Logo

‘Rachael’ Romps at Top of Newbies

Oct 16, 2006  •  Post A Comment

In its second week on the air, King World’s daytime talk show “Rachael Ray” continued to lead the pack of debuting syndicated Monday-through-Friday first-run series, despite a ratings decline from its debut.

For the week ended Oct. 1, “Rachael” scored a 2.1 national household rating, a number that includes live viewing plus same-day viewing via digital video recorders, according to Nielsen Media Research. That was down 9 percent from its debut week, but among all 13 weekday syndicated talk shows “Rachael” again ranked in fourth place in households for the week, behind “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Dr. Phil” and “Live With Regis & Kelly,” and tied with “Maury.”

Twentieth Television’s newsmagazine “Geraldo at Large” scored a 1.6 rating, on par with its performance the previous week. For its third week in syndication, Warner Bros.’ “The Dr. Keith Ablow Show” was up 11 percent from its prior week to score a 1.0, while in its second week NBC Universal’s “The Megan Mullally Show” was down 11 percent to a 0.8.

“Megan” faces its first major downgrade this week, when NBCU-owned WNBC-TV in New York is scheduled to move the show from 3 p.m. (ET) to 11 a.m., replacing it with former time-period holder “Judge Joe Brown” from CBS Paramount. NBC Universal Domestic TV Distribution had no comment on the schedule change.

Sony’s new talker “The Greg Behrendt Show,” which is in its third week in syndication, is having its ratings reprocessed by Nielsen for a second week.

Among debuting court shows, Twentieth’s “Cristina’s Court” dropped 7 percent in its third week to a 1.3, while ratings for Sony’s “Judge Maria Lopez” were being reprocessed by Nielsen. Buena Vista’s “According to Jim” was the highest-rated debuting off-network sitcom with a 1.7 rating, down 6 percent from its premiere week. Buena Vista’s “Scrubs” scored a 1.6 household rating for its second week after having its ratings reprocessed its debut week. CBS Paramount’s “One on One” scored a 0.8, down 11 percent from the previous week, while Twentieth’s “Still Standing” had its third-week numbers reprocessed by Nielsen.

King World’s “CSI: Miami” was the top off-network weekend hour with a 4.4 rating, down 2 percent from its previous week. Tribune’s “American Idol: Rewind” debuted in syndication in 95 percent of the country with a 2.7, tying the second-week numbers for Warner Bros.’ “Without a Trace.” The debut of New Line’s “Masterminds,” cleared in 73 percent of the country, scored a 0.5 household rating.