Another week of sweeps soothed “Live With Regis & Kelly” as well as a number of court shows, according to Nielsen Media Research for the week ending Feb. 18. But for “Rosie O’Donnell,” winter continues to chill the ratings books.
The debut of Regis Philbin’s new co-host Kelly Ripa on Buena Vista Television’s “Live With Regis & Kelly” allowed the syndicator to be the only talk show to score a year-to-year improvement in the household ratings. The strip pulled a 4.3 rating for an 8 percent week-to-week gain and a 10 percent rise over last year’s score. More importantly, in the key women 18 to 49 demo ratng, the typically older-skewing program soared 25 percent to a 2.1 score, putting it in third place in the demo. The previous week, the strip ranked seventh in the category.
This season, a number of veterans are down double digits in women 18 to 49. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution’s “Rosie
O’Donnell” logged the biggest drop, off 30 percent year-to-year with a 1.9 score in the all-important demographic.
Among court shows, three veterans were up and three were flat in households. Among the rookie crop, one was up, one was flat and two were down for the week.
Paramount Domestic Television’s “Judge Judy” continued to easily lead the gavel crowd, maintaining the top rank in key female demos as well as households, with a 6.6 household rating, unchanged for the week, and 3.3 women 18 to 49 score. Although “Judy” has a 65 percent advantage over the nearest competitor in households, the show’s lead narrows considerably (but is still impressive) in the demos, where the advantage drops to 50 percent in women 18 to 49 and 56 percent in women 25 to 54.
The studio’s “Judge Joe Brown” again lands in second in both the demo and households, scoring a 4.0 in households this week, a rise of 8 percent, and pulling a 2.2 in women 18 to 49.
“Divorce Court” and “Power of Attorney” maintained their No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively, in households as well as the key women 18 to 49 and women 25 to 54 categories. Twentieth’s “Divorce Court” earned a 3.2 household rating, up 3 percent, while nailing a 1.8 score in the key women 18 to 49 demo.
The studio’s “Power of Attorney” remained the top rookie first-run strip in syndication-a spot it has held for 25 straight weeks. “Power” was up 8 percent in households for the week at a 2.6 while earning a 1.4 in women 18 to 49.
Landing in a tie for fifth in the key demo as well households was Columbia TriStar Television Distribution’s rookie “Judge Hatchett” and Warner Bros.’ sophomore “Judge Greg Mathis.” Both series were flat with a 2.2 rating in households. In the women 18 to 49 demo, both pulled a 1.2 rating. “Hatchett,” however, took the edge in the women 25 to 54 ranking with a 1.5 vs. a 1.4 for “Mathis.”