped 4% to a third-place 2.7. With Derek Hough, Jonah Hill and Josh Groban as co-hosts, the show was down 36% from Regis Philbin’s final week.

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Dr. Oz (Sony) picked up 4% to a second-place 2.8. In fourth, Ellen DeGeneres (WBDTD) was flat at a 2.5, followed by Maury (NBCU) and Rachael Ray (CTD), which were unchanged at 2.3 and 1.6, respectively.

Freshmen Shows

Among newcomers, Anderson (WBDTD) held steady at its season high 1.4 and dominated the first-run rookies for the 13th consecutive week. Jeremy Kyle (Debmar-Mercury) and We the People with Gloria Allred (Entertainment Studios) were flat at 0.6 and 0.5, respectively.

Excused (CTD), the new latenight dating show, matched its season high, improving 17% from the prior week to a 0.7 in households and surging 33% among women 18-34.

In off-net action, freshman Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) inched up 3% to a 6.4 and became the highest-rated sitcom for the first time, topping usual leader Two and a Half Men (WBDTD). 30 Rock (NBCU), which airs in mostly lower rated late fringe time periods, slipped 7% to a 1.4. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Twentieth) and Till Death (Sony) were both unchanged at 1.2 and 0.7, respectively.

Off-Net Sitcoms

Veteran laugher Two and a Half Men weakened 3% to a 6.3; Family Guy (Twentieth) was flat at a 4.2; How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth) lost 3% to a 3.5; Seinfeld (Sony) jumped 8% to a new season high 2.8; while Friends (WBDTD) and Everybody Loves Raymond (CTD) fell 4% to a 2.4.

Court Shows

Judge Judy (CTD) was the second-highest-rated show in syndication with a 7.0 and easily led the court shows despite dipping 3% from the previous week. Judge Joe Brown (CTD) remained at a 2.8; People’s Court (WBDTD) slumped 5% to a 2.0; Judge Alex (Twentieth) added 6% to a new season high 1.8; and Divorce Court (Twentieth) climbed 13% to a 1.7.

Magazine Shows

Entertainment Tonight (CTD) topped the mags in the pre-holiday week, despite easing 5% to a 3.7. Inside Edition (CTD) sank 9% to a 3.0; TMZ (WBDTD) was flat at a 2.0; Access Hollywood (NBCU) was off 5% to a 1.9; The Insider (CTD) and Extra (WBDTD) held firm at 1.6, while Extra Weekend leaped 10% to a 1.1.

Game Shows

Among games, Wheel of Fortune (CTD) slid 1% to a 7.5; Jeopardy (CTD) edged up 2% to a 6.3; Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury) was flat at 3.1; and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) was up 4 to a 2.6.

Off-Net Weekly Hours

Law & Order (NBCU) ruled the off-net weekly hours for the second straight week, although it fell 6% to a 3.1. Criminal Minds (CTD) was flat at a 3.0; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBCU) spiked 8% to a new season high 2.7 and moved into third place; Monk (NBCU) managed to lose 7% to a 2.5; tying Without a Trace (WBDTD), which erased 4%, and The Closer (WBDTD), which was unchanged.

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Ratings

Overnights, adults 18-49 for May 17, 2012
  • 1.
    3.0/9
  • 2.
    2.5/7
  • 3.
    2.4/7
  • 4.
    1.5/4
  • 5.
    1.1/3
  • 6.
    0.3/1
Source: Nielsen
Reviews
Opinions
Features
  • David Wiegand

    Fans of Sex and the City have finally gotten their wish: Their beloved sex-focused sitcom is back on the air ... sort of. The four women have become four men, of course, and the writing isn't as good. Oh, and the laugh track so annoying, it's offensive. And did I mention that the costumes would be considered fashionable if you were holding a yard sale? Men at Work on TBS is almost quaint, it's so old fashioned. If it had any meat on its bones, you'd be tempted to say it's the sadly ignoble epitome of TV's long-festering emasculated-men syndrome. But it's so much of a big, forgettable, innocuous shrug, it's not even worth any actual vitriol.

  • Mike Hale

    The USA Network's motto is "Characters Welcome." Apparently they're especially welcome if they resemble Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. Already stocked with Odd Couple knockoffs in Psych and White Collar, USA adds to its inventory Common Law, another comic crime-fighting show about mismatched partners. But this latest entry exhibits very little of that kind of spark as it tries to wring laughs from the juxtaposition of counseling and police work. It looks too flat and schematically plotted to succeed as the type of lightweight summer fun we’ve come to expect from USA.

  • Joanne Ostrow

    Johnny Carson: Fantastic entertainer, miserable human being. That's the lasting message of Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, the new PBS American Masters film, a rich history of a rare product of television who dominated the small screen for decades. Unprecedented access to personal archives plus all existing episodes of The Tonight Show (1962-92), distinguishes this film by Peter Jones. Telling interviews with family and colleagues, including second wife Joanne Carson, former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and a number of biographers sharpen the picture. The clips are carefully selected to illustrate specific personality traits, the performance highlights are given context and meaning beyond funny lines and memorable moments.

  • Hank Stuever

    AMC's The Pitch is a sharply-made if slightly off-putting reality series that follows different advertising agencies each week as they compete for new accounts. The inspiration for the show — made clear by its own ad campaign — is to harness some of the verve generated by the network's acclaimed Mad Men. The Pitch has a way of making the ad world seem like a real downer — a repugnant exercise in egotism laced with depressing bouts of creative compromise.

  • Tim Goodman

    HBO's Veep stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as former Sen. Selina Meyer, who accepts the vice presidential duty and regrets it almost immediately: She has no real power and gets muscled by the Senate, Congress and the (so-far-unseen) president, who delegates all the truly crappy jobs to her. Louis-Dreyfus has found perhaps her best post-Seinfeld role and takes to it with such fervor — the constant swearing, the barely veiled desire to become president, the unhappy give-and-take with other politicians and a delightful disdain for average citizens — that you can't help but applaud what is clearly an Emmy-worthy effort. Her work alone makes Veep a gem, but there's even more to like.

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