With the February sweeps ratings numbers almost in, and the upfront advertising sales season about to rev up, syndicated television again finds itself in the position of proving its value as audiences erode for most of its shows.

Only one series in first-run syndication, “Judge Judy,” is up year-to-year. Two more, “Ellen” and “Family Feud,” have held even in household ratings, according to Nielsen Co. data. Most other programs show marked declines. The ratings numbers reflect the reality that for syndication, flat is the new up.

That makes explaining the industry’s value proposition complex.

“Syndication is actually remarkably stable and should be getting more attention than it’s getting from advertisers,” said Garnett Losak, VP and director of programming at Petry Media. “While the also-rans continue to be also-rans in daytime lineups, the heavy hitters continue to provide some of the most consistent audiences in all of television. A network program that lasted as long as some of the syndication shows would be hailed as a classic.”

Court shows as a category continue to fare the best compared with talk shows, newsmagazines and game shows. The court genre averaged a 1.9 this season with 11 shows, down 17% compared with the same period last year, when the programs earned a 2.3 with nine series.

The 1.9 score includes new series such as Radar’s “Jury Duty,” which debuted this year in limited distribution. With a 0.2 national household rating so far this season, it’s pulling down the overall category score. Without “Jury Duty” factored in, court shows are averaging a 2.1 this year, for a decline of 8.6%year-to-year.

Among court shows, CBS’ “Judge Judy” continues to defy the odds and time, ranking as the only series this season to show annual improvement in the ratings game, rising 4% to a 5.0 rating compared with a 4.8 for the same timeframe last year.

Second-place strip “Judge Joe Brown” has earned a 2.8 this year, down 7%; “The People’s Court” is off 7% as well with a 2.5; “Judge Mathis” is averaging a 2.2 rating, down 12%; “Divorce Court” dropped 10% to a 1.9; and “Judge Alex” is down 5% to a 1.9.

Sony’s “Judge Hatchett” took the biggest hit of the season in percentage drops, falling 13% to a 1.3. “Cristina’s Court” is off 7% to a 1.3, and “Judge Maria Lopez” is down 10% to a 0.9. The only rookie to the category this season, other than “Jury Duty,” is “Judge David Young,” which has pulled a 0.9 this year.

Looking ahead to next season, two more entries are set to launch in the court-show category: “Judge Karen” from Sony and “Family Court” from Program Partners. “Hatchett” and “Lopez” are not expected to return in first-run, although Sony has not commented on the status of the two programs.

Among talk shows, 13 programs in the genre are ranked by Nielsen, and those shows were among those seeing the heaviest percentage drops in all of syndication. The category’s winner was Warner’s “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which held even with last year’s 2.2 score. The program has managed to increase male demos as much as 25%.

On the other end of the spectrum for talk shows, “The Tyra Banks Show” and “Martha” have seen the largest declines year-to-year, with drops of 20% and 21%, respectively, to scores of 1.2 and 1.1.

The talk category as a whole is down this year 25% from a 2.8 to a 2.1, although that includes rookie indie series “Daily Buzz,” whose 0.2 rating pulled down the average. The pack is once again led by “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which has seen a drop of 16% versus last season from a 6.7 to a 5.6 score, down more than a full point.

Rookies “The Morning Show With Mike & Juliet” and “The Steve Wilkos Show” are pulling scores of 1.0 and 0.9, respectively. Next season will see the introduction of “The Bonnie Hunt Show” and “The Doctors” into the mix, with only “Montel” exiting the first-run scene.

Newsmagazines all fell year-to-year, with only “Inside Edition” dodging a double-digit dropoff. It earned a 3.4 score, down 6% from last year’s 3.6. Category leader “Entertainment Tonight” declined 13% to a 5.5 rating. “Access Hollywood” is running off pace by 11% to a 2.5, “The Insider” is down 11% to a 2.4, and “Extra” suffered the steepest fall with a 14% decline to a 1.9.

Rookie series “TMZ” is averaging a 2.0 this season. Overall, the entire newsmagazine genre is earning a 2.8 score for the 2007-08 season, a drop of 18%.

Game shows continue to pull the highest average rating of any genre, with this season tallying a 3.4. However, that number is down 35%, the biggest drop of any category, largely due to rookies “Temptation” and “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords,” which bowed this season to 0.8 and 0.5 averages since the fall.

The only series in the category to hold pace with last year is Debmar Mercury’s “Family Feud” at a 1.9.

Genre leader “Wheel of Fortune” is down 9% this year to a 7.8, “Jeopardy!” is off 6% with a 6.4 average and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is down 12% to a 3.0 score.

Two new series will enter that field in the fall as “Deal or No Deal” and “Trivial Pursuit: America Plays” make their daytime debuts.